The 37-year-old returns to the courts in Brisbane this week, almost a year since he last played professionally before an injury curse that has long plagued him returned with a vengeance.

Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, makes his comeback after a near year-long injury absence at the Australian Open warm-up event in Brisbane starting Sunday.

Novak Djokovic has no plans to hang up his racket any time soon and is hoping he might be able to emulate American football great Tom Brady by extending his career well past his 40th birthday, the 36-year-old Serbian said on Tuesday.

Showstopper Nick Kyrgios and former US Open champion Emma Raducanu were notable absentees Thursday from the 2024 Australian Open entry list, but Rafael Nadal and Naomi Osaka are set for their Grand Slam comebacks.

Former world number one Rafael Nadal said on Monday he expects "nothing" from himself before his return to the courts next month.

At 36 years old Djokovic is still tennis' number one player by some distance and he has racked up a host of new records this season, taking his Grand Slam tally to 24 and finishing top of the year-end world rankings for the eighth time.

The 24-time Grand Slam champion needed just one win or a defeat for young rival Carlos Alcaraz in order to secure top spot in the ATP rankings for 2023 and prevailed in a three-hour Green Group clash with spirited debutant Rune.

The world number two said he had been "out of my mind" during his semi-final match against Jannik Sinner in the Chinese capital, which the Italian won 7-6 (7/4), 6-1.

World number one Aryna Sabalenka sailed into the second round of the China Open with an imperious 6-1, 6-2 defeat of Sofia Kenin on Sunday.

Eighth seed Veronika Kudermetova claimed her first title of the season and second overall with a comprehensive 7-5 6-1 win over world number four Jessica Pegula in the Pan Pacific Open final in Tokyo on Sunday.

Chinese tennis trailblazer Zhang Zhizhen claimed the nation's first men's singles gold medal at the Asian Games in nearly 30 years on Saturday, riding a wave of crowd support to beat Japan's Yosuke Watanuki 6-4 7-6(7) in Hangzhou.

Newly crowned world number one Aryna Sabalenka said Friday she is "super motivated" to finish the year in top spot as she prepares to compete in the China Open in Beijing.

"I believe that numbers are numbers and statistics are statistics. In that sense, I think he (Djokovic) has better numbers than mine and that is indisputable," Nadal said in an interview with AS published on Wednesday

"I said that possibly 2024 was my last year, I maintain that, but I can not confirm it 100 percent because I do not know," Nadal told Movistar.

A tearful Andy Murray dedicated his Davis Cup win on Friday to his grandmother after missing her funeral to play in the tie against Switzerland.

The world number one eased to a 6-3, 6-4 success to give his country an unassailable 2-0 lead in Valencia after Laslo Djere's earlier 6-4, 6-4 win over Albert Ramos-Vinolas

Novak Djokovic, who won his 24th Grand Slam title on Sunday, will dominate men's tennis for years because younger players have yet to reach his level, according to Andy Murray.

The 'Big Three' dominated men's tennis over the last two decades with a collective 66 Grand Slam titles between them but Djokovic is now clear of the retired Federer (20) and Nadal (22), who is expected to call time on his career next year

"I thought about doing this t-shirt a few days ago," said Djokovic. "I didn't share it with anybody. Kobe was a close friend of mine, we chatted a lot, about the winner's mentality."

The 36-year-old Serb becomes the oldest U.S. Open men’s winner in the Open Era and the first to win three Grand Slam events in a season for the fourth time.