Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams led a squad of star players in staging an exhibition event at Melbourne Park which raised £2.8m for bushfire victims.

EXCLUSIVE: Mats Wilander knows a thing or two about the Australian Open having lifted it three times during his illustrious career. Sportsmail caught up with him to get his tips for the tournament.

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.

MIKE DICKSON IN MELBOURNE: Fed Cup captain Anne Keothavong will hope bad news does not come in pairs after Jo Konta told her that she will not be playing for Great Britain next month.

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.

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.

British captain Anne Keothavong is hoping that Heather Watson's off court contentment can translate into an upset for her team as they spend the next two days trying to reach the new Fed Cup finals.

MIKE DICKSON IN BRATISLAVA: Harriet Dart gave Great Britain a brief injection of hope, but an age old fallibility on clay means the country's leading women are likely to miss out on the riches.

MIKE DICKSON IN BRATISLAVA: An emotional Harriet Dart had to be consoled by team-mates after failing to stop Great Britain from missing out on the bonanza of the new Fed Cup final week.

Novak Djokovic is many things. He is a Christian, a meditator, a yoga-enthusiast, a father, a husband, president of the ATP Player Council, speaks five languages and he's incredibly spiritual.

With his hair in need of a trim, world number one Djokovic gave wife Jelena the responsibility amid the coronavirus lockdown, and was happy with the end product, saying 'Not bad!'

Djokovic posted a video on Instagram showing him exchanging shots with another man at a tennis club in the coastal city of Marbella, where the Serb has reportedly stayed.

Rapson admits staging the eight-man tournament in a corner of western Germany was a 'shot in the dark', but it was considered a sufficient success for four extra competitors to be added.

Great rivals Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal were united by the same misdemeanour this week - breaking the lockdown rules in Spain in order to practise.

He's the 5 Seconds of Summer star known for constantly changing the colour of his hair.

Luke Hemmings, from Five Seconds Of Summer, is facing allegations of using escorts and cocaine. The 21-year-old was accused by his ex-girlfriend Arzaylea Rodriguez.

Five Seconds of Summer star Luke Hemmings and X Factor talent Sierra Deaton are becoming fast friends.

He's a member of the acclaimed band 5 Seconds Of Summer, who hails from Sydney.

5 Seconds Of Summer were mercilessly mocked by Twitter users for their unique accents during an appearance on The Project on Tuesday night.

It's been quite a year for 5 Seconds Of Summer, with the band's latest album Youngblood topping the charts around the world.

It's been a busy year for 5 Seconds of Summer, with their single Youngblood spending an impressive 46 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.

They're the ARIA Award-winning rockers with millions of fans across the world. 

He's the drummer with one of the biggest bands in Australia.

They made a spectacular comeback last year with their Youngblood album.

His official spokesman said today that he was receiving 'updates on the coronavirus response' and spoke to Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab and Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, yesterday.

British businessman Steve Walsh was one of Britain's first coronavirus superspreaders and his movements were analysed by scientists to help develop an immunity test.

It has been speculated that those in vulnerable groups could be asked to stay home for a year to 18 months, or until a vaccine is found, amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak.

Today guidance drawn up by the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and the shop workers' union Usdaw was released to help shops prepare for the reopening of the UK's high street stores.

San Francisco ended its lockdown after just a month of closing public gatherings and ordering members of the public to wear masks. As a result, its case and death count more than doubled.

The Prime Minister ditched Zoom despite appeals from advisers to avoid appearing in person and walked confidently into a packed cabinet room for his 9.15am meeting on Monday.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain today, the wife of former British PM Tony Blair wished Carrie Symonds 'all the best' after she gave birth to a healthy baby boy with Boris Johnson this morning.

Sir Mark Sedwill's probe is said to have found 'no evidence' to corroborate the allegations made by staff at Whitehall departments.

RICHARD KAY: Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds' newborn son will be welcomed into a world where his first companions will be the custodians, gardeners, and policemen of No 10.

Prof Neil Mortensen of the Royal College of Surgeons, pictured, warned that Covid-19 has not been defeated as his one third of his members complain of shortages in PPE.

Key details from 'Project Restart' have emerged with the Premier League 'sending out a restart schedule to clubs' and full training to resume in three weeks.

Boris Johnson tonight announced a huge spike in the number of daily coronavirus tests to 81,000 as Matt Hancock appeared to be closing in on his 100,000 a day target.

Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, made the astonishing revelation as pressure increased on Boris Johnson to plot a way out of the crisis.

With the birth of his son in the early hours of this morning, Boris Johnson becomes only the fourth Prime Minister to welcome a baby to Downing Street. Here is what family life might look like for them.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson last night put the reproduction rate of the coronavirus at the heart of Britain's crisis and said he would not do anything which risks triggering another outbreak.

Drawing on scientific predictions and the experiences of other countries to Britain emerging from isolation, JONATHAN MAYO imagines the 'new normal'.

Corbyn (pictured in parliament) sparked fury among Starmer loyalists by appearing to signal he was wrong to keep pressing the government over how the country will get out of the lockdown.

He confirmed that the Government would follow a 'whack-a-mole' strategy against resurgent areas as the Government slowly lifts the economically crippling restrictions and get UK PLC going again.

RMT's Assistant General Secretary Mick Lynch told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning that ministers want to be running 85%-100% of services within a fortnight despite it not being 'safe'.

The Mayor of London said he was 'really worried' about the impact any easing of restrictions would have on public transport in the capital (pictured).

EU disease control chief Andrea Ammon said the UK was one of five European countries along with Poland, Romania, Sweden and Bulgaria which have yet to see a downward trend in cases.

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.

The timing of the disclosure that Prof Ferguson met his married lover during the lockdown on the day the UK became 'Europe's sick man' has raised questions about who blew the whistle.

The world's media has lined up to savage Britain's coronavirus response this week after the UK's death toll surpassed Italy's to become the worst in Europe.

The proposals are to be split into five stages over the coming months, and a leaked version of the plan has suggested the first changes on Monday will see unlimited exercise allowed.