Playing his first singles match in almost a year, Rafael Nadal defeated Dominic Thiem in an all-Grand Slam champion match-up in Brisbane on Tuesday night, beating the 2020 US Open winner in the first round of the Australian Open lead-up event, 7-5, 6-1. The Spaniard had been out of singles action for almost a year with a hip injury that required surgery before taking to the court in Australia. Anticipation could hardly have been greater, and Nadal wasted little time unloading …

Riyadh, the desert city of Saudi Arabia, became the scene of a showdown between Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic in a pre-season exhibition match. Both players are looking ahead to the Australian Open, which is coming up in the second half of January. Whilst it is just an exhibition match, Alcaraz and Djokovic are the two highest-ranked male tennis players in the world right now and any battle between the duo is enjoyed by tennis fans around the world. Two highest-ranked players …

The Australian Open kicks off the annual Grand Slam calendar in tennis. The full schedule of events leading up to the Australian Open has been released, with a bevy of exciting tournaments running from the back end of December until late January. Sydney, Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and Canberra will all host major events as players prepare for the 112th edition of the Australian Open. 29 December - 7 January The 2024 edition of the United Cup will be played in the Australian cities …

Emma Raducanu will officially make her comeback at the start of 2024 after receiving a wildcard for the ASB Classic in Auckland. The tournament begins on January 1 as part of the build-up to the Australian Open. The ASB Classic is a professional combined ATP and WTA tennis tournament organized in Auckland, New Zealand. It follows the Brisbane International, an event that is also a unique combination of both the WTA field and the ATP field of tennis players. More importantly, …

Rafael Nadal is returning to competitive tennis after more than 300 days and Novak Djokovic should be a worried man. If Nadal can steer clear of more injuries, particularly career-threatening ones, the next few months in the tennis world can very well resemble the boxing world in terms of the vibe involving these two champion players. Nadal last competed at the Australian Open in January. Entering the tournament as defending champion after winning his 21st grand slam there in 2022, he …

The 2024 tennis season is fast approaching, with the Australian Open less than two months away. The Brisbane International will be one of the events held in Australia ahead of the opening Grand Slam of the year, and the field will be headlined by Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina. On the men's side, American Ben Shelton has been confirmed as playing. After a three-year absence, the Brisbane International returns to the Australian summer of tennis with a premier WTA tournament and …

The top-ranked Djokovic won a record-breaking seventh ATP Finals title on Sunday with a straight-set victory over home favorite Jannik Sinner. Djokovic took 1 hour, 43 minutes to win 6-3, 6-3 as the Serbian continues to reach new heights at the age of 36. The raucous crowd in Turin’s Pala Alpitour were clearly backing the Italian, but Serbia’s Djokovic was able to shut out the noise to triumph in two sets and avenge a group-stage defeat to his opponent. Sinner had been roared …

It was another final of a tournament which ended with Novak Djokovic lifting a trophy aloft. This win continues a fantastic year for Djokovic, who completed a Paris double for a second time in his career. Djokovic, who has not lost a match since his defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final in July, won a record-extending seventh title at the Paris Masters on Sunday with a quick and easy 6-4, 6-3 victory over Grigor Dimitrov in the final. It is …

The ATP season is fast coming to a close in 2023, with just two significant events remaining on the calendar. One of these is the Rolex Paris Masters, which takes place this week in Bercy, Paris. The last ATP Masters 1000 event of the season gets underway on Monday. And it’s a blockbuster field, featuring all of the world’s top 16 players. With the ATP Finals just two weeks ago, three spots remain open for that event. Plus, the year-end world …

There are some massive moves in the men’s rankings this week. Ben Shelton, who made his first tour semifinal appearance at the US Open last month, continued his recent rich vein of form in Tokyo, making 18 winners and dominating his Russian opponent with his swinging lefty serve as he closed out the final in 84 minutes. The 21-year-old American won his first tour title, beating Aslan Karatsev 7-5, 6-1 at the Japan Open on Sunday. Victory will move Shelton to a career-high …

There were four tour-level events last week - one ATP event in Shanghai and three WTA events in Zhengzhou, Hong Kong and Seoul - and for three of the winners, their titles have given them some very notable bumps up the rankings this week. Hubert Hurkacz surprised Andrey Rublev to claim the Shanghai Masters title with a pulsating 6-3 3-6 7-6 (8) victory. The Pole came out on top after a thrilling third set to claim victory in China, overcoming a first …

Jannik Sinner produced a determined display to win his third title of the year and ninth overall with a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2) victory over second-seeded Daniil Medvedev in the final of the China Open on Wednesday. The Italian entered his fifth championship match of the year trailing the 27-year-old 0-6 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Sinner looked unfazed by his previous record against the World No. 3, though, firing his trademark clean groundstrokes with power to outlast Medvedev. "Daniil, …