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PARIS — Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer's rivalry started in the sweltering heat of Miami and ended almost two decades later in tears and hand-holding in an emotional London farewell.

In between, the great friends met 40 times, battling out epics on European clay, London grass and hard courts from the United States to Australia.

Nadal edged their head-to-head count 24-16, coming out 9-3 on top in Grand Slam finals including his stunning Wimbledon triumph in 2008, widely regarded as one of the greatest finals at the majors.

However, the statistics only scratch the surface.

"When Roger leaves the tour, an important part of my life is leaving too," admitted a tearful Nadal as he played Laver Cup doubles alongside 41-year-old Federer in the Swiss star's final appearance in September 2022.

The two clasped hands as Federer hobbled into retirement.

"Very proud to be part of his career but even for me happier to finish our career as friends after everything we shared on court as rivals," said Nadal.

When Nadal equalled Federer's haul of 20 Grand Slam titles by lifting his 13th French Open in 2020, the Swiss described it as the "greatest achievement in sport".

Federer never begrudged Nadal moving past him to 22 majors.

"I can call up Rafa and talk about anything," said Federer at his emotional farewell in London.

"We enjoy each other's company. We have a million topics to cover. I always feel like any evening we ever spent together we never have enough time."

Twenty years ago, it was another time, another place.

The only thing they had in common then was respect.

When they met for the first time in March 2004 at Miami, Nadal was just 17 and ranked at 34.

Federer was the World No.1 and had already captured the Australian Open and Indian Wells titles that year.

However, a fearless Nadal swept to a 6-3, 6-3 victory in 70 minutes.

"I was very worried about him beating me 6-1, 6-1 or 6-1, 6-2, but I really wanted to play this match against the world number one," said Nadal.

Nadal fretted if his friends back home could follow the match "on Teletext" while Federer correctly predicted more meetings to come.

"I was impressed with what I saw," said Federer.

Wimbledon epic 

The pair met at least once every year from 2004 until 2015 while Federer would go on to claim seven of their last eight clashes.

Fittingly, they split their last meetings in 2019 -- Nadal breezing to a semi-final triumph at the French Open with Federer coming out on top in the last four at Wimbledon just weeks later.

Epics were guaranteed.

Federer avenged his 2004 Miami loss to Nadal 12 months later, winning the final in five sets from two sets down.

Nadal had to dig deep to protect his 'king of clay' reputation in 2006, also needing five sets to defeat the Swiss in the Rome final.

Federer struggled to chip away at Nadal's mastery of clay, winning just two of 17 meetings.

At the Swiss star's second home of Wimbledon, he defeated Nadal in the 2006 and 2007 finals before the Spaniard claimed one of his greatest victories 12 months later.

In almost total darkness after a final interrupted by rain, Nadal won his fifth Grand Slam title and first outside of the French Open.

He missed two championship points in the fourth set but steadied to triumph 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-7 (8/10), 9-7 after four hours and 48 minutes.

"For me, it was the most emotional match I ever played in, probably the best," said Nadal.

They would meet again in three more Slam finals -- Nadal taking his first Australian Open title in a five-setter in 2009 and the 2011 French Open before Federer claimed the 2017 Australian Open in another marathon.

Federer's win in Melbourne came after he had spent six months sidelined by injury the previous year.

"Tennis is a tough sport," said Federer who was 35 at the time and had gone 10 years without a victory over Nadal at the Slams.

"There are no draws. If there were, I would have been happy to accept one and share it with Rafa."


SHANGHAI — World No.1 Jannik Sinner will face Daniil Medvedev in the Shanghai Masters quarter-finals after both had straight-set victories on Wednesday.

Sinner put some old demons to rest in overcoming American Ben Shelton 6-4, 7-6 (7/1), while Medvedev took out Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6 (7/3), 6-3.

Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic also progressed to the next round after comfortable wins.

But World No.3 Alexander Zverev is out after losing to 66th ranked David Goffin 6-4, 7-5.

Shelton, ranked 16, knocked Sinner out at the same stage last year but the Italian looked confident from the start and won in 88 minutes.

The US Open champion pulled ahead in the ninth game of the first set, breaking when Shelton hit long, then dominated the second set tiebreak.

World No.5 Medvedev and Tsitsipas were meeting for the 14th time.

The Greek started the second set strong, breaking in the first game, but Medvedev broke in the fourth and eighth to claim victory.

