Novak Djokovic's star still burns bright as he returns to Melbourne Park in search of a record seventh Australian Open title.
Even putting on socks and shoes caused him severe pain, the three time Grand Slam winner revealed.
The 32-year-old, five-times a winner of the singles at the prestigious Wimbledon warm-up event, delighted a large evening centre court crowd with some fluent shot-making as he and Spanish veteran Lopez beat top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-6(5), 6-3.
Novak Djokovic has admitted that Andy Murray's attempt to surge to the top of the rankings has rejuvenated an otherwise mediocre season for the World No. 1.
Novak Djokovic's bid for a record 25th Grand Slam title kicked off on Monday with an easy win over qualifier Radu Albot in the US Open first round.
At the French Open on Wednesday, however, Djokovic's shots often failed to hit the bullseye.
Gunning for yet another Grand Slam title, India's old war horse Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek have been seeded fifth at the Australian Open and they will open their campaign against Czech pair of Lukas Dlouhy and Lukas Rosol.
Defending Olympic champion Andy Murray reached the semi-finals of the men's tennis on Friday after winning a third-set tiebreak to scrape through a testing encounter against American Steve Johnson.
Gilles Simon's giant-killing spree culminated in a stupendous title win as he humbled second seed Kevin Anderson in straight sets to lift the inaugural Tata Open Maharashtra trophy, in Pune.
Ramkumar Ramanathan enhanced his reputation of being a passionate fighter even in defeat against a much superior Marin Cilic while Yuki Bhambri squandered six break chances to crash out of the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune on Wednesday.
An erratic Yuki Bhambri paid for his unforced errors as he was knocked out of the Chennai Open with a straight sets defeat against world number 47 Benoit Paire.
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are top seeds at the major starting Monday
Rafael Nadal easily avoided the embarrassment of a back-to-back first round exits at the Australian Open on Tuesday, ramping up his serve and rattling off 39 winners to beat Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4, 6-1 on Rod Laver Arena.
Konta, Sharapova fall at Rogers Cup in Toronto
World No 1s Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber have been named top seeds for the first major of the season, Australian Open, which will commences on January 16.
Roger Federer was made to work hard by Fernando Verdasco before beating the Spanish veteran 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Roger Federer began his latest quest for a 100th ATP title with a battling 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 win over Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday.
Rafael Nadal kept the flag flying for the old guard at the Australian Open with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 victory over American Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday for a place in the semi-finals, where he will meet another next generation player in Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Reigning champions Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams have been named top seeds for the Australian Open starting on Monday.
Medvedev suffered a jarring early exit from the Canadian Masters last week but overcame some initial problems in a tricky tie against Shapovalov to edge both sets and book a meeting with American Fritz.
Top seed and defending champion Roger Federer battled past in-form Russian Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the last-16 at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday.
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic won their matches for their respective countries on Day 4 of the ATP Cup on Monday.
Images from the men's singles fourth round matches on Day 8 of the 2023 Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
Defending champions Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan were ousted from the Tata Open Maharashtra but Yuki Bhambri and Divij Sharan combined to shock the top seeds, keeping the Indian hopes alive, in Pune, on Thursday.
It ended a woeful few days for reigning champions Croatia. They left with two losses.
Top seed Roger Federer reached the Halle Open semi-finals on Friday, beating defending champion Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-4 and edging closer to a ninth title at the Wimbledon tune-up event.
Benoit Paire made a remarkable Davis Cup debut for France, outplaying Pablo Carreno-Busta 7-5, 6-1, 6-0 in the opening rubber of the World Group semi-final tie against Spain at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Friday.
The Swiss squandered seven set points in the opener and although he took the second on a tiebreak he capitulated in the decider after dropping serve at 1-2, losing 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-1.
Third seed Stan Wawrinka was knocked out in the third round of the Paris Masters when he lost 6-7(2), 7-5, 7-6(3) against South African Kevin Anderson on Thursday, suffering his fourth defeat in five matches.
In a sensational turnaround, the unseeded Frenchman toppled the world number six from Croatia 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 in a gripping semi-final encounter.
Less than a month after her run to the Wimbledon final, where she lost to Spain's Garbine Muguruza, 37-year-old Williams again had to turn back time against a young challenger.
Here is a timeline of Djokovic's decline since the last of his 12 Grand Slam titles.
Osaka survives test to reach last 16
No matter who the opponent, or how big the adversity, Andy Murray never backs away from the fight, observes Deepti Patwardhan.
Raucous home support for holders Argentina did not make up for the absence of Juan Martin del Potro and Federico Delbonis on Friday as they fell 2-0 behind to Italy in the first round of the Davis Cup.
Pole says she feels much better prepared to handle the pressure of her latest career milestone.
Novak Djokovic kicked off his season in style with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Canadian talent Denis Shapovalov on his favourite Rod Laver Arena court on Tuesday before returning to lead Serbia to a doubles victory that sealed their ATP Cup opener 2-1.
A round-up of all tennis action on Friday.
Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic gave Australia an unwanted reputation as a breeding ground for tennis brats during a tempestuous 2015 and the pair will be firmly under the spotlight in front of home crowds at Melbourne Park. With former world number one Lleyton Hewitt set to retire and the last of his two grand slam titles at the 2002 Wimbledon championships a distant memory, Australia has long yearned for a new force in men's tennis to challenge at the majors. Tomic, 23, and Kyrgios, 20, have both been tagged as the future of the sport in the country but the excitement generated by their undeniable talent gave way to dismay last season as the pair hogged the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Ramkumar Ramanathan's good run at the Chennai Open continued as he combined with compatriot N Sriram Balaji to knock out fourth seeded Kiwi pair of Artem Sitak and Marcus Daniel on Wednesday and storm into the doubles quarter-finals.
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