Stan Wawrinka: ‘I really believe that I squeezed the lemon until the last drop’

The 40-year-old is nearing end of his career and has few regrets after winning three grand slams in Big Three eraIn the first week of the final year of his life as a professional tennis player, Stanislas “Stan” Wawrinka found himself in the familiar position of staring down an opponent nearly half his age. Wawrinka, now 40, had tussled with the talented 23-year-old Flavio Cobolli for nearly three hours before offering himself a shot at a monumental victory.Just a few tense errors deep in a tense final set tie-break saw those chances slip away. In theory, deciding that 2026 will be the final year of his career should provide Wawrinka with an opportunity to swing for the fences and completely empty his tank, playing without inhibitions. Life, however, is far more complicated than that

Brilliant, battered and unkillable: Josh Allen lurches towards the Super Bowl

The Buffalo Bills quarterback is not only a danger to opponents. His bravery and skill inspire his teammates to elevate their playTwo things about the NFL playoffs are predictable: Josh Allen will play out of his skin ... and Josh Allen will suffer a soul-sucking, stupefying loss

49ers dethrone Eagles; Bills beat Jaguars in thriller: NFL playoffs wildcard round – as it happened

And here is the playoff bracket as it stands, as I bid you goodnight! What a start to the postseason.49ers 23-19 Eagles, final scoreAnother fourth-quarter frenzy sees the 49ers comeback from 16-10 down. A really limp showing from the Eagles to only find 114 yards of offense and two field goals in the second half with the season on the line.Did Nick Sirriani’s blow up with AJ Brown in the first half affect the outcome? Brown did not make a catch after the first quarter and made a crucial drop in the final drive.49ers 23-19 Eagles 0:40, 4th quarterPressure

Tom Willis wins family affair to help Saracens topple Toulouse in Champions Cup

Even for the world’s best rugby player it is not all glamour. As he sniffed the damp air on a blustery, cheerless Sunday night in north London, Antoine Dupont must privately have been wondering if this was some sort of fiendish Anglo-Saxon conspiracy. Any similarity with the classic cathedrals and comforting familiarity of the Stade de France in next month’s Six Nations was conspicuously lacking.For a defiant Saracens, though, this chilly, sodden evening delivered the most beautiful of outcomes and a result that transforms the mood of their previous flagging season. They fully deserved this rousing victory, two first-half tries from Rotimi Segun and a barnstorming display from man-of-the-match Tom Willis laying the foundations for the hosts’ best performance of the season which has sharply improved their Champions Cup knockout qualification prospects

David hat-trick dismantles Stormers to send Harlequins into Champions Cup last 16

Harlequins back? Or is this latest outrageous twist in the story of their inconsistency a case of same old, same old? First, it needs to be acknowledged that this was a comprehensive dismantling of a side who had not lost a game this season. This was hardly the Stormers’ first team, but an unbeaten squad is an unbeaten squad. God knows, they are beaten now.The notion that Harlequins are one of the Premiership’s whipping boys was made to look absurd as they strutted the turf of the Stoop with supreme confidence and aplomb. Try after try followed, a hat-trick for Nick David with consecutive tries either side of half-time

Ashes calamity has trashed McCullum’s credibility. It’s time to call on Alec Stewart | Mark Ramprakash

The curtain came down on the Ashes in Sydney with England again being outplayed in the basics of the game. But it is one thing to have a weak team, and another to have a talented one that just looks muddled.I was very optimistic going into the series because England had a quality group of players, many of them in their 20s – in my opinion their peak years – who had played a lot of international cricket together, come through a tough series against India, and appeared to have matured their approach, adding nuance and adaptability, evolving from their old one-size-fits-all swagger. Well, high expectations can be dangerous because if things don’t work out the disappointment is all the more profound.So I look at the wreckage of this series and all those high hopes and ask myself, did this management group – Rob Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes – give the England squad the best chance of success? They all seem to be bullish that they can carry on and of the three it is hard to argue that Stokes should not: he’s the obvious leader in the group and there are not many other candidates