Lady Gaga and Celine Dion are among singers who have been spotted in Paris, triggering rumours they could take part in the ceremony
A "highly motivated" Rafael Nadal welcomed rival Novak Djokovic's much-anticipated return to the Australian Open as "good for tennis" on Wednesday, while brushing off suggestions this may be his last tilt at the season-opening Grand Slam.
The 36-year-old Spanish great, who recently became a father, is beginning his new season at the United Cup, a new mixed-teams event starting Thursday in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.
It will provide a warm-up for his defence of the Australian Open title next month at Melbourne Park, where he swept past Russian Daniil Medvedev to win this year in an epic five-setter.
That victory came after arch-rival and nine-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic was detained and deported ahead of the tournament after refusing to get vaccinated for Covid-19.
Australia has since lifted its requirement for visitors to show proof of vaccination against Covid. The Serb arrived back in the country on Tuesday for the first time since being turfed out.
Nadal, who has a record men's 22 Grand Slam titles to Djokovic's 21, said he was happy to see his superstar rival back.
"Novak is here, good for tennis, good for probably the fans," the world number two said in Sydney. "Let's see, no? Best players on court always win."
Fifth-ranked Djokovic will begin his quest for an incredible 10th title at Melbourne Park at the Adelaide International from Sunday.
Nadal backed up his Australian Open win this year with a 14th French Open but struggled with injury after withdrawing from the Wimbledon semifinal with an abdominal tear in July.
Despite a poor second half of the year, Nadal said he was raring to go again with a clash first up at the United Cup against British world number 14 Cameron Norrie.
"The highest motivation to try to start well. It's always important to start well for me, for the confidence," he said.
"The last few months haven't been easy for me. Main thing for me now is recover the positive feelings on court, being competitive. I hope to. I am ready to make that happen, but let's see."
Nadal played his first Australian Open in 2004. He is now a father, and with a history of injuries he was asked if this could be his last trip to Australia.
"As a professional, you never know, hopefully not," he said.
"I mean, when you are at the age of 36, you never know when it's going to be the last one. It's obvious, but I don't like to talk about that because I am not in that mood now.
"I'm just focused on trying to play at the highest level possible and give myself possibilities to keep being competitive, to fight for anything. That's my goal now.
"I'm not thinking about it being my last time here. I am happy doing what I am doing. I'm looking forward to keep doing this."
Lady Gaga and Celine Dion are among singers who have been spotted in Paris, triggering rumours they could take part in the ceremony
The 14-member UAE team of athletes will vie for glory in five disciplines — equestrian, judo, cycling, swimming and athletics
The line-up of icon players includes world No.1 and five-time world champion Magnus Carlsen
Ledecky said there were issues still to be resolved when asked at a USA swim team press conference if she felt races at the 2024 Paris Games would be fair
Thibus was suspended by the International Fencing Federation (FIE) in February after testing positive for the banned substance Ostarine
Australian Olympic team chief Anna Meares said the cases were confined to the water polo team
The 54-hole tournament will be playing for its usual $25m purse, with $20m allocated to the Individual Event and $5m to the Team Event at the Staffordshire course
India's Jeev Milkha Singh says Carnoustie is ‘the toughest links course of them all’