The Ultimate Tennis Showdown will be held at Patrick Mouratoglou's academy in Nice with 10 matches every weekend for a total of 50 matches and prize money on offer for each clash.
Alexander Zverev is a potential superstar who bears comparison not only with his fellow German Boris Becker but also the great American singer Bob Dylan.
After a brief interruption when the players were locked at 5-5 in the opening set, Federer saved two set points in the tiebreak and held firm to gain the upper hand in the contest.
Images from all the action from Day 1 of the French Open played at Roland Garros in Paris on Sunday
Nadal had a solid start, but the 35-year-old struggled physically towards the end of the contest
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.
Raducanu stormed into the third round of the Cincinnati Open
Djokovic may never feel the affections of the crowd savoured by Federer and Spaniard Rafael Nadal but his record of 16 Grand Slam titles is proof that tennis is no popularity contest.
Federer, Nadal and Djokovic had made it near impossible for their peers to live, and thrive, amongst them. But the coming generation, which hasn't been as scarred by defeat at the hands of the Big 3, may make tennis unpredictable again.
It took the COVID-19 pandemic to put a brake on Djokovic's 18-match unbeaten run in 2020, as he won the ATP Cup with Serbia, an eighth Australian Open title and a fifth Dubai Tennis Championships before the season came to a halt in early March.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
World number one Novak Djokovic eased past Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-3, 6-4 to lift his fifth Dubai Tennis Championships title on Saturday, extending his unbeaten start to the 2020 season. Djokovic has now won 21 straight matches, including 18 this season, having already lifted the inaugural ATP Cup with Serbia and a record-extending eighth Australian Open title last month.
Last week the men's ATP and the WTA, which runs women's events, issued revised calendars for the resumption of the circuit from August while organisers of the US Open said the Grand Slam will be staged without fans as scheduled from August 31 to September 13 in New York.
Twice Shanghai Masters champion Roger Federer was far from his best against Spain's Roberto Bautista Agut but did enough to reach the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win on Thursday.
Eleven-times champion Rafael Nadal booked his place in the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open semi-finals by beating German Jan-Lennard Struff 7-5, 7-5 in a hard-fought match on Friday.
Nadal surpassed the haul of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Milos Raonic has been called the present and future of Canadian tennis for years, and on Friday he realised his potential with a milestone semi-final victory at Wimbledon to cement his status as one of the game's rising stars. Raonic appeared to be down and out as he trailed Federer by two-sets to one and 15-40 in the fifth game of the fourth set but somehow he managed to cling on for a 6-3 6-7(3) 4-6 7-5 6-3 win and became the first Canadian man to reach a major final.
India ended its campaign at the Fed Cup with a fourth place finish after losing the classification tie 1-2 to Korea as the team badly missed injured Karman Kaur Thandi, who did not play on Saturday, in Astana, Kazakhstan.
World number two Rafael Nadal confirmed on Tuesday that he will not defend his US Open crown this year at Flushing Meadows as organisers released the singles entry list for the Grand Slam. Spain's Nadal had said in June that he had reservations about travelling to the U.S. amid the COVID-19 pandemic and he joins women's world number one Australian Ash Barty in skipping the tournament due to COVID-19 concerns.
Alexander Zverev got the better of older brother Mischa at the Citi Open in Washington on Thursday, winning their first meeting at an ATP Tour event 6-3, 7-5.
A look at the records of Spain's Rafael Nadal and Serbia's Novak Djokovic before their title clash at the Australian Open on Sunday (prefix number denotes seeding):
The 21-year-old German, one of the brightest stars in men's tennis, is yet to progress beyond the quarter-finals at a Grand Slam.
American Frances Tiafoe celebrated his 21st birthday by stunning Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 7-5 in the fourth round of the Australian Open on Sunday.
Thiem, Wawrinka stay positive after defeats on return
Roger Federer lit up the O2 Arena with a dazzling 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Novak Djokovic to hand the Serb an early ATP Finals exit and wreck his bid to end the year ranked number one on Thursday.
The draw for the first Grand Slam of the season was made on Thursday and the top seeds could face some early tests of their credentials when play gets underway in Melbourne on Monday.
hampion Rafael Nadal and top-ranked Novak Djokovic turned in impressive displays to reach the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals on Thursday. Nadal, chasing a record-extending 12th Monte Carlo title, broke Grigor Dimitrov's serve on four occasions to defeat the Bulgarian 6-4 6-1.
American teenage sensation Coco Gauff became the youngest player to win a WTA title in 15 years as she beat former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the Linz Open final on Sunday.
Images from Day 1 of the US Open in New York, on Monday.
She is the second Swiss player to win the tournament after Martina Hingis won the inaugural edition in 2001.
Images from the action on Day 2 at the Australian Open.
Images from Day 11 of the 2021 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Wednesday.
How Nadal surpassed the haul of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.
Fifteen-year-old Cori Gauff clawed her way back from a set and 5-2 down and saved two match points to beat Slovenia's Polona Hercog 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-5 on Friday and reach the Wimbledon fourth round.
Images from Day 3 of the 2020 US Open in New York, on Wednesday.
'He can say what he wants, I don't have a problem with it. Does he show me the same amount of respect that most other players do? No, he doesn't, but that's the way he communicates these days'
Images from Day 3 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday
Venus Williams staged a spirited comeback to down third seed Petra Kvitova 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 and reach the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Saturday.
A win for Djokovic would move him past Pete Sampras (14) to outright third on the list of Grand Slam title winners.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances