International Tennis Federation (ITF) president David Haggerty is disappointed that Rafael Nadal will not be able to feature at Roland Garros, which he called "Rafa's house".

Nadal has not played since suffering a second-round exit at the Australian Open in January, having struggled with a hip injury during his straight-sets defeat to Mackenzie McDonald, and will not play at the French Open.

The Spaniard last week confirmed he will be unable to compete at Roland Garros, where he is a record 14-time champion.

When announcing his withdrawal, Nadal said 2024 would "probably" be his final year on the ATP Tour and outlined his intention of making farewell appearances at "important tournaments".

Haggerty said: "I think it's disappointing for Rafa not to be there because we know Roland Garros as Rafa's house so to speak.

"He's won it so many times and people love to watch him play. [It is] disappointing.

"I was happy to hear that he is talking about the possibility of his return to the Davis Cup finals, which would be fantastic. I wish him a successful recovery and hope to see him on the court again."

While Nadal will not be present in Paris, WTA world number one Iga Swiatek is set to be in action.

Swiatek is the defending champion, and Haggerty says the Pole will be well aware her rivals are gunning for her title.

"She's the number one player in the world and I think that she has been ranked number one for more than a year consecutively," he said.

"So [she is] a very, very good player. She won Roland Garros last year, so I expect to see her performances continued to be good knowing that everybody's after her to try to beat number one."

At 21, Swiatek already has three grand slam titles under her belt. And with 20-year-old Carlos Alcaraz conquering all on the ATP Tour, Haggerty thinks tennis' future is in safe hands, even as Nadal and Novak Djokovic reach the twilight of their careers.

"I think we have many good young men and young women that are showing how great tennis is and and putting on good rivalries already," he said. 

"So I think the future is bright."

Hukum overcame his own lengthy absence to deny last year’s Derby winner Desert Crown in the Racehorse Lotto Brigadier Gerard Stakes at Sandown.

Trained by Owen Burrows, Hukum is now six and his career looked over after he picked up what looked a career-ending injury in winning the Coronation Cup 12 months ago.

The decision was taken to keep him in training and that now looks inspired, as Jim Crowley – who briefly looked boxed in – got Hukum flying late on to win by half a length in an enthralling battle up the Sandown hill.

Desert Crown had been kept off the track by his own injury – for 355 days to Hukum’s 356 – after his famous Epsom success on what was just his third ever outing.

Following his tried and tested route with his top-class older horses, Sir Michael Stoute was looking for a 12th win in the race and connections were happy going into the Group Three feature.

Settled in fifth by Richard Kingscote as stablemate and pacemaker Solid Stone led at a steady gallop, he was set something of a test but breezed into the lead a furlong out only to be reeled in late on by the 5-1 winner.

While Stoute will no doubt be left scratching his head his former assistant Burrows will be dreaming of a big summer.

Betfair cut Hukum to 14-1 from 25s for the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe with Desert Crown now the same price from 8s.

Chiedozie Ogbene and Alan Browne are facing a race against time to be fit for the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2024 qualifiers against Greece and Gibraltar next month.

Frontman Ogbene is working his way back from a hamstring injury suffered during Rotherham’s 1-0 Sky Bet Championship win over Middlesbrough on May 1, while Preston midfielder Browne is continuing his rehabilitation from medial ligament damage sustained at QPR on April 7.

Speaking after a four-day training camp with his EFL and League of Ireland-based players in Bristol, manager Stephen Kenny said: “Chiedozie Ogbene had a hamstring tear with Rotherham and hasn’t been able to participate this week, so we’ll have to see how that is. Alan Browne as well, [is] coming back from a medial injury, so these are dilemmas for us.”

Ogbene in particular has become a key member of Kenny’s team – he started the 1-0 defeat by World Cup finalists France at the Aviva Stadium in March as Ireland opened their Group B campaign – while Browne has scored against Belgium, Scotland and Norway in the last year or so.

The squad is due to be finalised next week – Atletico Madrid defender Matt Doherty will join up after his club’s final LaLiga fixture at Villarreal on June 4 – before preparations begin in earnest.

