Playing true to their rankings, defending champion Novak Djokovic and Iga Swiatek will be the top seeds at the Australian Open in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year which begins Sunday at Melbourne Park.

The men's seedings mirror the ATP rankings as of Wednesday from Nos. 1-32, with 24-time major winner Djokovic followed by Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz, the only player to beat him a Grand Slam event in 2023.

The former president of a top-division football team in Turkey told a court on Tuesday that he regretted attacking a referee at the end of a league game but denied threatening to kill him.

Faruk Koca, who resigned as president of MKE Ankaragucu after punching referee Halil Umut Meler, has been charged with causing wilful injury to a public official, threatening an official and violating a law relating to the prevention of violence in sports.

Thierry Henry, who won the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 European Championship with France and is Arsenal's all-time highest scorer, has opened up about the fact he "must have been in depression" during his soccer career.

The 46-year-old former forward says he had a spell early in the coronavirus pandemic when he was "crying almost every day".

With Real Madrid enjoying good momentum and Atletico Madrid on a bit of a slump, the city rivals meet in the semifinal of the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday in the first of three matches between the clubs in less than a month.

After the Super Cup, Madrid and Atletico will clash again on Jan. 18 in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey, and then on Feb. 4 at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in their second Spanish league match of the season.

U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff will head to the Australian Open with greater confidence in her form and fitness after beating Elina Svitolina in three sets in the Auckland Classic final.

The third-ranked Gauff became only the fourth player to win back-to-back singles in Auckland, achieving the feat at the age of 19.

Rafael Nadal chose to look on the bright side when it comes to the torn hip muscle that will keep him out of the Australian Open and extend his absence from tennis to more than a year.

At least, he told the world via social media on Sunday, this is not the same part of the hip that he hurt in Melbourne last January and that required surgery last June. At least, the 22-time Grand Slam champion explained, he still can point to his main goal for 2024, which remains to be fit and ready to compete in a serious way at the French Open on his beloved red clay.

It has been a slow start to the January transfer window in the Premier League.

Expect that to change pretty quickly.

Jurgen Klopp has wished Mohamed Salah good luck — sort of — for the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

Liverpool's top scorer this season could be absent for more than a month depending on how Egypt performs in the Ivory Coast.

Rafael Nadal missed three match points and needed a medical time-out Friday before losing to Jordan Thompson in the quarterfinals of his tournament comeback following a year-long injury layoff.

The 22-time major winner failed to convert a match point in the 10th game of the second set and two more in the tiebreaker before No. 55-ranked Thompson rallied to win 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-3 at the Brisbane International.

U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff overcame hard-hitting Czech teenager Barbara Fruhvirtova 6-3, 6-0 and extended her winning start to the year and Auckland Classic defense to the quarterfinals on Thursday.

The 16-year-old Fruhvirtova came out hitting harder than any player at the tournament so far, generating enormous power off both hands. She troubled Gauff at first and broke the American's serve to love in the third game.