The U.S. Tennis Association is warning folks: "No Bryan Brothers chest bumps." That was among the suggestions from the USTA on Wednesday, when it offered return-to-play guidelines to help players and people running tennis facilities know when " and how " the sport should resume at the amateur level as coronavirus lockdown restrictions ease.

The USTA thinks it will be safe to again play tennis "in some cities and states sooner than in others." One of the recommendations is to maintain social distancing by staying 6 feet apart from other people " and, therefore, to avoiding playing doubles, because it "could lead to incidental contact and unwanted proximity." The group that runs the U.S. Open went on to add: "If you do play doubles, avoid all incidental contact, no Bryan Brothers chest bumps and no whispering to each other from a close distance to strategize."

American twins Bob and Mike Bryan have won 16 Grand Slam titles in men's doubles together and celebrate wins by jumping simultaneously and bumping chests. All professional tennis has been suspended at least until mid-July. The U.S. Open is still scheduled to begin main-draw play in New York on Aug. 31.

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Former tennis champion and convicted child rapist Bob Hewitt on Friday walked out of jail after he was granted parole, the South African correctional services ministry said. Australia-born Hewitt was convicted in May 2015 of raping two girls aged 12 and 13 in the early 1980s, and of indecently assaulting a 17-year-old girl in 1994. He was sentenced to six years imprisonment and has been incarcerated at a jail in the coastal Eastern Cape province.

Hewitt, 80, served the minimum sentence period required before he was considered for parole. "We can confirm the parole placement and the parolee is now home," the ministry spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo told AFP. The disgraced former tennis star's previous attempts to get his sentence reduced were thrown out by the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court in 2016.

Born in Australia, Hewitt has lived in South Africa for most of his life. The former multiple Gram Slam doubles champion's name was removed from the International Tennis Hall of Fame after a series of sexual abuse allegations against him surfaced in 2013.

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A fund for tennis players hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic has been created, the sport's governing bodies announce, adding that they had contributed more than $6 million (5.3 million euros). In a joint statement, the ATP and WTA tours, the International Tennis Federation and the four Grand Slam tournaments -- the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open -- said the Player Relief Programme will support those "who are facing unprecedented challenges due to the global impact of COVID-19".

With the tennis season suspended until at least July 13, some "800 ATP/WTA singles and doubles players" are in need of financial support, the statement continued, with eligibility for the fund determined by a player's ranking and previous prize money earnings. The fund can also be donated to via initiatives including auctions, player donations and virtual tennis games, added the governing bodies, who last month announced talks about creating the programme.

The virus has caused havoc to the calendar, with Wimbledon cancelled for the first time since World War II and the French Open postponed until the end of September. The United States Tennis Association will decide in mid-June whether or not the US Open will take place in New York. However despite the financial difficulties facing hundreds of players, the idea of a relief fund was dismissed by world number three Dominic Thiem, who said last month he would not give lower-ranked players his money.
"Quite honestly I have to say that no tennis player will be fighting to survive, even those who are much lower-ranked," Thiem said, speaking of a separate fund idea revealed by Novak Djokovic.

"None of them are going to starve ... I would rather give money to people or organisations that really need it."

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The threat of online corrupt approaches does not cause much anxiety to BCCI's head of Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) Ajit Singh, who says Indian players are well aware of the modus operandi of fixers and are quick to report anything suspect. The ICC ACU head Alex Marshall, in an interview to 'The Guardian', said that prolonged lockdown and players using various social media platform could lead to corrupt approaches being made and people need to tread carefully. Singh said BCCI ACU is in control. "...we have made our players aware about the way people approach you and modus operandi through social media. We have told them 'look this is how they (potential fixers and bookies) would approach you'," the veteran IPS officer told PTI in an interaction. "(They will) try and behave like a fan and then try to meet you through someone who may be your acquaintance," he added. "Somehow these elements try and touch base with players. Most of them (India players), whenever it happens, they do report to us that I have got a contact."

