* Liverpool star Sadio Mane was crowned on Tuesday (Jan 7) as Africa's 2019 Player of the Year for the first time at an awards gala in Egypt.

* Top seed Serena Williams kick-started her Auckland Classic singles campaign with an easy 6-3 6-2 victory over Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi on Tuesday.

* Two-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka began her 2020 season with a 6-2 6-7(4) 6-3 win over Maria Sakkari in the opening round of the Brisbane International on Tuesday.

* Russia's Anna Blinkova claimed the first top-10 win of her career when she came from behind to beat wiss top seed Belinda Bencic 3-6 6-3 6-3 in the first round while Belarusian defending champion Aryna Sabalenka was beaten 6-4 6-4 by the Czech Republic's Kristyna Pliskova in the last-16 at China's Shenzhen Open on Tuesday.

* World number five Daniil Medvedev ended Casper Ruud's giant-killing spree with a 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) victory on Tuesday (Jan 7) to seal Russia's place in the quarter-finals of the ATP Cup.

* Alexander Zverev's terrible run of form showed no signs of abating on Tuesday after the German surrendered meekly to Canada's Denis Shapovalov 6-2, 6-2 in the ATP Cup's third round.

* Stan Wawrinka opened his 2020 season with a straight-sets win over Frenchman Jeremy Chardy on Tuesday (Jan 7) to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP event in Doha.

* Liverpool announced a multi-year kit deal with Nike on Tuesday (Jan 7) as the European champions seek to capitalise on their on-field success by boosting global commercial revenues.

* Dutch driver Max Verstappen has extended his contract with Red Bull until the end of 2023, the Formula One team announced in a statement on Tuesday (Jan 7).

* Chelsea made a loss of almost £100 million (US$130 million) last year despite owner Roman Abramovich pouring nearly a quarter of a billion pounds into the Premier League club, their figures for 2018/19 released on Tuesday show.

* Tottenham suffered another injury blow on Tuesday (Jan 7) with the news that midfielder Moussa Sissoko will be sidelined until April after undergoing knee surgery.

* Sacking Italian manager Antonio Conte in July 2018 cost Chelsea 26.6 million pounds in compensation and legal fees, according to the Premier League club's accounts for the 2018-19 season.