Despite a resilient display against Didier Deschamps’ men, the Republic know they may need to take maximum points from June’s double-header – they face Greece in Athens on Friday, June 16 and Gibraltar in Dublin three days later – if they are to force their way out of a difficult group which also includes the Netherlands.

That, however, may prove easier said than done in the heat of the Greek capital – Ireland will spend nine days training in the Turkish resort of Antalya in a bid to acclimatise – and with the hosts having topped their group in Nations League C.

Kenny said: “Greece are a good team, they won their Nations League group so we’re going to have to really perform to a high level. We need to make sure we are absolutely 100 per cent, and going to Turkey will help us, training in similar conditions, get ourselves ready.

“We go to Athens on the Wednesday and play on the Friday against Greece before we come back and play, and I heard that 42,00 have already been sold for Gibraltar, which is fantastic. It would be great to have a full house there if we could on the Monday night.

“But at the moment, we’re firmly focused on our preparations for that, and I think that will give us a chance, our preparations here, coming to Bristol, going to Turkey.

“Hopefully some of the players can come through some of their injury difficulties and if so, we want to make sure we’re ready.”

Erling Haaland has set his sights on history as Manchester City chase the treble.

The striker remained focused on City’s finals as he collected the Football Writers’ Association’s Footballer of the Year award in London on Thursday.

Haaland has scored 52 goals in 51 games for City – ahead of Sunday’s Premier League finale at Brentford – following his £51million move from Borussia Dortmund last summer.

City face Inter Milan in Istanbul in the Champions League final on June 10, a week after they play Manchester United in the FA Cup final, having already won the Premier League.

They are aiming to emulate their city rivals’ achievement of 1999.

Haaland said: “There are two finals left, we have to stay focused even though we won the Premier League.

“We have to stay focused to achieve what we can achieve in the next two finals. I will do everything I can to achieve good things in the finals and hopefully win both.

“It’s a good thing being favourites (against Inter Milan) because it means we have qualities, we have to attack the game in our way, play our football and in the end we’ll see who wins it.”

Haaland earned 82 per cent of the votes to win the FWA award, 75 years after Sir Stanley Matthews won the first trophy, ahead of Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard.

“I feel good, it’s a special moment,” he added, speaking to the FWA. “I expected to do good things but, to do this, I didn’t expect.”

He has broken the record for the most Premier League goals in a season with 36 as Manchester City wrapped up a third straight title with three games to spare, having trailed Arsenal by eight points at one stage.

“It’s really just about taking it game-by-game, to be honest, and to focus on what we can focus about,” said the 22-year-old.

“I don’t like to focus on the future or the past. I like to live in moment and I like to take it game-by-game – exactly what he (Pep Guardiola) said we were going to do and that’s what we did.

“We focused and we achieved exactly what we wanted to achieve. In then end it’s unreal what we did, being behind all season and we came like a unit together. It was amazing and an amazing feeling.”

Chelsea’s Sam Kerr took the women’s award, making the Australian the first player to win the trophy in consecutive seasons.

The striker scored the winner in Chelsea’s 1-0 FA Cup final triumph over Manchester United earlier this month.

Chelsea, who have a two-point lead over Manchester United, know victory at Reading on Saturday will seal the WSL title on the final day of the season.

Kerr said: “It’s amazing. It’s something that I’m very proud of. Off the back of the Euros women’s football has grown a lot. Walking down the street, the crowds are bigger. Everything’s just increased over the last year.

“I think to some people it might look easy but every year it gets harder and harder (to win the league). Anyone that’s involved in football knows how hard it is to come back year after year and to stay at the top. So we’re doing everything to win on Saturday.”

Roberto Escobarr gained his first success since June 2021 when making all the running to win the Racehorse Lotto Henry II Stakes at Sandown.

Trained by William Haggas, the son of Galileo is now six but in his younger days looked destined to be winning races like this Group Two event when taking a Listed contest at York on just his fifth ever outing.

He only made it to the track once in 2022 and was returning from 399 days off when third at Wolverhampton in March.

Fitter for that, he was sent off the 7-5 favourite and Richard Kingscote sent him into an early lead and was never headed.

Nate The Great pestered him all the way to the line, but the winner was always holding him and prevailed by a neck.

Haggas’ charge was cut to 10-1 from 14s for the Northumberland Plate by Betfair.

