Ashleigh Barty's retirement in March when she was women's tennis number one and just 25 years old is a "weird one to explain", South African cricket legend AB de Villiers has told AFP in an interview before they team up for a golf event.

Top seed Novak Djokovic described his straight-sets opening win over Gael Monfils in Madrid on Tuesday as his "best performance of the year" as he set up a showdown with Andy Murray.

Rafael Nadal deemed Wimbledon's decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players from taking part in the Championships as "unfair", the Spanish tennis legend told reporters in Madrid on Sunday.

Boris Becker's thunderous delivery earned him the nickname 'Boom Boom' as a 17-year-old Wimbledon winner in 1985 but on Friday, aged 54 and bust, the German great was told he must serve time in prison.

Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka said the Wimbledon ban on players from Russia and her country makes no sense and the former world number one called on the tennis governing bodies to take action against the decision.

German tennis great Boris Becker was jailed by a London court on Friday for hiding hundreds of thousands of pounds of assets after he was declared bankrupt.

Spanish star Carlos Alcaraz, aged 18, on Monday became the youngest player to enter the top 10 of the ATP world rankings since his compatriot Rafael Nadal did so at the same age in 2005.

WTA president Steve Simon warned Wimbledon that they face "strong reactions" to their decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players and the week ahead could see more twists in the controversy which has split tennis.

World number eight Andrey Rublev blasted Wimbledon's ban on Russian and Belarusian players as "complete discrimination" on Thursday and suggested organisers should instead donate tournament prize money to the victims of the conflict.

Novak Djokovic hit out at the "crazy" decision by Wimbledon on Wednesday to ban Russian and Belarusian players from this year's tournament over the invasion of Ukraine.

Tennis players from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to compete at this year’s Wimbledon due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Grand Slam’s organisers All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Former women's tennis world number one Maria Sharapova is pregnant with her first child, the Russian announced on her 35th birthday on Tuesday.

Tennis players from Russia and Belarus will not be allowed to compete at this year's Wimbledon due to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, the Grand Slam's organisers All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Stefanos Tsitsipas successfully defended his Monte Carlo Masters title with a hard-fought 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) victory over Spain's Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Sunday's final.

Former world number one Kim Clijsters has retired from professional tennis, the 38-year-old said on Tuesday, bringing the curtain down on her career for probably the last time.

After retiring from professional tennis, former world number one Ash Barty is set to open a new chapter in her life with the release of a series of children's books later this year.

Serena Williams hinted Thursday she could return to action at Wimbledon after her long-time coach Patrick Mouratoglou announced he would work with Simona Halep on a “full-time” basis.

Iga Swiatek's dream season continued as the incoming world number one scooped her third successive WTA 1000 title to beat Naomi Osaka in the Miami Open final on Saturday.

Daniil Medvedev said physical struggles destroyed any chance of a victory to reclaim the world number one ranking on Friday after falling to Poland's Hubert Hurkacz 7-6 (9/7), 6-3 at the Miami Open.

Poland’s Iga Swiatek said capturing the women’s world number one ranking was a “surreal” achievement, with the 20-year-old set to replace retired Ash Barty at the top of the rankings.