Almost 10,000 images of tennis balls plunge up to 90% in value as Australian Open appears to ditch NFTs

Nearly 10,000 images of balls have plunged up to 90% in value after Tennis Australia appears to have walked away from its non-fungible token (NFT) program three years after it began selling the artworks to punters.Launched at the peak of hype around NFTs, the Australian Open’s Artball program allowed keen fanatics to buy 6,776 ball artworks sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that are linked to 19cm x 19cm plots on the court at Melbourne Park. In 2023, the Open had an additional 2,454 NFTs on offer.The balls in 2022 were priced at 0.067 in the ethereum cryptocurrency – about $278 at the time of minting on 22 January 2022 – and all NFTs were sold

Mystery surrounds Caleb Ewan’s future after top cyclist erased from team roster

He is among Australia’s greatest sprinters – winner of five Tour de France stages and half a dozen other grand tour stage wins. But at the moment, Caleb Ewan is nowhere to be found.Last week, Ewan’s profile was featured on the team page of his World Tour outfit, Australia-registered Team Jayco AlUla. By this week, the diminutive sprint star has disappeared from the website. Of the team’s 30 confirmed roster spots, there are 29 riders listed – with one conspicuously empty slot on the webpage where Ewan’s image once appeared

Warren Gatland still up for Wales test as Mee and Edwards receive Six Nations call-ups

Warren Gatland, the Six Nations’ longest-serving head coach, insists he is still up for the challenge of reviving Welsh rugby fortunes after naming two uncapped players, the Ospreys fly-half Dan Edwards and the Scarlets wing Ellis Mee, in a reshuffled 34‑man squad for the 2025 tournament which commences on 31 January.Gatland has also dropped Gareth Anscombe, Rio Dyer, Cameron ­Winnett and Taine Plumtree, among others, in a bid to rediscover a winning blend after a grim 12 months during which Wales extended their losing run to 12 consecutive Tests and collected their first Six Nations wooden spoon for 21 years.It prompted the Welsh Rugby Union to commission an independent review and the 61-year-old Gatland admitted he was among those wondering if the time had come to relinquish a role he first held in 2008. “I had some discussions with the family and spoke about the challenges. The questions I was ­asking myself were: ‘Was I at that stage where I needed the negativity in my life or do I just hang up my boots and go to the beach and enjoy myself?’”Gatland, however, did not want to leave Wales in the lurch in mid-season and still feels he can make a difference

Joe Marler to lead talks with RFU and clubs over England player welfare

Joe Marler has revealed he has been appointed to lead discussions with the Rugby Football Union and the Premiership clubs over the welfare of England players, claiming that Test stars were previously “not looked after”.Marler, who brought an end to his England career during the autumn internationals before retiring for good in November, has been appointed to a new role as performance director for Team England Rugby (TER).TER is an organisation set up by England players to negotiate with the RFU after the decision was made to break away from the Rugby Players’ Association. Much of Marler’s focus will be on players exceeding the maximum game time – reduced to 30 match involvements as part of the Professional Game Partnership which came into effect this season.With the British & Irish Lions tour of Australia taking place this summer, a host of England players are on course to exceed the limit with Marler expressing concern that “so many” will require exemptions to continue playing

Ronnie O’Sullivan says he ‘lost the plot’ before pulling out of Masters defence

Ronnie O’Sullivan has called his withdrawal from this year’s Masters event “a nightmare decision”, adding that he “lost the plot” and broke his cue in half before dropping out of last week’s Championship League.Speaking in his role as a pundit on Eurosport, O’Sullivan said: “It was a nightmare decision, really, to make. If you’d asked me Sunday if I was ready to play, I probably would have been OK to play, but it’s such a massive tournament.”O’Sullivan withdrew from his Masters title defence on Friday on medical grounds, after struggling at Thursday’s Championship League event in Leicester. The current world No 3 lost three of his first four matches before pulling out of his final group game, amid reports he had thrown his cue in the bin

Jimmy Anderson to put Lancashire before England with new one-year deal

Jimmy Anderson has said turning out for Lancashire will take ­prece­dence over any coaching opportu­nities with England this summer after agreeing a new one-year contract to play in the County Championship and the T20 Blast.The 42-year-old Anderson has been working as a consultant coach for England since his enforced ­retirement from Test cricket last ­summer and he will be part of ­Brendon ­McCullum’s backroom staff for the Champions Trophy in Pakistan next month.Anderson, however, has also stated his intention to continue ­playing and, after missing out on a deal in the Indian Premier League, has now agreed a season-long ­contract at his boyhood club that will include the club’s bid to climb out of Division Two after their relegation last year.“I’ll play as much as I can really,” Anderson told the BBC Tailenders podcast. “As much as I have enjoyed coaching, I’ll see how that fits this summer