Medvedev and Sinner have already met four times in the final stages of tournaments this year.

Sinner beat Medvedev in the semifinals in Miami, the quarter-finals of the US Open and in the Australian Open final, but the Russian ended the Italian's hopes in the last eight at Wimbledon in an epic five-set battle.

"I'm gonna bring the fight," Medvedev said.

"I could have done much better in the US Open... I didn't explore enough my potential during this match. So I'm going to try to explore this potential tomorrow," he said.

Sinner said: "We know each other quite well now, we know exactly what to expect, more or less."

"Of course, it's going to be a very tough match, physical match, mental match, and also tactical, so let's see what's coming."

Alcaraz downs Monfils 

World No.2 Alcaraz, who beat Sinner in the China Open final a week ago, downed veteran Gael Monfils 6-4, 7-5 for a 12th straight victory.

The 38-year-old Frenchman upset Alcaraz at their last meeting in Cincinnati in August and the Spaniard admitted that "was on his mind", saying he was glad he had "stayed calm".

Alcaraz's quarter-final opponent is 23-year-old Tomas Machac, who beat 13th-ranked Tommy Paul 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

"He has really great tennis. He's so, so fast as well, so I have to be focused on that," Alcaraz said of the Czech.

Machac's teenage compatriot Jakub Mensik burnished his record against top 10 players, overpowering Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 just days after sending world number six Andrey Rublev home.

Mensik's next challenge is Djokovic after the Serb finished off Russian Roman Safiullin 6-3, 6-2 in 73 minutes.

The former World No.1 said he had a "great relationship" off the court with Mensik's family.

"I always believed that he's got the potential to be one of the top players in the world and he's building that kind of momentum right now," the 37-year-old said.

He has previously played practice sets with the 19-year-old.

"He got bigger and stronger. So, yeah, it's going to be fun," Djokovic grinned, anticipating a "tough challenge".

Zverev out 

The last match of the day saw the tournament lose its second seed with Zverev's straight-set defeat.

Goffin broke first and kept the pressure up.

An increasingly miserable-looking Zverev mounted a second set revival, but couldn't quite close the gap as the 33-year-old Belgian persevered.

"I had nothing to lose, but [Zverev] is always tough to play," said an emotional Goffin, who said he had decided to mount a career revival a few months ago.

"It was a great feeling... I didn't expect to be that offensive, that relaxed on that court."

Goffin will next face the United States' Taylor Fritz, who took less than an hour to demolish 14th-ranked Holger Rune 6-1, 6-2.

AMMAN — The Jordanian national team, "The Nashama",  is set to face South Korea as part of the Asian World Cup qualifiers, with the match to be played at the Amman International Stadium on Thursday.

The Nashama enters the match after a decent performance in the qualifiers, where they gained points that put them on the top of the group, ahead of South Korea and Iraq on goal difference.

 Coach Jamal Salami spoke to local press about the match, saying it is as important as the rest of the qualifying games in the group.

Salami's list for the match includes 28 players between international and local players, with new names such as Ibrahim Sabra, Mohannad Samarin and Amer Jamous, in addition to Ahmed Ersan, who returned to the squad after his noticeable performance in the recent weeks.

Separately, Moussa Tamari and Yazan Nueimat's chances of starting the match have decreased due to their lack of physical readiness, as Tamari deals with a torn ankle that caused him to miss his team Montpellier's last match against Stade Reims.  Nueimat, who suffered a rib fracture a few weeks ago is participating in Amman, with indications that he may start from the bench line.

As for South Korea, coach Hong Myung-bo described the match as a "final" like the rest of the matches in the group.

Korean press said that South Korea will be without their captain and key player Heung-min Son, who sustained a hamstring injury with Tottenham against Qarabag in the Europa League.

Both teams are unbeaten in their last six matches as the last loss of the South Korean team was against Jordan at the Asian cup and the last loss of the Jordanian team was against Qatar in the final of the Asian Cup.

This is the fourth match between the two teams, as the South Korean team won one game and drew one, while on the last occasion they met, Jordan won 2-0.

MADRID — Fede Valverde and Vinicius Junior strikes helped Real Madrid bounce back from their first defeat since January with a 2-0 win over Villarreal on Saturday in La Liga.

Los Blancos lost in the Champions League at Lille, but are still unbeaten in the Spanish top flight and moved level with leaders Barcelona, before the Catalans visit Alaves on Sunday.

