Rafael Nadal is keeping his fingers crossed he will be able to play in the Australian Open after needing medical treatment during a gruelling loss to Jordan Thompson at his comeback tournament.

Nadal looked poised to claim another straight-sets win at the Brisbane International when he brought up a first match point in the 10th game of the second set but missed a backhand overhead.

Two more chances followed in the tie-break but Nadal was unable to take either and Australian Thompson fought back to claim a 5-7 7-6 (6) 6-3 victory after three hours and 25 minutes.

More concerning was the off-court medical time-out Nadal took at 1-4 in the deciding set, although he was able to continue without too much apparent discomfort.

The 37-year-old had surgery on the psoas tendon in his left hip in June after being sidelined since suffering an injury at last January’s Australian Open and revealed the latest problem is in the same area.

“I feel the muscle tired,” he told reporters in Brisbane.

“I mean, for sure it’s not the same like last year at all because when it happened I felt something drastic immediately. Today I didn’t feel anything. The only problem is because the place is the same, you are a little bit more scared than usual.

“I need to see how I wake up tomorrow morning. We have been talking these last days, talking about the positive things. That’s why I am not over-positive when I have been talking.

“I have been talking with a lot of precaution because I know after a year is difficult for the body to be playing tournaments at the highest level. When the things are becoming more difficult, you don’t know how your body is going to react.

“I hope it is not important and I hope to have the chance to be practising next week and to play Melbourne. Honestly, I am not 100 per cent sure of anything now.”

Thompson will take on second seed Grigor Dimitrov in the semi-finals, while top seed Holger Rune faces Russian Roman Safiullin.

In the women’s event, top seed Aryna Sabalenka continued to look sharp in a 6-1 6-4 victory over Daria Kasatkina, her 14th straight win in Australia, while second seed Elena Rybakina was a set up on Anastasia Potapova when the Russian retired.

Sabalenka will take on fellow Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in the last four after she battled past Jelena Ostapenko, while Czech Linda Noskova won the battle of the teenagers against 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva.

At the ASB Classic in Auckland, defending champion Coco Gauff and second seed Elina Svitolina both eased into the semi-finals, while Alexander Zverev defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to help Germany defeat Greece in the United Cup quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Harriet Dart reached the biggest final of her career at the WTA 125 event in Canberra, battling to a 7-5 3-6 7-5 victory over American Katie Volynets, and Heather Watson is through to the doubles final in Brisbane with Belgian Greet Minnen.

Grand National winner Corach Rambler will head straight for the Gold Cup at Cheltenham before aiming to repeat his Aintree heroics in April.

Last seen running an encouraging race to be third in the Betfair Chase, Lucinda Russell feels he would have too much weight to carry in the Ultima at Cheltenham, the race he won prior to success in the National, so therefore the Gold Cup represents a better route.

“Corach Rambler is in flying form and seems very well in himself. He’ll go straight to the Gold Cup and we’ll look to get a racecourse gallop into him before that like we did last year,” she told William Hill.

“Everyone knows how much I love him and it would be very special if he could be competitive in another Grand National. Over Christmas we watched back the race last year and it was amazing how much he loved it and how well he jumped. That is the main target and, while I don’t like to call the Gold Cup a prep, that’s sort of what we’re treating it as.

“He’ll have to carry so much weight in the Ultima and we just feel the Gold Cup will be a better race for him. It would be amazing if he could run well in that which would set him up perfectly for Aintree.”

She may have two runners in the blue riband with Ahoy Senor possibly lining up. He is likely to have another run first, however.

“Ahoy Senor is in great form and has fully recovered from his sore heel after Newbury. We’ve sorted that out and he’s been doing really well at home since,” said Russell.

“The aim looks the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham and, if we don’t go there, we’ll look at the Denman Chase at Newbury – a track we know he goes well at. The race at Lingfield (Fleur De Lys Chase) could have been an option, but I’m not keen on running him on very heavy ground.

“Providing one of those races goes well, it will most likely be the Gold Cup next. He has got an entry in the Ryanair and we could look at that, but I’d be leaning towards the Gold Cup at this stage.”

Russell, who feels she possibly ran Giovinco back too quickly in the Kauto Star Chase at Kempton on Boxing Day and may go to Sandown or Cheltenham next, also passed on a good word for the mare, Apple Away.

“She’s a bit of a dark horse and I’m quietly confident she might run quite well in the Brown Advisory. She’ll head to Warwick next weekend and I’ve been really happy with her at home since her last run,” she said.