The Miami Heat’s mission to reach the NBA Finals has become a bit tougher, as starting guard Gabe Vincent has been ruled out for Thursday’s Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Boston Celtics because of a sprained left ankle.

Vincent was injured with just over eight minutes left in Miami’s Game 4 loss when he landed awkwardly and rolled his ankle while catching the ball after Jayson Tatum blocked his shot.

He then went to the locker room and got his ankle taped and was able to return with just under five minutes to play.

Thursday morning, Vincent went through a workout but Heat coach Eric Spoelstra said he's not healthy enough to take the court in Boston.

The four-year veteran finished with 17 points in Tuesday’s 116-99 loss after leading the Heat with a playoff career-high 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting in Sunday’s 128-102 victory that gave Miami a 3-0 lead in the conference finals.

Vincent has started each of Miami’s first 15 playoff games and is third on the Heat in postseason scoring at 13.1 points per game behind Jimmy Butler (29.9) and Bam Adebayo (17.6).

His 36 3-pointers this postseason are the most among all Heat players and he’s been solid from the foul line, making 25 of 28 free throws (89.3 per cent).

With Vincent out, 37-year-old Kyle Lowry is expected to move into the starting lineup.

The 17-year-veteran is averaging 9.2 points, 4.5 assists and 3.3 rebounds off the bench for Miami this postseason.

Tottenham and England forward Harry Kane reflected on a “special” day after he officially received the Freedom of the City of London on Thursday in a ceremony alongside his family at Guildhall.

One of the City of London’s ancient traditions, the Freedom is believed to have begun in 1237 and enabled recipients to carry out their trade.

England captain and record scorer Kane was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in November for his outstanding sporting achievements but was only now able to receive his certificate in a ceremony alongside wife Kate, his three children and other members of his family.

Chris Hayward, the City Corporation’s policy chairman, and deputy policy chairman Keith Bottomley nominated Kane, who has spent the majority of his playing career in the capital with Tottenham where he is their all-time top scorer.

Reflecting on the day at Guildhall, Kane told the PA news agency: “It was great, really unique and really special in its own way.

“Just a great experience. I have all my family with me today and for them to be in that room with me and see me get the certificate has been amazing.

“I am learning more and more about it as we go on. The ceremony dived into a bit of the history and some of the names before me so it is incredible to be a part of.

“I am extremely grateful to London and what it has given me, the opportunities it has given me. I have been lucky to live here my whole life pretty much.

“I have had a couple of short spells away when I was on loan, but other than that I have been here. To represent not just England but London as well is something I am extremely proud of.

“To receive this award has been an amazing honour for me.”

Kane follows in the footsteps of former England cricketer and World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan, who officially received the Freedom of the City of London last year.

Meanwhile, every member of the Lionesses’ squad received the Freedom of the City of London following their winning exploits at Euro 2022.

Spurs forward Kane guided England to the final of the European Championships two years ago and won the golden boot at the World Cup in 2018.

Policy chairman Hayward added: “Harry Kane is an outstanding sportsman and role model for young footballers, having achieved so much before the age of 30.

“Born and raised in London and admired by many millions of followers of the beautiful game – not just in this country, but around the world – it was our pleasure to welcome him and his guests to Guildhall.”

Bottomley said: “I was delighted to support the nomination for Harry Kane’s Freedom, which is richly deserved.

“Harry is, in every sense, at the top of his game and his Freedom goes some way towards expressing our admiration for his tremendous skill on the pitch, and our considerable pride in him.”

Elite Status turned what looked a competitive renewal of the Racehorse Lotto National Stakes at Sandown into a procession.

Trained by Karl Burke, the son of Havana Grey – who himself won this race in 2017 – cost 325,000 guineas at Tattersalls Book 2 in October and already looks like living up to his purchase price.

A winner at Doncaster on soft ground on debut, he faced quicker conditions on this occasion but that proved no barrier to success.

Blue Storm grabbed the favoured rail early and made sure the field was quickly stretched, with Charlie Appleby’s On Point very slowly away and losing all chance.

Dapper Valley then had the misfortune of malfunctioning tack which cost him any chance and with Son Of Corballis another outpaced the contenders began to thin out.

