The absence of expectant mother Serena Williams and a failure by any of the other top women to produce the kind of dominance the American seven-times champion has consistently delivered makes this year's Wimbledon the most open in years.
Rafael Nadal weathered an early serving storm from Kevin Anderson before dismantling the South African giant with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 masterclass to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Sunday.
Images from Day 8 of the 2021 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Sunday
Images from Day 3 of the 2020 US Open in New York, on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Images from Day 4 of the 2021 US Open in New York on Thursday.
" As six-time Melbourne Park champion, Serena will be clear favourite, of course, more so because she has reached her 34th grand slam semi-final without losing a set. Lucic-Baroni's path to the last four has been more of a battle, as befits a woman who has overcome huge adversity to get back to the top of the game after years in the wilderness.
Bernard Tomic bowed out of the Australian Open on Sunday with a stinging rebuke of the scheduling.
Five-time world champion Viswanathan Anand started his campaign at the Bilbao Final Masters with a crushing win over former FIDE world champion Ruslan Ponomariov of Ukraine in Bilbao, Spain.
Fifth seed Maria Sharapova averted an early exit on a sweltering day in Flushing Meadows. Updates from Wednesday's play.
Johanna Konta spurned the country of her birth to play tennis for Britain but the Sydney-born 24-year-old has enjoyed huge support from the MelbournePark crowds during her run to the Australian Open fourth round.
Images from Day 2 of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, on Tuesday.
Images from Day 1 of the Wimbledon tennis championships in London, on Monday.
Images from Day 7 of the 2021 Wimbledon at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, in London, on Monday.
Images from Day 10 of the 2021 US Open in New York on Thursday.
Images from all the action on Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday
Images from Sunday's action at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
Images from the 2022 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Club in London on Sunday.
IMAGES from the Miami Masters played in Key Biscayne, Florida on Tuesday
Images from Day 7 of the 2021 US Open in New York on Sunday.
IMAGES from Day 8 of the matches played at the US Open at Flushing Meadows on Monday
IMAGES from Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne, on Thursday.
IMAGES of the all the action from Day 2 of the Australian Open played at Melbourne Park on Tuesday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
IMAGES from the matches played during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, at Wimbledon in London on Thursday
Spain's Rafael Nadal was at his dominant best against Pablo Carreno Busta on Saturday, brushing aside his compatriot 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 to move into the fourth round at the Australian Open. Images from Day 6 of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Saturday.
Angelique Kerber's first Grand Slam match since winning the Australian Open in January ended in despair after she was beaten 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 by Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in the French Open first round in Paris, on Tuesday.
Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova glittered under the Rod Laver Arena lights on Monday, restoring order at the Australian Open after eight women's seeds crashed out in the afternoon sun on a manic opening day. The evergreen Federer strolled into the second round with a classy 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 win over Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun before fellow-second seed Sharapova ruined Croatian qualifier Petra Martic's 24th birthday with a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
Maria Sharapova is used to having to rebuild from scratch after suffering a string of debilitating injuries throughout her career, but the Russian is still surprised at how well she is playing in her latest comeback at the WTA Finals.
Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Andy Murray were the big names to win on Monday and advance to the quarter-final of the Wimbledon.
A day after suffering her heaviest defeat since she was a teenager, Serena Williams was back to her brilliant best as she swatted aside Eugenie Bouchard 6-1, 6-1 in her final round robin match at the WTA Finals on Thursday.
India face one of the most ferocious Davis Cup challenges at home as nothing less than their best would be required to challenge world number two Serbia, who will test skill and strength of the hosts even without world number one Novak Djokovic in Bangalore from Friday.
IMAGES from Australian Open matches played at Melbourne Park on Friday
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Images from Day 3 of the 2016 Australian Open in Melbourne, on Wednesday
The evening start for the Davis Cup tie against Spain has caught the Indian team by surprise with captain Anand Amritraj calling it an 'unfortunate' decision that has compromised the country's home advantage.
Photos from Day 5 action at the Western & Southern Open at Cincinnati on Thursday.
IMAGES from matches played on Day 4 of the French Open at Roland Garros on Wednesday
Images from Day 7 of the 2021 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Saturday.
Images from Day 4 of the French Open matches played at Roland Garros in Paris on Wednesday
