Tennis showman Gael Monfils bowed out of his 20th and final Australian Open on Tuesday with a mix of pain and regret as he fell to an injury-hampered 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-4, 7-5 defeat in the first round to local qualifier Dane Sweeny.
IMAGES from Day 4 of the matches played at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.
Novak Djokovic said the shortness and timing of Jannik Sinner's ban this year for an inadvertent doping violation was "odd" and the case would hang over the four-time Grand Slam champion like a cloud for the rest of his career.
Skipping hard-court tune-ups in Toronto and Cincinnati, Djokovic has placed all his chips on New York in what many see as his last realistic shot at Grand Slam glory.
Inspired Vinci rallies to beat World No 1 and then tells US crowd: 'But today is my day. Sorry guys'
Aryna Sabalenka is the first woman to win back to back US Open singles titles since Serena Williams in 2014.
Aravindh Chithambaram defeated D Gukesh at the Prague International Chess Festival, while Jorden van Foreest maintains his lead in the tournament.
Still shaking off the rust from a 15-month doping ban and a string of nagging injuries, the 30-year-old Sharapova needed all her skill, determination and two hours and 44 minutes to snatch victory in front of a packed Arthur Ashe stadium.
Factbox on Rafa Nadal, who won his eighth French Open tennis title on Sunday.
Looking back is a waste of time, as far as Roger Federer is concerned. While tennis fans and pundits are obsessed with his below-par performance at the four majors this year which has left him in danger of missing the cut for the season-ending ATP finale for the first time since 2001, Federer has already put a positive spin on his 2013 trials and tribulations.
Naomi Osaka battled past Romania's Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the Australian Open second round. Later, Osaka apologised at her press conference, calling her on-court comments 'disrespectful'.
World number two Jannik Sinner survived a stern test from Joao Fonseca on Tuesday to reach the Indian Wells quarter-finals.
It will be an all-American quartet in the last eight at Melbourne as fourth seed Amanda Anisimova beat China's dark horse Wang Xinyu in their fourth round match on Monday.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka began her 2026 campaign with a thumping victory at the Brisbane International on Tuesday while her "Battle of the Sexes" opponent Nick Kyrgios fell short on his return to singles action after nearly a year out.
India's Rohan Bopanna won his first Grand Slam as he and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski.
Sania Mirza has said that French Open is going to be the "toughest" for her and Swiss partner Martina Hingis as clay court is not among their favourite surfaces.
Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who made the third round of the 1997 US Open also at 15, was the previous youngest player to advance to that stage of a grand slam.
Olympic champion Monica Puig wants to capitalise on her victory, both on and off the court.
Images from the women's singles final at the French Open in Paris on Saturday.
Sunday's showdown between four-times Grand Slam champion Sabalenka and former world number 13 Kyrgios is seen by many as entertainment, but critics believe it risks undermining women's tennis by trivialising decades of progress toward equality.
Swiatek made the most of Kasatkina's string of unforced errors, peppering court Philippe Chatrier with winners.
Serena Williams said the latest chapter in her tennis life was "just beginning" on Saturday after seeing her hopes of a record-equalling 24th Grand Slam title dashed in the Wimbledon final.
Novak Djokovic fights past Aleksandar Kovacevic to reach the last 16 at Indian Wells Open, setting up a clash with defending champion Jack Draper.
Former world number one Serena Williams returns to Grand Slam action for the first time in over 15 months, when she goes up against Czech Kristyna Pliskova in the French Open first round.
Carlos Alcaraz powered into his third successive Australian Open quarter-final, beating Tommy Paul in straight sets in a match interrupted by a medical emergency.
Nadal stretched his record of men's singles Grand Slam titles to 22
Second seed Novak Djokovic tackles Croatia's Marin Cilic in the third round of the French Open on Friday as his attempt to win the only grand slam title to elude him gathers pace.
Defending champion Norris slams 'worst' F1 cars
Divya Deshmukh not only became the first Indian woman to win the FIDE Women's World Cup, she also instantly secured the prestigious Grandmaster title.
Austria's Dominic Thiem strained every sinew trying to cling on to the 32-year-old Spaniard and at times even gained a precarious foothold in his first Grand Slam final. But it ultimately proved a futile mission as, just like in all but two of Nadal's previous 87 matches here, the relentless Spaniard proved insurmountable, winning 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
Eighth seed Barty joins 1969, 1970 and 1973 champion Margaret Court and 1971 winner Evonne Goolagong-Cawley on the list of Australian women who have lifted the trophy here in the professional era.
The four-times Grand Slam champion, who is eyeing her third Australian Open trophy when the tournament begins on January 18 at Melbourne Park, was pushed harder in the next set but edged ahead again at 5-4 to wrap up the win on serve.
Gauff is a fan favourite in Melbourne
'Doesn't matter what the head-to-head looks like. It's always a new match, always a new battle.'
Former world number one Kim Clijsters will play about 16 tournaments next year including all four Grand Slams, the 26-year-old Belgian said on Thursday.
Serena William powered her way to within two victories of a seventh US Open title on Tuesday and while she refused to look ahead there are many willing to do it for her, and what they see is a suddenly open path to a 24th Grand Slam.
Hans Niemann quite literally made a splash on Wednesday, winning an underwater chess exhibition as festivities opened for the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Finals in Cape Town, where the world's elite players gathered ahead of the main competition.
Novak Djokovic has 17 Grand Slam titles to his name - two behind Rafael Nadal and three fewer than Roger Federer - and said he has no doubt in his ability to overtake the other members of the so-called 'Big Three.'
The retired American ace said women were willing to play five-set matches but used the entertainment industry to highlight her stance that athletes will get paid the same regardless of the duration of the matches.
The tournament that calls itself the grand slam of Asia Pacific was left without an Asian representative in the men's singles following Danai Udomchoke's defeat by Novak Djokovic on Friday.