With well over a furlong to run Clifford Lee moved Elite Status (5-2 favourite) up to join Blue Storm and the response was electric.

Burke’s colt lengthened smartly and just went further clear with every stride, eventually winning by five lengths with stablemate World Of Darcy running on into second and Hackman third.

Paddy Power make the winner their 2-1 favourite for the Norfolk at Royal Ascot.

Sports stars and clubs across the world continue to provide an insight into their lives on social media.

Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the best examples from May 25.

Football

Izzy Christiansen had some big news.

And so did West Ham.

Kammy showed his love for Jeff Stelling.

Ruben Dias and Erling Haaland looked fresh.

Ilkay Gundogan was impressed by Brighton.

Danny Welbeck and Billy Gilmour were celebrating Brighton’s achievement.

Ben Earl is looking to help Saracens regain the Gallagher Premiership title and put down an early World Cup selection marker at Twickenham on Saturday.

Saracens flanker Earl has been among the league’s most consistent performers, highlighted by him winning Premiership player of the season last year.

But while his England career is into double figures in terms of caps, he has made just two Test appearances since March 2021.

Earl’s experience of the Guinness Six Nations this term was restricted to a combined 52 minutes off the bench against Scotland and Italy, with back-row starting berths in Steve Borthwick’s team being fought out by the likes of Ben Curry, Jack Willis and Lewis Ludlam.

A Premiership final puts himself firmly in the spotlight, though, ahead of England’s World Cup countdown towards France later this year gathering pace.

“The moment you start looking for excuses, the moment you start thinking I am just unlucky, my face doesn’t fit, is probably the moment you give somebody the reason to drop you,” Earl said.

“I’ve kind of got to stay with it. Steve was unbelievably positive about my work in the Six Nations.

“Unfortunately, selection didn’t always go my way, but I am trying to stay positive and put my best foot forward in these big games, which are probably the games he is looking at the most.

“I think I have played as consistently as I did last year, which was a big challenge of mine.

“There is no point winning some of the accolades I did last year and not backing it up. Selfishly, the elephant in the room is that I wish I could have played a bit more for England in that Six Nations campaign.

“For whatever reason, I didn’t, and I have learnt a lot from that. I am looking forward to going again, putting my best foot forward in these big games, which has been a big focus of mine.

“The moment that you stop performing, you give someone an easy reason not to pick you. That is a big thing.

“On the flip-side, if I get a chance to play a Test match this summer, it’s got to be good.

“You look at how competitive my position is, it always feels that the person who slips up first is going to be the one that misses out.”

Saracens are back at English rugby headquarters a year after Freddie Burns’ late drop-goal saw Leicester crowned champions, leaving Earl and his team-mates deflated.

But victory over Sale, who have reached a first Premiership final since 2006, would give Saracens a sixth league crown in the past 13 seasons.

“It would mean everything to me,” Earl added. “The amount of times I have carried bags for games like these when I was a bit younger, I have always wanted to celebrate a win.

“Coming a little bit short last year has only made this group hungrier and me hungrier. To win the league after such a long slog with your boyhood club would be everything, really.

“In the 12 months I’ve learnt a huge amount in terms of getting myself right mentally, and what I can give the team if I am right. Hopefully, I can show that on Saturday.”

Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes hopes in-form striker Kyle Vassell can dust himself off for their do-or-die showdown with Ross County.

Vassell struck twice in Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Dundee United, which kept Killie in pole position in the race for cinch Premiership survival.

The Ayrshire side will secure their top-flight status for another year if they avoid defeat against Ross County at Rugby Park on Sunday but they face a play-off if they lose.

Vassell, who missed games in recent weeks before hitting three goals in three matches, went off after a heavy challenge from Charlie Mulgrew in the second half on Wednesday.

McInnes said: “He’s not really trained properly since the Hearts game around seven weeks ago. We’re just getting him out there, to be honest.

“He’s been doing a lot of work with the physio, but we don’t want to irritate his knee.

“He did a wee bit of work with us on Tuesday and declared himself fit, as he does. He turns up for his work and he’s prepared to get his hands dirty.

“He’s so important to me and the team. We’re hoping that he’s all right.

