Arsene Wenger embarked on a last-ditch spending spree on transfer deadline day as the under-pressure Arsenal boss signed Mikel Arteta, Andre Santos, Per Mertesacker and Yossi Benayoun, while Manchester City completed their shock swoop for injury-plagued midfielder Owen Hargreaves.

Wenger has been feeling the heat since his side's humiliating 8-2 defeat at Manchester United on Sunday and he reacted by splashing out around £24 million on a quartet of new faces on Wednesday.

The U.S. Open's most stunning loss Wednesday was bigger than just the Grand Slam tournament, with Venus Williams withdrawing and revealing she's suffering from an autoimmune disease.

The seven-time major champion said in a statement that she was recently diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome, "an ongoing medical condition that affects my energy level and causes fatigue and joint pain."

Real Madrid parted company Wednesday with three players -- winger Pedro Leon and midfielders Fernando Gago and Royston Drenthe -- who coach Jose Mourinho has made clear have no place in his squad.

The club loaned Leon back to his former club Getafe with the option to buy at the end of the season, the two clubs said in a statement.

South Korea's first 2014 World Cup qualification match against Lebanon on Friday will be an opportunity for the team to put behind it a painful few months.

Korea's last game was a comprehensive 3-0 defeat at the home of bitter rival Japan on August 10, prompting the first real criticism of coach Cho Kwang-rae from the domestic media since he took the job a year earlier.

Juventus has acquired Netherlands winger Eljero Elia from Hamburger SV for €9 million ($13 million) in one of the biggest moves on the final day of the transfer market in Italy.

Juventus says Wednesday that Elia's price could rise to €10 million ($14.4 million) depending on bonuses, adding that it has signed the player to a four-year contract.

Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova crumbled in the first round of the U.S. Open on Sunday, as Maria Sharapova showed her championship mettle with a battling victory.

Kvitova tumbled out of the tournament at the hands of unheralded Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru while Sharapova -- who she beat for the Wimbledon crown -- eked out a three-set win over British teenager Heather Watson.

New Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella has described his team's clash with Venezuela in India on Friday as more than just a friendly because expectations are so high.

"It is an extremely important match both for me and the team. There are huge expectations from us back home and it is a big responsibility," Sabella told Tuesday's Times of India ahead of the match in Kolkata.

A 70-year-old grandfather waded into the chilly sea on Tuesday in a bid to become the oldest person to swim across the English Channel.

Roger Allsopp set off from Shakespeare Beach in Dover, southeast England, at 8:00am (0700 GMT), heading for Cap Gris-Nez on the northeast French coast, some 21 miles (34 kilometers) away.

Red Bull technical chief Adrian Newey revealed he was scared for his drivers' lives in Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix - after sending them out to race on potentially-dangerous tires.

Newey experienced death at close quarters in 1994 when he designed the Williams car in which Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna was killed at the San Marino Grand Prix.

Manchester United handed Arsenal its heaviest loss under Arsene Wenger on Sunday with Wayne Rooney scoring a hat trick in a humiliating 8-2 drubbing in the Premier League that only compounded the London club's early-season troubles.

Having seen cross-city rival Manchester City thrash Tottenham 5-1 earlier in the day, United responded in style with Ashley Young, Danny Welbeck, Nani and Park Ji-sung joining Rooney on the scoresheet.