Most of the top players, with millions of followers, have been very active online with Q and A sessions on twitter, interactive chats on instagram and Facebook live. So is the BCCI's ACU team tracking the online content? "Whatever can be tracked online, we do that. But obviously the physical verification part of going out and checking locations is out of question in times of a lockdown," he spoke about practical problems. "But if something comes to our notice, it automatically goes into our database and once lockdown is over, we will verify those if the need arises." Singh said the easiest aspect of tracking social media content is that it doesn't require too much manpower. "A few men who know their jobs can do it pretty well," the former DGP of Rajasthan said. But Singh said that, in his two year stint, all current India players have been honest and upright, very aware about their responsibilities. "We are not adversaries of players. The players and ACU are one team. It's the people who are trying to corrupt the games, they are the ones we need to track down." He said that both tracking social media and physical verification of corrupt approaches has its own set of challenges.

"Those who were trying to corrupt the players with physical presence and those using fake IDs on social media handles, converge at some point," he said. "Either it's the same person with a fake ID who tries to approach the player or uses someone on his behalf. So there is a pattern of convergence. One has to follow both the lines," he added. Singh said even former players have approached the ACU when they have found something unusual. "There have been things coming from current players and also retired players. There has been information coming from them. Things that they doubted, which look suspicious. "Any information is useful. Even if it's a false alarm, it raises the awareness level of the players as well as the skills of the team investigating it," the retired top cop said. There are some structural plans for the BCCI's ACU which will only materialise once normalcy returns after the COVID-19 pandemic. "Every zone will have a zonal head as it had been said earlier. A few zones don't have zonal heads, so we will fill those posts," he said.

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Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith on Tuesday said his country will welcome back former Kolpak players willing to be part of the domestic structure as he sees it as a possible way to provide more depth to the national team. Kolpak registrations, which give sportsmen from countries with associate trade agreements with the European Union the same rights as EU workers, are set to be terminated at end of 2020 following the UK's exit from the EU.

Dozens of South African cricketers have signed lucrative contracts with county cricket sides over the years but this automatically disqualifies them from playing for the national team. "With Kolpak coming to an end, I guess the willingness is always to have our best players in the system. It is up to the players to come back into the system and to make decisions on their careers," Smith, who was recently appointed as Director of Cricket by his Board, said. "From our perspective, we want to encourage all our best players to play here domestically, and then give themselves the opportunity to be selected for the national side," he was quoted as saying in 'Sky Sports'.

Kyle Abbott, Wayne Parnell, Rilee Roussow and Duanne Olivier are among the more prominent names to have taken Kolpak deals over the years, while Dane Paterson, who played two Tests against England in January, is the latest to do so. "We don't ever want to exclude players from being part of our system and we understand that the landscape of the world game is very different now to what it was," Smith said. "Open minds and how we look at these things is going to be key to how we keep our best players ¿ how we keep them motivated and in our game."

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Former skipper Inzamam-ul-Haq believes the difference between India and Pakistan teams during his playing days was that Indian players played for themselves while Pakistani players played for the team.

"When we played against India, their batting was more powerful than us on paper. But even our batsmen scored 30 or 40 runs, it was for the team, but for India, even if they scored 100 runs, they played for themselves," Inzamam said during the chat show with Ramiz Raja on YouTube.

"So, that was the difference between the two sides," he added.

Inzamam, who represented the national team in 120 Tests, 378 ODIs and 1 T20I between 1991 to 2007, played at a time when Pakistan used to dominate India on the cricket field.

However, in recent times, the tables have turned with India having an upper hand over their Asian neighbours.

Overall, Pakistan and India have played 59 Tests, 132 ODIs and 8 T20Is against each other in which India have won 9, 55 and 6 matches respectively while Pakistan have emerged victorious in 12, 73 and 1 games respectively.