Valverde’s deflected effort and a rocket from Vinicius allowed Madrid to put a four-point gap between them and their third-placed opponents, who battled well but came up fractionally short in the capital.

Madrid’s victory was marred by a late injury to defender Dani Carvajal, who had to be taken off on a stretcher.

“It seems a serious knee injury, it will be looked at in the coming hours,” Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti told reporters.

“The players are sad, worried, because something happened that happens a lot, because of the [busy] calendar, and it happened to a very, very important player for us.”

Ancelotti said Vinicius would also have medical tests after being taken off late on with discomfort in his shoulder and neck.

The Italian coach started Kylian Mbappe after the French striker had recovered from a thigh problem.

The former Paris Saint-Germain striker could only appear from the bench in Madrid’s disappointing midweek display.

Mbappe, who France have not selected for upcoming Nations League fixtures, was quiet at the Santiago Bernabeu as his team ground out victory with a determined, rather than inspiring, performance.

Madrid are still missing German midfielder Toni Kroos, although on this occasion he was watching on from a box.

Mbappe sent an early volley off-target from Luka Modric’s corner but it was midfield powerhouse Valverde who broke the deadlock after 14 minutes.

The Uruguayan’s drive from distance deflected off Villarreal playmaker Alex Baena and arced beyond the reach of goalkeeper Diego Conde.

The visitors, enjoying a strong start to the season under coach Marcelino Garcia Toral, came close when Nicolas Pepe’s header clipped the top of the crossbar.

Mbappe had one further chance, bursting into the area with his electric pace, but goalkeeper Conde managed to dispossess him with an outstretched leg.

Villarreal appealed for a penalty early in the second half when Aurelien Tchouameni, playing at centre-back, pulled down Barry, but the French striker was offside.

Baena hit the side-netting of Andriy Lunin’s goal with a free-kick, nearly catching out the Ukrainian goalkeeper standing in for the injured Thibaut Courtois.

Vinicius flashed a shot narrowly wide, before his strike partner Mbappe was replaced with 20 minutes to go by Rodrygo Goes.

Brazil striker Vinicius, who is hoping to win a first Ballon d’Or later in October, netted the second with a superb effort from outside the area, which ripped into the top corner.

Carvajal hurt 

In stoppage time, Spanish right-back Carvajal suffered an injury while attempting to clear the ball under pressure from Yeremi Pino.

“In the end, the result’s a less important thing — Dani’s health is what matters,” Valverde told Real Madrid TV.

“The game was fine, it was neither very good or bad, it was what we had to do to win, two goals was enough.”

Villarreal defender Raul Albiol was also concerned about Carvajal.

“It looked bad... let’s hope it’s the least [damage] possible, because we all know how important he is for Real Madrid and Spanish football,” he said.

The centre-back said Madrid were efficient with their finishing and that made the difference.

“They have a lot of attacking punch and more or less with three chances they had two goals,” he said.

Earlier, nine-man Celta Vigo earned a 1-0 win at bottom-of-the-table Las Palmas.

The Canary Islanders were unable to record their first win of the season even after Ilaix Moriba and Iago Aspas’ red cards for Celta, who climbed to ninth thanks to Borja Iglesias’ goal.

Osasuna moved into fifth with a 1-1 draw at Getafe, while Espanyol beat Mallorca 2-1 and Rayo Vallecano won at Valladolid by the same score.

MILAN, Italy — Antonio Conte has taken Napoli back to the top of Serie A for the first time since they won the title in 2023 but he says while the fans can dream of regaining the crown “I have to keep my feet on the ground.”

The next test of their title credentials comes on Friday as they host in-form Como, coached by former Spain and Arsenal star Cesc Fabregas.

Napoli, perhaps benefitting from not being engaged in European competition, after a disastrous defence of their crown resulted in them finishing 10th last season, go into the seventh round of matches a point clear of Juventus at the top.

However, it is a congested table with AC Milan, Inter Milan and previous tabletoppers Torino just two points off Napoli on 11.

A further three clubs are on 10 points and Como, on the back of two successive victories, are a respectable 10th with eight points.

Inter Milan host Torino on Saturday, coming into the game fresh from a good win in the Champions League league phase — and with Argentinian star Lautaro Martinez rediscovering his scoring form.

Torino will want to get back to winning ways after two successive home defeats, in the cup against Empoli and then to Lazio in the league.