Rafael Nadal missed three match points and needed medical treatment as his comeback tournament ended in a quarter-final defeat by Jordan Thompson.

Nadal looked poised to claim another straight-sets win at the Brisbane International when he brought up a first match point in the 10th game of the second set but missed a backhand overhead.

Two more chances followed in the tie-break but Nadal was unable to take either and Australian Thompson fought back to claim a 5-7 7-6 (6) 6-3 victory after three hours and 25 minutes.

More concerning was the off-court medical time-out Nadal took at 1-4 in the deciding set for treatment to his upper left leg, although he was able to continue without too much apparent discomfort.

The 37-year-old had surgery on the psoas tendon in his left hip in June after being sidelined since suffering an injury at last January’s Australian Open.

Thompson will take on second seed Grigor Dimitrov in the semi-finals, while top seed Holger Rune faces Russian Roman Safiullin.

In the women’s event, top seed Aryna Sabalenka continued to look sharp in a 6-1 6-4 victory over Daria Kasatkina, her 14th-straight win in Australia, while second seed Elena Rybakina was a set up on Anastasia Potapova when the Russian retired.

Sabalenka will take on fellow Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in the last four after she battled past Jelena Ostapenko, while Czech Linda Noskova won the battle of the teenagers against 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva.

At the ASB Classic in Auckland, defending champion Coco Gauff and second seed Elina Svitolina both eased into the semi-finals, while Alexander Zverev defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to help Germany defeat Greece in the United Cup quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, Harriet Dart reached the biggest final of her career at the WTA 125 event in Canberra, battling to a 7-5 3-6 7-5 victory over American Katie Volynets, and Heather Watson is through to the doubles final in Brisbane with Belgian Greet Minnen.

Ben Pauling is confident Handstands will make the long journey to the north east worthwhile when he puts his unbeaten record on the line at Newcastle on Saturday.

A winner on his Irish point-to-point debut in October, the five-year-old subsequently went under the hammer at the Tattersalls Cheltenham Sale the following month and was knocked down for £135,000.

It did not take him long to make a successful debut under rules for for his new connections and it was impossible to be anything but impressed by the way he readily shook off his rivals at Hereford.

A penalty means he must give 7lb away in the Quinnbet Best Odds Guaranteed Novices’ Hurdle, but Pauling expects him to prove up to the task when he embarks on the near 500-mile round trip from his Gloucestershire yard as the trainer’s sole runner on the card.

He said: “He’s a lovely horse with plenty of ability and he’ll handle the ground. I think he’s quite versatile and I think he’s got a bright future.

“Hopefully it’s a good opportunity for him to get another win under his belt and a bit more experience and we could possibly look at qualifying him for the EBF Final or something like that. He might be better than that, I’m not sure, but I think he’s a nice horse with a bright future ahead of him.

“He’s very much a chaser, but hopefully he’ll be competitive in a few nicer races over hurdles later in the season.”

Handstands will be a hot favourite for the second of four races at Newcastle that will now take place in front of the ITV cameras following the abandonment of racing at Sandown.

The first is the QuinnBet Acca Bonus Novices’ Hurdle, in which Martin Todhunter’s recent Carlisle winner Forged Well meets Lucinda Russell’s Bangor runner-up Two Auld Pals.

Local trainer Rebecca Menzies is no stranger to success at Gosforth Park and she will be hoping previous course winner Attention All can get his season up and running in the Quinnbet Acca Bonus Handicap Chase, having failed to trouble the judge in two previous outings this term.

Mark Walford has a couple of chances in the concluding quinnbet.com Handicap Hurdle, with top-weight Tommy Johnson and stablemate Amber Gold both declared.

Walford said: “We’ve been happy with Tommy Johnson’s first few runs. He was second at Carlisle and then we ran him back too soon when he was pulled up at Hexham.

“He’s been progressing nicely and I was quite happy with his run at Catterick last time (finished fifth). I don’t think Catterick would quite be his track, but Newcastle should suit him well and he’s in good form, so we’re expecting a decent run.

“It’s Amber Gold’s first run of the season and she hasn’t run for a long time. She’s been going well at home, but we’d expect her to probably come on a bit for the run.”

Betfred’s sponsorship of the Derby will run until at least 2026.

This year’s big Epsom meeting will be staged as the Betfred Derby Festival for the first time, with Fred Done’s company backing a further race on each of the two days, to take their total to six.

