Organisers of the Australian Open are bullish that the event will start and finish on time after the smoke haze relented on Thursday in Melbourne.

Alexander Zverev has opened a war of words with Nick Kyrgios after dismissing his chances of winning the Australia Open and claiming 'there are a lot of young guys better than him'.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Roger Federer resurfaced at the Australian Open - and it was not the usual early season celebration of the sport's highest profile athlete.

What reasons are there to tune in this time? Well, there is excitement around Coco Gauff, Serena Williams in pursuit of a landmark and Rafael Nadal eyes revenge after ATP Cup final defeat.

Roger Federer showed no signs of rust from his lack of match practice ahead of the Australian Open by hammering American Steve Johnson 6-3 6-2 6-2 in the first round on Monday.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Exiled to a court on the outer limits of Melbourne Park, Dan Evans was not about to get ideas above his station.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Jo Konta's problems when faced with players who bring a box of tricks to the court surfaced again on Tuesday morning when she was bundled out of the Australian Open.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Kyle Edmund and Jo Konta suffered a thudding disappointment at the Australian Open as a big day for British singles players started woefully.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Maria Sharapova's precipitous tumble down the rankings continued after she was bundled out of the Australian Open first round by Donna Vekic.

And the No 7 seed will also offer up $10,000 (£6,180) for every match he wins in the first major of the tennis calendar if he fails to win the tournament.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Here, Sportsmail's Tennis Correspondent rounds up some of the things you may have missed from day three of the action in Australia.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Sportsmail's tennis correspondent Mike Dickson rounds up some of the things you may have missed from day six in Melbourne.

Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov edged out Canadian eighth seed Denis Shapovalov 6-3 7-6(3) in a scrappy first round encounter at the Rotterdam Open on Monday.

PETER CARLINE IN ROTTERDAM: Gael Monfils was in unplayable mood as the world No 9 saw off British No 1 Dan Evans in straight sets to reach the semi-finals of the Rotterdam Open. 

The British no 3 was broken three times by the world number 84 after taking an early 2-0 lead to surrender the first set 6-3. But Edmund later converted his first match point to wrap up the win.

MIKE DICKSON: Kyle Edmund's revival of the past few months gathered further pace on Sunday when he took his second title on the main ATP Tour.

Roger Federer is to miss the next three months of the season after undergoing surgery on his right knee, a reminder that even the greats are not immortal.

Di Lorenzo is ranked more than 250 places higher than the 23-year-old and two consecutive breaks put the American up 4-0 as she wrapped up the first set inside 26 minutes in Acapulco.

The Briton, who kicked off the week with a straight-sets win against Kim Clijsters, had 10 break points without converting a single one on her way to a first-set tie-break against her German opponent.

World tennis has united to take a pointed swipe at the French Open, as the whole spring clay-court season was formally abandoned.

Sixteen of the best players across the ATP and WTA tours will swap tennis rackets for video game controllers as it has been revealed the 2020 Madrid Open will now become a virtual competition. 

The Spaniard was announced alongside John Isner, Kiki Bertens and Fiona Ferro as the latest tennis stars to participate in the virtual event to help raise money for the coronavirus pandemic.

London markets rebounded this morning and opened up by 1.6 per cent after US stocks staged a late rally and European countries start to ease coronavirus restrictions.

Professor Ferguson, 51, asked Antonia Staats, 38, to travel across London from her £1.9million home at least twice despite lecturing Britain on the need to stay apart to stop the spread of the virus.

First Minister Mark Drakeford pre-empted the 'exit strategy' from Westminster as he declared that only 'small and modest' easings are possible to avoid coronavirus flaring up.

Garden centres will be allowed to reopen next week under Boris Johnson's plans to ease the lockdown.

The movies screened have been made exclusively for the experience, in collaboration with porn star Kim Holland. The cinema is located in Amsterdam's medieval centre.

It's part of the Camp Adventure Climbing Park, one hour south of Copenhagen on the island of Zealand, which at 18 acres is the largest woodland adventure park in Denmark.

The contest received 193,000 entries from photographers in over 200 territories. More than 100 images were shortlisted and judges had the hard task of picking 10 category winners.

Guidelines have been drawn up by the Orange County Economic Recovery Task Force, which has been charged with plotting the Florida area's route to normality.

I used very forceful language to convey my dismay at such reckless, shocking and woefully irresponsible behavior. And for that, I make no apology.

TOM COLLOMOSSE IN ATHENS: The hosts were reduced to 10 men in the first half after Ruben Semedo was sent off, but then took the lead in the second when Youssef el Arabi opened the scoring.

It Came To Pass caused a mighty 66-1 upset in the St. James's Place Foxhunter Challenge Cup at Cheltenham. It was a family affair, as the winner is trained in County Cork by Eugene O'Sullivan.

Pubs have been shut since the UK went into lockdown on March 23, but Professor Robert Dingwall (pictured) said it is time to relax the rules.

Some councils said they won't open sites until safety measures put in place. New analysis revealed fly-tipping has increased by 300 per cent during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Tim Richards, chief executive of the Vue Cinemas chain, said he is 'hopeful' that cinemas can be open in time for the release date of Nolan's new film, Tenet, on July 17.

The future of Odegaard, currently on loan at LaLiga side Real Sociedad, hinges on Modric, according to Marca, with the club reportedly seeing the youngster as the Croatian's successor.

MARTIN SAMUEL - CHIEF SPORTS WRITER: All the reasons for not taking the Open to Royal Portrush are now similarly advanced for keeping it away from Royal Porthcawl.

Three-time grand slam winner Andy Murray said his singles return may be closer than he originally thought. The 32-year-old has been restricted to doubles action since returning from injury.

Andy Murray and brother Jamie have fallen at the quarter-final stage of the Citi Open in Washington to Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus after a closely fought three-seat encounter.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: A fast-food lifestyle no longer cuts it for those wanting to stay at the top of the sport of tennis. The Bryan Brothers are all in on bio-hacking - and are getting results.

Murray announced on Friday that he will compete next week in Cincinnati, seven months after his revelation in Australia that his career could be over, and is already planning further events.

Murray has confirmed that he won't play in the men's singles at the US Open later this month. Murray resumed his singles career on Monday night but lost in straight sets to Richard Gasquet in Cincinnati.

Murray, 32, made his long-awaited singles return at the Cincinnati Masters on Monday - his first singles match since an opening-round Australian Open exit in January.

The 32-year-old Murray, who underwent hip surgery seven months ago in a bid to save his career, returned to singles action last week, when he lost to Richard Gasquet in Cincinnati.

Andy Murray continued his singles comeback with a straight-sets defeat by Tennys Sandgren at the Winston-Salem Open in North Carolina on Monday night.

Andy Murray has entered the European Open in October as his comeback schedule continues to take shape. The Scot has already committed to two tournaments in China at the end of September.

The former world No 1 has lost both of the singles matches he has played since returning from January's hip surgery and, with the US Open starting on Monday, is dropping down a level.

Andy Murray defeated Norbert Gombos of Slovakia 6-3, 6-4 in the second-round of a second-tier Challenger Tour tournament hosted by Rafael Nadal's tennis academy on Tuesday.

It was not just his recent award for having Britain's 'Rear of the Year' that was giving Andy Murray cause for celebration yesterday. He also added another tournament to his hectic schedule.