Juventus and AC Milan both have good opportunities to pick up three points to keep the pressure on Napoli.

Juventus host lowly Cagliari on Sunday with AC Milan travelling to mid-table Fiorentina.

Little wonder the no-nonsense Conte is not permitting himself to make any bold predictions with the season still young.

Indeed the 55-year-old, who has won the Serie A title four times as a coach — guiding Juventus to three Scudettos and Inter Milan to one — sees both sides of the coin regarding the southern side’s lack of involvement in European competition.

“There is an advantage and a disadvantage — the advantage is that you can train the team all week, the disadvantage is that the squad is not as competitive as those that do play in Europe,” Conte told DAZN.

‘High expectations’

Conte, who due to being a proven winner is regarded as worth hiring despite a history of taking on club directors, said so much had happened at the club recently — including the departure of Nigerian forward Victor Osimhen, in a surprising loan move to Turkish club Galatasaray — they still need time to settle down.

“Not even three months have passed, the president [Aurelio De Laurentiis] is the first to have spoken of a total reconstruction,” he said.

“Osimhen and [Piotr] Zielinski left. I know there are high expectations for me because I have done important things.

“Let’s let the fans dream, but I have to keep my feet on the ground. I hear people talking who know nothing about Scudettos.”

Fabregas is making a good fist of his first senior coaching role, his side winning 3-2 in both their last two Serie A matches against Atalanta and Verona.

Patrick Cutrone is showing the form that earned him an Italy cap in 2018. His brace against Verona took the 26-year-old’s tally to four for the campaign.

He faces a sterner test in the Napoli defence, who have conceded just four goals so far, and Fabregas is more concerned by his own defenders, who have let in 11.

“We can’t keep conceding two goals in every match, so we should keep analysing our mistakes and improve,” the 37-year-old World Cup winning midfielder told HellasLive.

BEIJING — Carlos Alcaraz roared back from a set down to beat World No.1 Jannik Sinner in a thriller and win his first China Open title on Wednesday.

The four-time Grand Slam champion edged a captivating final 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) for his fourth ATP crown of the year and 16th overall.

The Spaniard, who will return to number two in the world behind Sinner, was 3-0 down in the final-set tie break only to fight back and win in three hours, 21 minutes.

The longest men’s singles match in China Open history ended Sinner’s run of 14 victories in a row and saw him deposed as the Beijing champion after an almighty fight.

Alcaraz called it “a special win” that was even more satisfying in light of his shock second-round exit at the recent US Open.

He hopes it will win the sport more fans.

“When Jannik and I play it’s a good thing for tennis because we always show a really intense match, really close match, great points, great rallies,” he said.

“I think for the people who don’t watch tennis, probably thanks to these kind of matches, they will start to watch tennis or even practise it.”

US Open champion Sinner reached the final in Beijing under fresh scrutiny.

The Italian has admitted to sleepless nights over his doping case, which was reignited at the weekend when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said it had appealed against a decision to clear him.

He called it one of the toughest matches he had ever played.

“These kind of matches can really go both ways, but it was not my day,” said Sinner.

“He played better in the important moments, that’s it.”

‘Great battle’ 

In front of a packed house, the early exchanges were nervy with both players under immediate pressure on their service games.

Sinner, 23, was the first to blink, with second-seeded Alcaraz breaking for a 3-1 lead and celebrating with a fist pump.

The Spaniard held easily for 4-1 and had his opponent rattled.

Alcaraz, 21, served for the set but Sinner grabbed the break back when he needed it most.

Sinner then saved set point on his own serve to force the tie break, and saved another in the tie break before taking the set at his first opportunity when Alcaraz fired long.

It was the first set Alcaraz had dropped all week.

The second set was just as tight.

Both players saw chances come and go but they went with serve until Alcaraz broke for 5-4, before holding with ease to send the final into a third set.

The decider again went to a tie break, where Alcaraz finally prevailed on his first match point.

“It was a great battle again,” said Sinner, who twice tested positive for a steroid in March but was cleared of wrongdoing and allowed to keep playing.

In August, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted Sinner’s explanation that the drug entered his system unintentionally when his physiotherapist used a spray containing it to treat a cut, then provided massage and sports therapy to the player.

WADA said on Saturday it had appealed and was seeking a ban of up to two years.

Ruthless Sabalenka 

In the women’s draw, top seed Aryna Sabalenka won her 15th match in a row to power into the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Madison Keys.