Betfred’s original three-year deal with the Jockey Club has been extended by a further 12 months.

Amy Starkey, managing director at Jockey Club Racecourses, said: “Our relationship with Betfred spans many years and many major races, and we are delighted to be strengthening our partnership at Epsom Downs still further following a brilliant first running of the Betfred Derby in 2023.

“Betfred’s support of British racing over many years is clear for all to see and we can’t wait to get cracking with Fred and his team as we look to promote the greatest Flat race in the world in 2024 and beyond.”

Done added: “Following on from a memorable two days at Epsom last year, we are delighted to further develop our support of the Betfred Derby Festival and we very much look forward to working with Amy and her team to keep the fixture at the forefront of world racing.”

Dual Grade One scorer Gala Marceau could make her belated return at Doncaster later this month, as connections have their sights set on the Mares’ Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival.

The five-year-old was a star performer for trainer Willie Mullins and owner Kenny Alexander last season, finishing no worse than third in five starts and tasting big-race success at both the Dublin Racing Festival and at Auteuil in the Prix Alain du Breil.

She was also a fine second to stablemate and regular foe Lossiemouth in the Triumph Hurdle before finishing a place further back in third behind that rival at the Punchestown Festival.

Having finished off her season excelling when upped to two and a half miles in France, connections believe the Mares’ Hurdle over a similar distance is the ideal target for the Cheltenham Festival in March.

And Gala Marceau could use a well-trodden path to Prestbury Park by running in Doncaster’s Yorkshire Rose Mares’ Hurdle on January 27, a race Mullins has won with both Annie Power (2014) and Vroum Vroum Mag (2017) previously.

“We will possibly see her out towards the end of the month and there is a nice race at Doncaster that is being discussed,” said Peter Molony, racing manager to owner Alexander. “It’s a nice mares’ race, a Grade Two I think it is.

“The main aim would be the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham – that’s what we are thinking.

“The extra half a mile she will get at Cheltenham seemed to really play to her strengths at Auteuil and she was very impressive that day. We were all blown away to be honest.”

Alexander’s colours have of course been carried to Mares’ Hurdle success twice in the past by the great four-time Festival winner Honeysuckle.

Gala Marceau may struggle to match Honeysuckle’s exceptional career CV, but Molony feels she has more than done enough to advertise her quality during her first season with Mullins and has shown signs over the summer there could be plenty more to come.

He continued: “I’m not sure she will ever fill those boots, but she has done us proud so far and won us two Grade Ones.

“She’s not the biggest in the world, but she is as tough as nails and she has definitely grown with us over the summer and strengthened a bit by the time she went back to Willie’s. So we are very hopeful she can progress again.”

Several horses at champion trainer Paul Nicholls’ Ditcheat base in Somerset had to be moved from their stables on Thursday evening as heavy rain in the area flooded part of their yard.

Nicholls described the rain as a “once in a 15-year event”, but was able to report on Friday morning that as quick as the flood appeared it had soon receded.

Racing is scheduled for Wincanton on Saturday, Nicholls’ local track, but officials are confident racing will take place and the handler echoes their optimism given how quickly the water disappeared.

“It’s a once in a 15-year event really when you get so much rain in the area through Somerset and Wiltshire and it all ends up coming down the rivers,” Nicholls told Nick Luck’s Daily Podcast.

“We are right by the River Aller and as everything backs up and the river bursts its banks everywhere, all the drainage in the village and in our yard just backs up and our bottom yard floods.

“We have six or eight horses that when it gets like we have to move out and at 10.30pm last night we were having to move them out.

“Astonishingly once the water levels drop it’s like someone pulls a plug, it just disappears and it’s all gone today.

“The problem is higher up, they get so much rain it feeds into the river and nothing can cope. It’s just sheer volume of water.

“I must say I’ve never seen rain like it, or water on the roads, last night. I took my dad to the pub last and I basically had to rescue him, it took an hour to get home and it’s basically half a mile down the road. I’ve never seen anything like it, but it’s all good this morning.

“It doesn’t surprise me Wincanton might race as there was so much water it just ran straight off, it didn’t get chance to sink in.”

Sandy Thomson has a bet365 Morebattle Hurdle double top of his wish list for Benson having seen the nine-year-old return to the winner’s enclosure at Musselburgh on New Year’s Day.

Benson had kicked off 2023 with an 11-length victory over Stuart Crawford’s Holmes St Georges at the Edinburgh track and returned to the same race 12 months later for a repeat in the Hogmaneigh Handicap Hurdle, this time beating the Irish raider by just one length off an 8lb higher mark.