When it comes to 50-over World Cup, India have won all the seven matches they have played against Pakistan. In T20 World Cup, India have won four out of five matches against Pakistan while the remaining one yielded no result.

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The current crop of players cannot be compared to the likes of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and other past stars, according to former Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf.

Yousuf, who faced the Indian team a number of times in bilateral series across formats and in the World Cup in his playing days, said that in the past, all teams had a few players who were of high quality.

"In the past, teams, such as India, Australia and South Africa, had three-four quality players in the side. India, for example, had players like (Rahul) Dravid, Sachin (Tendulkar), (Virender) Sehwag, (Sourav) Ganguly, (VVS) Laxman and Yuvraj Singh. These six batsmen were playing in a single team," said Yousuf during a TV show as quoted by Cricket Pakistan.

"The current Indian team does not have such batsmen. You can't compare the current players (such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma) with the class of Sachin and Dravid," he said.

Kohli is constantly rated as the best batsman in the world. In ODIs, he is the second highest run-scorer for India of all time with 11,867 runs in 248 matches at an average of 59.33. He is only behind Sachin Tendulkar who scored 18426 runs in 463 ODIs and is ahead of the likes of Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh despite having played far lesser ODIs than them.

Rohit Sharma has scored 9115 runs at an average of 49.27. In Tests, Kohli is the sixth highest run-scorer of all time with 7240 runs at an average of 53.62 in 86 matches.

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Australian cricketers are not going to be "greedy" if they are asked for a pay cut as it is important that the game thrives well into the future in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, said Test captain Tim Paine. With India's tour of Australia and the upcoming T20 World Cup in doubt due to the fast-spreading coronavirus, Cricket Australia has already stood down 80 per cent of its staff and now is in talks with Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) regarding a potential players' pay cut. "Players need to know the absolute financial positions of the game and the players aren't going to be greedy," Paine said on ABC Radio.

"Our livelihood, all the people associated with the CA and the players association, their livelihood is dependent on the game of cricket being healthy. "So at the moment if a pay cut for us is on the cards and that keeps our game thriving well into the future, then that's something we'll certainly have to look at." Cricket Australia might lose a staggering AUD 300 million dollars if the Indian team fails to turn up for the bilateral series due to the global health crisis. Paine said he wasn't surprised at the poor financial state of the board.

"I think commercially a lot of sponsors have been pretty hard hit and it's obviously going to hit Cricket Australia at some stage then as well," Paine said. "I think there's a bit of safeguarding towards the potential of India not coming (on a tour in December/January) which is worth something like 250 to 300 million dollars." Australia's borders are sealed till September 30 but in a bid to salvage the India tour, the government is considering providing international exemptions to allow the Indian team arrive in Australia. The 35-year-old Paine said he is not aware of any contingency plan if the India tour doesn't go ahead and hoped Virat Kohli and his men can arrive in Australia as planned.

"I haven't just yet and I don't want to be. I'm hoping that they get here, that would solve a lot of issues," Paine said. "I know there's been some early talks with Cricket Australia and the government around the potential of what could be done, chartering planes and getting them in isolation when they get here to make sure that we can get India here. "But apart from that I've only heard a few things on the rumour mill about maybe New Zealand coming out and us going there."

Asked about Michael Clarke's claims that the Australians had "sucked up" to Indian captain Kohli in recent years to protect lucrative IPL deals, Paine said the former Aussie captain should have taken individual names if he wants to take people on. "If you're going to come out with a big quote and try and take people on and cause any sort of trouble and have a crack at people, I think you name people individually and he certainly didn't," Paine said. "It was certainly unfounded because I was out on the field and there was no one taking it easy (on Kohli)."

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It was on this day in 1997, that the former Sri Lanka batsman Aravinda de Silva became the first player in the history of cricket to score two unbeaten centuries in the same Test.

The right-handed batsman achieved the feat against Pakistan in Colombo. Opting to bat first, de Silva came into bat with Sri Lanka 124/2.

