Nick Kyrgios delights rowdy fans as tennis cultures clash at Kooyong Classic

The sign at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club reads “dress code applies”, but on Tuesday the rules were relaxed. Thousands from all walks of life streamed into the leafy grounds in Melbourne’s inner east to enjoy the first day of the Kooyong Classic, where Nick Kyrgios brought his own brand of tennis to the storied Australian Open warmup event.The 30-year-old announced on Friday he would not be playing singles at Melbourne Park, but he had already committed to Kooyong as he works his way back into shape. So under cloudy skies in Melbourne’s mid-afternoon, he found himself across the net from Chinese former world No 31 Zhang Zhizhen, now ranked 362, and returning from injury himself.Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club was the home of the Australian Open between 1972 and 1987 and is – outside Wimbledon – a bastion of tennis’s grasscourt traditions

Watching James Bond play my great uncle Brendan in Giant was surreal and spooky | Sean Ingle

The first time I watched Prince Naseem Hamed train, my jaw couldn’t have dropped any faster if he had hit me with one of his lassoing uppercuts. I had followed all his fights on TV, of course. But to see him in the flesh in September 1994, a year before he became world champion, was an altogether more visceral and mesmeric experience.Hamed’s punches sounded like firecrackers welcoming in the new year as they smashed into the pads. He was almost impossible to hit

Alyssa Healy shifted the dial to propel women’s cricket to its modern heights | Megan Maurice

“I’m not cut out for this.”This is not a sentiment that anyone who has observed Alyssa Healy’s long and storied career would have associated with such a champion of the game. But it was this thought that hit Healy early in her career for Australia, trying her hand at opening for her country for the first time and finding herself unable to hit the ball off the square, that demonstrates the depths of her humility and humanity.Always an immense talent growing up, Healy also had the blessing and curse of a famous surname. A blessing in that it ensured doors were always open for her, but a curse in the form of giant expectations that hung like a dark cloud above her head at all times

Mark Allen advances past Williams in Masters despite battle with food poisoning

Mark Allen shrugged off a bout of food poisoning to beat Mark Williams 6-2, winning five successive frames, and book a Masters quarter-final with Judd Trump or Ding Junhui, who play on Wednesday.Speaking to the BBC, Allen, the 2018 champion, said: “I prepare properly for these events, but I couldn’t prepare for this at all as I’ve been lying in bed all week with food poisoning. I just thought: ‘Go out there and give my best.’ I wouldn’t have had much left if it had got much closer.”Zhao Xintong stepped up his quest to complete snooker’s triple crown after breezing into the quarter-finals

Swiss resort Crans-Montana, scene of fatal bar fire, will be an Olympic venue in 2038

The Swiss ski resort of Crans-Montana, which was the scene of a fatal bar fire on New Year’s Day, is set to host the Alpine ski races at the 2038 Olympics.Less than a fortnight after the blaze at Le Constellation that killed 40 and injured 116 other people, officials for the bid have said that the municipality is a key site in their proposals for the Games in 12 years’ time.Switzerland has been granted privileged status by the International Olympic Committee, which means no other country will be allowed to bid while it finalises its proposal. Barring an unexpected development, therefore, it will host the 2038 Games.On Monday organisers confirmed that Crans-Montana would stage events as part of its plan to host competitions across the country in 12 years’ time in order to avoid taxpayer spending on construction

Olympic tensions flare as US skeleton star alleges Canadian coach rigged qualifying event

Sporting tensions between the USA and Canada have erupted once again, this time in skeleton as next month’s Winter Olympics approach.The USA’s Katie Uhlaender, a five-time Winter Olympian in skeleton, has accused the Canadian team of depriving her of a place at the Milan-Cortina Games by manipulating a qualifying event over the weekend.Uhlaender says that Canada deliberately pulled four of its six athletes from the race in the North American Cup in Lake Placid, New York. That meant the field was reduced to under 21 athletes and fewer qualifying points were on offer due to the lack of competition. Uhlaender believes the Canadian team did so to prevent American athletes from catching them in the standings for Olympic qualifying