“We’re conscious that it usually takes five or six days for it to clear up, we’ve only got three, so we’re up against it. Knowing him as I do, he’ll be willing to put himself out there.”

LaLiga president Javier Tebas claims with the correct legal framework he can eradicate racism in Spanish football within six months.

The problem has been an issue for some time but hit the headlines on Sunday when Real Madrid winger Vinicius Junior spoke out after being abused at Valencia, saying Spain was a racist country because of “continuous episodes across several cities”, and his club filed a hate crime complaint with the Spanish State Attorney General’s Office.

That prompted a tetchy response to Vinicius on social media from Tebas, for which he subsequently apologised, but after complaining the league’s hands were tied by the country’s law which means LaLiga can currently only identify and report incidents and punishment is rarely handed out, the outspoken president is adamant he can rapidly eliminate the problem.

“What we want is the power to do more things. With the power we are convinced within months this would be solved,” he told a specially-arranged press conference.

“We are going along the legal route and I think in six months’ time this will be at zero and we will be the best league in the world.

“The competencies we want are for those intolerable behaviours – racism, homophobia.”

When challenged on his six-month solution claim, Tebas added: “We have been able to have economic control to stop our clubs gong bankrupt so if we are given the competencies we can put an end to this because it is easier to stop than financial control.

“Tomorrow, a communique will go to the head of government and political parties requesting the law is urgently modified against racism, xenophobia and intolerance and requesting the (Spanish Football) Federation and LaLiga to have competencies.”

Asked why LaLiga had not made such a request before, Tebas said: “That was probably a mistake of ours too but we thought we were making progress in the courts when we made complaints directly.

“We have seen it is not enough and we need greater agility and more speed to solve these problems more quickly.”

In the interim, Tebas said Vinicius would have his full backing should he decide to walk off the pitch in the face of further racist abuse.

“If he feels affected of course I’d encourage him to leave the pitch,” he said.

“He and the whole team could abandon it. That is the decision of the referee but I’d encourage him to leave the pitch – he will be supported by me personally and LaLiga.”

LaLiga has set up dedicated reporting channels, via email and its website, in order to speed up the identification of people who engage in racist behaviour but since the creation of LaLiga’s integrity and security department in 2015, there have only been, according to documentation provided by LaLiga, more than a dozen racist incidents linked to matches reported.

However, LaLiga also lists nine separate incidents relating to Vinicius since December 2020, four of which have been resolved but with only two found to have featured racism, with the clubs involved allowed to issue sanctions themselves.

Tebas denied Spain was a racist country but admitted he was concerned about the league’s worldwide image in the light of the latest accusations, although he did not think it would deter black players from signing for LaLiga clubs.

“If I weren’t concerned I’d be crazy. Of course I am concerned and we will work to find a solution to turn this image around. Spanish football is not racist,” said Tebas, who said he would speak to Vinicius when things had “calmed down” but had contacted sponsors to offer reassurances.

“We think it doesn’t reflect reality. This is unexpected and difficult but something we have to face up to, we can’t just hide and cry in the corner.

“We do protect black sportspeople from any racism. We will continue to protect them from any insults they receive on the field, in their professional career and outside their professional career.”

Callum Smith is set to challenge Artur Beterbiev for the unified light heavyweight world titles in Canada on August 19.

Beterbiev currently possesses the WBC, WBO and IBF belts and will aim to defend them against challenger Smith in Quebec City.

Two-time Olympian Beterbiev enters the bout with a 100 per cent knockout ratio (19-0, 19 KOs), while Liverpool’s Smith (29-1, 21 KOs) is a former WBA super middleweight world champion.

“I’m excited to finally get my opportunity to become a two-weight world champion,” Smith said.

“I’m no stranger to fighting on away soil, having boxed in Saudi Arabia twice, across America, and now heading to Canada on August 19.

“There was no hesitation from me going to Canada to fight Artur Beterbiev, and I will be returning to Liverpool as a world champion once more.”

Beterbiev added: “Quebec is my second home, so I’m very happy to finally defend my titles on home turf.

“When you are world champion, everyone wants the opportunity to take your belt, and that’s especially true in my case, with three titles at stake.

“I’ve already started my training camp, and I’ll be ready to not only defend my belts, but to also put on an impressive show August 19.”