De Silva played a knock of 138 runs in the first innings from 208 balls. His innings was studded with 19 fours and this knock took Sri Lanka's total to 331.

Pakistan was bundled out for 292 in the first innings and this gave hosts Sri Lanka a lead of 39 runs.

In the second innings, de Silva played an unbeaten knock of 103 runs off just 99 balls and this helped Sri Lanka to declare their second innings at 386/4, setting Pakistan a target of 426 runs.

Pakistan managed to hang on in the second innings and the side registered 285/5 and as a result, the match ended in a draw.

De Silva played 93 Tests and 308 ODIs for Sri Lanka. He was also a part of the 1996 World Cup-winning squad.

He registered 6,361 runs in the longest format at an average of 42.97.

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Veteran Kiwi batsman Ross Taylor on Friday claimed the top honour on the final day of the 2020 New Zealand Cricket Awards, winning the prestigious Sir Richard Hadlee Medal for the third time while Tim Southee was named Test Player of the Year. The virtual ceremony also saw Canterbury umpire Kim Cotton's meteoric rise through the officiating ranks recognised with the GJ Gardner Homes New Zealand Cricket Umpire of the Year award. Taylor had a great season, he helped guide the Blackcaps to a second successive ICC Cricket World Cup Final. He surpassed Stephen Fleming's all-time Test runs scoring record for New Zealand and became the first cricketer to play 100 international games in each of the three formats.

The 36-year-old was once again the glue in the top-order, amassing 1,389 runs across the three formats in a season in which he played in all but one of the Blackcaps' 32 internationals, from England to Sri Lanka, Australia and at home. Taylor reflected on the influence of the late Martin Crowe who was instrumental in developing the right hander's Test technique and helping him to set his goals. "I'm sure he would be proud of this. Marty was able to pass on a lot of his experience and wisdom which has played a massive part in my career," Taylor said.

"It was always something that he always pushed me to do (break records). I think he would probably be surprised at how well I have done. But I've been fortunate to be helped by a lot of people over the years and I guess when you win awards like this it's nice to be able to thank them," he added. On the other hand, Southee claimed 40 wickets from eight Tests, including 14 in the two-Test wins against India, in Wellington and Christchurch.

In the four Tests, the Kiwis won during the judging period, he took 25 wickets at an average of 16.40.

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When Vikrant Keni, who led the Indian team to its maiden Physical Disability T20 World Series in England last year, and teammate Gurudas Raut were invited by BCCI president Sourav Ganguly & Co to the Cricket Centre on March 4 to receive the token cheque of R65 lakh as prize money for their flawless performance, their achhe din may have begun to look like coming true.

A few weeks later, India went into lockdown to fight against the dreadful Coronavirus and the 18-player team have not received their share of R3 lakh each. The Indian cricket board has yet to release the payment but say the players will receive their dues soon.

The Supreme Court-appointed Committee of Administrators (CoA) had approved the prize money for the Indian physically challenged team before their term ended last October. With most of the players from the T20 World Series-winning squad living a hand-to-mouth existence, they feel the BCCI prize money would make a huge difference to them especially in these COVID-19 pandemic-caused testing times.

All-rounder Ramesh Naidu, 24, whose father M Ramu earns R15,000 from driving cars at Vijaya Medical Centre in Visakhapatnam, is finding it difficult to cope with the lockdown. "My family is completely dependent on my father's income. It's difficult to manage during this period," said Naidu, who is in his last year of M Tech (Master of Technology) in Electrical Engineering at IIT Chennai. Naidu had taken an education loan of Rs 4.5 lakh.

Wasim Khan, who hails from the turbulent Kashmir region, was banking on the prize money to cope with the lockdown.

"With no job, it's quite tough to exist. My elder brother is a lawyer but he is without any work at the moment. We have some groceries at home but I don't know how long they will last. We have got no help from anyone. It will be a big relief if BCCI releases our prize money soon," said Wasim, who had scored a match-winning 40-ball 79 in the semi-final against Pakistan.