From Musselburgh, Thomson’s stable star went straight to Kelso for the Morebattle in 2023, where he registered a famous local victory for Borders-based Thomson when downing Lorna Fowler’s Colonel Mustard.

Benson could follow the same route once again, although his handler is considering a return to Musselburgh for their Scottish Cheltenham Trials weekend, such is his stellar record at the track.

“It was a great performance and I was very happy with him before the race, he just seemed to have come to himself,” said Thomson.

“That’s what Benson does. He has been called a lot of names in the past but he stuck his neck out and was almost going away again at the line.

“We’ll obviously go for the Morebattle, but whether he goes to Cheltenham Trials Day at Musselburgh in a month or so, I don’t know. Obviously they are spaced quite nicely apart.

“The Morebattle is top of the list, but there is some quite nice prize-money at Musselburgh. If he went and won at Musselburgh he would go up (in the ratings) again, but we will see what the handicapper does and take it from there.”

Giannis Antetokounmpo hailed Victor Wembanyama after edging his first battle with the rookie on Thursday, declaring: "I've never seen anything like him".

Antetokounmpo finished with 44 points as the Milwaukee Bucks clinched a 125-121 win at the end of a back-and-forth affair against the San Antonio Spurs, snapping a two-game losing streak.

In Antetokounmpo's first NBA meeting with Wembanyama, the number one draft pick gave the Spurs a late chance to get back into the game by swatting the ball away from the Bucks star and teeing up Tre Jones for a missed three-pointer.

The rookie ended a game featuring several highlight plays with 27 points and nine rebounds, leaving Antetokounmpo impressed. 

"He's special," Antetokounmpo said of Wembanyama. "He's going to be an extremely good player. He plays the right way. He plays to win. I've never seen anything like him.

"The sky is the limit as long as you work hard, keep having a positive attitude. Everything he dreams of is going to happen for him."

Wembanyama, meanwhile, said he had learned a lot from facing Antetokounmpo, a player he has long admired.

"It's always extra motivation and I know I'm a competitor," Wembanyama said. "I want to go at everyone and be the bad guy on the court. So it was a great matchup.

"I'm trying to gain knowledge from as many great players as there are. Giannis is one of the players I've watched the most. 

"The way he uses his body, he makes 100 per cent of what he can do with his body. That's something I look up to. He's a player I know pretty well."

Thursday's defeat saw San Antonio slip to 5-29 for the season, but after a game in which neither team led by more than five points in the fourth quarter, Wembanyama chose to remain upbeat.

"It's promising," Wembanyama said. "That's the first thing coach [Gregg Popovich] told us coming back in the locker room. 

"We had some moments in the game where everything seemed to work. I could feel the crowd believing in us and getting going. Some of this was satisfying tonight."

Sandown’s meeting on Saturday, set to feature the £100,000 Unibet Veterans’ Handicap Chase, has been abandoned due to a waterlogged track.

Clerk of the course Andrew Cooper and his team called an 8am precautionary inspection on Friday as though the track was raceable at the time, heavy rain was forecast for Thursday evening.

The predicted worst case scenario was up to 20mm of rain, but even more fell at the Esher venue with 34mm recorded and it has left the course saturated with no hope of improvement in time for racing.

“We’ve had 34 millimetres of rain, which started at about 2pm yesterday afternoon and finally eased off at about 4am this morning,” said Cooper.

“I would say there are multiple areas on both courses (chase and hurdle tracks) of waterlogged, false ground and areas of standing water and there are no options in terms of realignment.

“I think there is an element of judgement that it isn’t going to be materially better in 24 hours and we don’t think it will be sufficiently better in 24 hours.

“It’s basically saturated ground that is going to sit like that for a number of days now.

“It was just the wrong amount of rain at the wrong time for us, on top of what has already been a fairly wet spell, certainly since Christmas anyway.”

Nikola Jokic always knew he was going to make the dramatic buzzer-beating three-pointer which guided the Denver Nuggets to a stunning win over the Golden State Warriors on Thursday.

The Warriors were on the verge of beating the Nuggets for the first time in nearly two years at Chase Center, only for the defending NBA champions to finish with a 25-4 run for a 130-127 win.

The clinching shot came from Jokic with just 3.6 seconds remaining, the two-time MVP hitting an improbable three-pointer from just inside half-court, which sailed over the outstretched arms of Warriors centre Kevon Looney and in.

