Tennis

Former world number one Serena Williams has withdrawn from this year’s month’s Australian Open in Melbourne. Williams, who recently gave birth, said on Friday that she needed more time to be ready to defend her title. She said while she was close to regaining full fitness after giving birth to her first child in September, she was not fully ready to defend her title.

Roger Federer, is currently taking part in the international team tournament, the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, which is a valuable warm-up event for the season ahead. The Swiss maestro is back for the second year in a row as it was viewed as a catalyst for his superb 2017 campaign.

Tennis star Roger Federer has won the BBC Overseas Personality of the Year 2017, for a record fourth time after a public vote. The 36-year-old Swiss topped the poll ahead of five other shortlisted nominees. Swiss maestro, Roger Federer, 36, became the first man to win Wimbledon eight times and extended his record to 19 Grand Slam titles in 2017.

Three-time Grand Slam champion, Andy Murray has withdrawn from the Australian Open due to an ongoing hip problem. The five-time finalist is set to fly back to the United Kingdom having said he would "assess all the options" on the injury after floating the possibility of surgery earlier this week.

Andy Murray is the latest high-profile withdrawal from the Brisbane International, joining Rafael Nadal and top women's seed Garbine Muguruza on the sidelines, according to reports. The 30-year-old has been troubled by an ongoing hip complaint. The three-time grand slam winner made the decision to withdraw from the tournament on Tuesday afternoon.

The Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) intends to camp 16 players for its preparations for the 2018 Commonwealth Games at Gold Coast in Australia, according to reports. Ishaku Tikon, President of NTTF, said the players would be drawn from the ongoing National Open Championships in Lagos.