Hard-hitting batsman Sudanese Mahendaran, 29, who changed the complexion of the game in the final against England with his 11-ball 33, said the lockdown has rendered his family income-less. "There has been no income for the last month as my father has not been able to ride his auto rickshaw due to the lockdown. My close friends are helping us out," said the Tamil Nadu lad.

Bengal-based wicketkeeper batsman Debabrata Roy, 31, is confident BCCI president Ganguly will rescue the players. "I was earning R8,000 till last month as a salesman at a cloth store. I am sure Dada [Ganguly] will look into our problems," said Roy.

Left-arm spinner Anish Rajan, who was India's highest wicket-taker (11) in the tournament, has had his share of suffering in the lockdown.

Skipper Vikrant Keni (right) and teammate Gurudas Raut with the R65 lakh cheque they received from the BCCI in March. Pic/ Suresh Karkera

A mechanical engineer by profession, Rajan quit his job in 2015 to pursue a career in cricket.

"My dream was to play for India. I play as a professional for Tripunithura Cricket Club in Kochi and I also officiate in matches as umpire or scorer. However, due to the lockdown, there has been no source of income," he said.

Skipper Keni, who is lucky to have a steady source of income, sympathised with the financial condition of some of his teammates. "Most of the players from my team are struggling as they have no jobs. I think the BCCI prize money is taking time due to the lockdown," said Palghar-based Keni.

BCCI's General Manager Cricket Operations, Syed Saba Karim told mid-day on Friday that the prize money will be remitted in a couple of days. "It has been approved and in a day or two, it will be processed. The amount will be deposited in their [players'] bank account. It has been cleared from our side," Karim said.

I will talk to BCCI: AICAPC prez Ghavri

AICAPC prez Karsan Ghavri

The president of the All India Cricket Association for Physically Challenged (AICAPC), Karsan Ghavri said he would talk to the BCCI officials to release the prize money of the Physical Disability T20 World Series-winning team once the lockdown ends. "It [the prize money] was supposed to go into the players' account, but it has not happened. This is not the right time to talk. Let everything settle down. We will definitely speak to the authorities," the former India all-rounder told mid-day.
Ghavri is also hopeful of sorting out the employment problems of the physically challenged cricketers. "We are definitely trying to help them out. In fact, Nitin Gadkari, a senior minister in the central government, is helping us a lot in this regard," he added.

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The two-month wait endured by India's Physical Disability T20 World Series-winning team for their prize money from the BCCI finally ended on Saturday after the Indian cricket board ensured that the Rs 3 lakh [to each player and support staff member] was remitted in their respective bank accounts.

mid-day on Friday had highlighted the hopes players had from the BCCI after the cash reward was announced on March 4. The BCCI deposited Rs 2.70 lakh [after tax] to all 18 players and five support staff members of the winning team.

It was a huge relief for Suganesh Mahendaran, son of an auto rickshaw driver. "I didn't expect the money to come so soon. When my teammate Ramesh Naidu informed me, I just couldn't believe it. This money is quite precious and we will use it very carefully," said the hard-hitting Tamil Nadu all-rounder, who changed the complexion of the final v England with his 11-ball 33 to help clinch the title in August 2019 at Worcestershire.

Naidu was thrilled too. "It is a huge amount for jobless cricketers like me. I will give this money to my father as he knows how best to utilise it," said Naidu, who is doing his M Tech from IIT Chennai.

Coach Sulakshan Kulkarni thanked mid-day for highlighting the players' cause. "We all received the money from BCCI. mid-day's article has made a lot of difference. So, a big thank you," said the former Mumbai wicketkeeper and Ranji Trophy-winning coach.

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Former India pacer Ashish Nehra has said that M.S. Dhoni was always open to a chat with his players after a match and his hotel room would always be open for them after the games. "People think that Dhoni doesn't talk much. That is not the case. His room would remain open in the night after matches. Anyone could walk in, order food and discuss cricket," Nehra said while speaking to former India opener Aakash Chopra on his show 'Aakash Vani'.