The US Open champion will face Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.

World No.2 Sabalenka is on a collision course in the semifinals with China’s Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, who faces 43rd-ranked Amanda Anisimova in the last 16 later Wednesday.

KANPUR, India — Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed 51 on Tuesday as India pulled off a remarkable seven-wicket victory over Bangladesh in a rain-hit second Test in Kanpur that lost two-and-a-half days to bad weather.

The hosts bundled out Bangladesh for 146 before lunch on the fifth and final day and, needing 95 for victory, reached 98-3 in just 104 balls in the second session.

“To be honest we had to think a lot to keep the game moving forward,” said skipper Rohit Sharma.

“When we came on day four, we wanted to get them out as early as possible and see what we can do with the bat.”

Jaiswal reached his second fifty of the match in 43 balls including eight fours and one six before falling to Taijul Islam, ending a 58-run stand with Virat Kohli.

Former captain Kohli hit 29 and was there at the end as Rishabh Pant hit the winning boundary.

Bangladesh spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz had earlier removed Rohit, for eight, and Shubman Gill, for six.

The series victory extends India’s lead at the top of the World Test Championship rankings ahead of Australia in second.

India rode on Jaiswal’s 72-run blitz in the first innings to force a result in a match which saw no play on Saturday and Sunday because of rain and a wet outfield.

‘We didn’t bat well’ 

Bangladesh resumed their second innings on 26-2 on the final day, 26 runs behind, but the batting fell apart during the first session, with opener Shadman Islam top scoring on 50.

“We didn’t bat well,” admitted Bangladesh captain Najmul Hossain Shanto.

“If you look at all our batters, they played 30 to 40 balls and then got out. It’s important for one batsman to get big runs.”

Ashwin, fellow spinner Ravindra Jadeja and fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah took three wickets apiece.

Mushfiqur Rahim frustrated India to delay the lunch break and was last man out when Bumrah bowled him for 37.

Off-spinner Ashwin broke through in the third over of the day when he had first-innings centurion Mominul Haque caught at leg slip by KL Rahul for two.

Left-arm spinner Jadeja, who had taken his 300th Test wicket on Monday, struck in his first over of the day when he bowled Najmul, who had made 19.

Shadman reached his fifty off 97 balls but fell almost immediately after to fast bowler Akash Deep.

Jadeja also picked up the wicket of veteran all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, caught and bowled without scoring, in what could be the former captain’s last Test for Bangladesh.

Shakib, 37, announced his international retirement ahead of the match, which could be his swansong if he is unable to return home for a scheduled South Africa series.

“I am not sure, but as far as I know, he will be playing the South Africa series,” said Bangladesh coach Chandika Hathurusinghe when asked about Shakib.

Bangladesh was bowled out for 233 when they resumed their first innings on Monday.

India then batted at a blistering pace as they declared on 285-9 from just 34.4 overs.

The teams now head into a three-match T20 series starting on Sunday in Gwalior.

AMMAN — The CFI Professional Football Leagueended week 6 and heads into a two week breakwith three teams leadings the  standings.

Hussein, Ramtha, Ahli, lead with Wihdat and Faisali trailing as clubs head into a break until October 17 for the national team’s upcoming Group B/Round 3 matches in 2026 World Cup qualifying matches against South Korea on October 10 and OmanOctober 15. Jordan so fart beat Palestine 3-1 and held Kuwait 1-1 in the first two matches.

During the past week, Wihdat beatAhli 2-1, Faisali beat Aqaba 3-1, Hussein beat Salt 2-0, Ma’an held Jazira 0-0, Shabab Urdun beat Sarih 2-1 and Ramthabeat Mughayer Sarhan4-0.

During the break, Football Shield matches will resume as of October 4 without national team players.

In the 2023/2024 season, Hussein won the Pro League title for the first time becoming the 9thchampions since the League kicked off in 1944. Neighbors Ramtha, won the 2022 title for the third time in their history after 39 yearsas the past two seasons had clubs from the north have dominate the league.

Other competitions, saw Wihdat win the Jordan Cup for the 12th time as well as the Super Cup for their 15th time, whileFaisali won their 9th Jordan Football Association Shield. 

Faisali are 35-time record league champs while Wihdat won 17 times since first joining in 1980. Ahli won eight times, Ramtha and Jazira three times, ShababUrdun twice, Hussein, Amman and Urdun clubs once.