Jokic had tied the game on a short jumper just 23 seconds earlier, and he finished with 34 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

Speaking about his winner after the game, Jokic said: "That was the last option with that play. I just took a shot. I think those shots are the easiest shots to take. You don't have any other options. 

"So actually, when I felt it, I thought, 'oh, I'm going to bank this.' You can see the flight of the ball, and I just knew I was going to bank it."

Denver's win was their eighth in nine games, lifting them to 25-11 and inflicting the Warriors' third loss in the space of four games.

Jokic's game-winning shot came after Jamal Murray made a steal from Stephen Curry with just four seconds on the clock, leading Denver coach Michael Malone to hail his team for their ability to compete physically. 

"They came out in the third quarter very aggressive, and we didn't match that. They had us on our heels," Malone said.

"I said, 'okay, enough is enough. Our backs are against the ball. We have to go now,' and then we became the aggressor. 

"We became the team getting stops, pushing, attacking, we became more physical.

"The most aggressive team is going to win. I felt like when the game was on the line, we were the more aggressive team."

Regarding Jokic's buzzer beater, Malone said the credit belonged entirely to the 2021 and 2022 MVP, adding: "I wish I could tell you [that's how I drew it up]. But that's just a great player making a great play.

"Nikola lives for those moments. It's great and joyful to watch a player of his talent go out there and make the plays that he makes."

Oscar Pistorius has been released from prison on parole more than a decade after he killed his girlfriend.

An announcement from South Africa’s Department of Corrections on Friday morning indicated corrections officials had released the double-amputee Olympic and paralympic athlete from the Atteridgeville correctional centre in the capital Pretoria in the early hours.

Pistorius has served nearly nine years of his 13 years and five months murder sentence for killing Reeva Steenkamp on Valentine’s Day in 2013. The 37-year-old was approved for parole in November.

Serious offenders in South Africa are eligible for parole after serving at least half their sentence.

Pistorius is expected to initially live at his uncle’s mansion in the upscale Pretoria suburb of Waterkloof, where he lived during his murder trial and where he was held on house arrest for a period in 2015-2016.

Steenkamp’s mother, June Steenkamp, said in a statement she had accepted Pistorius’ parole as part of South African law.

She said: “Has there been justice for Reeva? Has Oscar served enough time? There can never be justice if your loved one is never coming back, and no amount of time served will bring Reeva back.

“We who remain behind are the ones serving a life sentence.

“With the release of Oscar Pistorius on parole, my only desire is that I will be allowed to live my last years in peace with my focus remaining on the Reeva Rebecca Steenkamp Foundation, to continue Reeva’s legacy.”

Pistorius will live under strict conditions until the remainder of his sentence expires in December 2029, the Department of Corrections said.

It emphasised that the multiple Paralympic champion’s release — like every other offender on parole — does not mean that he has served his time.

Some of Pistorius’ parole conditions include restrictions on when he is allowed to leave his home, a ban on consuming alcohol and orders that he must attend programmes on anger management and on violence against women. He will have to perform community service.

Pistorius will also have to regularly meet with parole officials at his home and at correctional services offices, and will be subjected to unannounced visits by authorities.

He is not allowed to leave the Waterkloof district without permission and is banned from speaking to the media until the end of his sentence.

He could be sent back to jail if he is in breach of any of his parole conditions.

South Africa does not use tags or bracelets on paroled offenders so Pistorius will not wear any monitoring device, Department of Corrections officials said.

He will be constantly monitored by a department official and will have to inform the official of any major changes in his life, such as if he wants to get a job or move to another house.

Pistorius has maintained that he shot Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and law graduate, by mistake.

He testified that he believed Steenkamp was a dangerous intruder hiding in his bathroom and shot through the door with his licensed 9mm pistol in self-defence.

Prosecutors said he killed his girlfriend intentionally during a late-night argument.

Pistorius was first convicted of culpable homicide — a charge comparable to manslaughter — and sentenced to five years in prison for killing Steenkamp.

After appeals by prosecutors, he was ultimately found guilty of murder and had his sentence increased, although that judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal still did not definitively rule that he knew it was Steenkamp behind the toilet door.

Pistorius, known as the ‘Blade Runner’ due to his carbon fibre prosthetic running blades, was a figurehead of Paralympic sport, having won six gold medals across three Games.

He became the first amputee runner to compete in an Olympics at London 2012, when he made the semi-final of the 400 metres.