"Be it in CSK or in the Indian team, Dhoni would pass on the message on what he thinks a player needs to do during a conversation and that would be enough for the players to get the drift," added Nehra who played a lot of cricket under Dhoni's captaincy both for India and at Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Nehra also spoke on former India captain and current Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Sourav Ganguly, saying he was a leader who used to back his players to the hilt.

"Dhoni had senior players around him when he took over and the challenge was how to manage them. Dada had a team of juniors and he backed them to the hilt. He would go all out to back his players," said the former left-arm pacer who played 17 Tests, 120 ODIs and 27 T20Is.

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Luis Suarez has hit out at the 'hurtful' claims Barcelona players were against taking a 70% pay cut during Spain's state of emergency. 

Three of captain Thomas Bjorn's predecessors in the role, Brian Huggett, Sam Torrance and Jose Maria Olazabal, delivered a series of messages designed to fire up the Europeans.

From Patrick Reed hitting out at Jim Furyk for not playing with him with Jordan Spieth, to Phil Mickelson bemoaning the state of the rough in Paris, it's not been a fortnight to remember for team USA.

Premiership Rugby could end up in a standoff with the Six Nations over the release of players for Tests affected by Coronavirus.

NIK SIMON AT TWICKENHAM: Eddie Jones questioned his players’ bottle after England almost blew the biggest lead in rugby history in the Calcutta Cup.

SIMON MILLS AND CALUM CROWE AT TWICKENHAM: Sportsmail runs the rule over the star performers at Twickenham.

Scotland's most capped player and former British and Irish Lions hooker Ross Ford said he was lucky to have played the game he loves for so long as he announced his retirement from rugby.

The captain's run for Japan had an altogether more aquatic feel on Saturday morning as the players waded through a flooded tunnel out onto the pitch. 

Dutch footballer Memphis Depay has hit out at racist fans after yet another foul incident caused a football game between FC Den Bosch and Excelsior to be stopped on Sunday.

McIlroy added another award to his trophy cabinet as he was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year for a third time following a 2018-19 campaign capped by his FedExCup championship triumph.

The PGA Tour have confirmed that $7.5million - half of the Players Championship prize money - will be equally distributed among every player in the field.

Akim Aliu, a Nigerian-born hockey player, has revealed another racist episode in which a minor league equipment manager dressed in blackface at a team Halloween party in 2011.

The disgraced cross-code star has already proved the most contentious signing in the competition's 25-year history after joining the Dragons on a one-year deal.

'Tonight is prom night w our quarantine crew,' said the Sports Illustrated model on social media. 'Lisa made all the boys do a "promposal" and now's she torturing all of us with chores.'

World No 354 Benjamin Hassan returned to the tennis court on Friday wearing a face mask as he took part in the Tennis Point Exhibition Series in Germany amid the coronavirus pandemic.  

According to Bild, tests at all Bundesliga clubs were carried out on Friday - the day German clubs returned to training - which saw all those connected to Bayern get the all clear.

Full-back Kini Murimurivalu had just scored a try to extend Fiji's lead to 21-12 against the Wallabies, when O'Keeffe extends his right arm and offers a 'low-five' to the Fijian.

EXCLUSIVE BY MATT HUGHES: Some players from South Africa, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa will lose their right to work as the 2003 EU Association Agreement will not apply from December 31.

The donation has helped a number of centres based in the Scottish capital and surrounding areas going, with countless locals heavily affected by the ongoing health crisis.

Celtic have put some non-playing staff on furlough but insisted the furlough scheme would be supplemented by the club so no employee suffered a shortfall in salary.

All Blacks rugby player and former NRL star Sonny Bill Williams is a powerful athlete and has revealed his bizarre secret weapon - an unsightly, bloody procedure.