World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hall of Famer Scott Hall, who rose to stardom in the 1990s as Razor Ramon, has died at the age of 63.

Hall had been placed on a life support machine after suffering severe health complications following surgery to repair a broken hip.

WWE confirmed in a statement on Monday that Hall, widely considered to be one of the most influential wrestlers of all time, had passed away.

Hall began his wrestling career in 1984 and joined the WWE – then known as WWF – in 1992, before spending time with WCW, ECW and various other promotions.

He spent four years with WWE, winning the Intercontinental title four times, and had notable rivalries with Kevin Nash, Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels.

Rafael Nadal sympathises with Naomi Osaka over the abuse she was subjected to at Indian Wells, but says athletes must be prepared to deal with it "as nothing is perfect in life".

Osaka was reduced to tears as she crashed out of the Indian Wells Open with a 6-0 6-4 third-round defeat to 21st seed Veronika Kudermetova on Saturday.

A member of the crowd could be heard shouting "Naomi, you suck" after the four-time grand slam champion had been broken in the first game of the match.

Osaka approached the chair umpire to report the incident and held further discussions with the court supervisor after being insulted again.

While accepting there is no place for such conduct, 21-time grand slam winner Nadal believes players should learn to cope with hostile environments.

"These kind of questions are tough to answer because, in some way, the easy answer for me is I feel terrible about what happened, that never should happen," he told reporters.

"The real thing, in the real world, that happens, you know? I feel very sorry for her. We are having, in my opinion, a great life. 

"We are very lucky people that we're able to enjoy amazing experiences because of our life, because we are tennis players. We make money.

"Even if is terrible to hear from that, we must be prepared for that. We need to resist these kind of issues that can happen when you are exposed to people. 

"At the same time, as we like a lot when the people are supporting, when something like this happens, we need to accept and move forward.

"I understand that probably Naomi, she suffered a lot with his probably kind of issues that she has, mental [health] issues. 

"The only thing that I wish for her is to recover well from that and wish her all the very best. But nothing is perfect in this life. We need to be ready for adversities."

Speaking shortly after the incident, an emotional Osaka said being targeted by the spectator reminded her of abuse the Williams sisters were subjected to at the same event.

Serena and Venus Williams were the victims of verbal abuse at the tournament in the Californian desert back in 2001.

The siblings' father, Richard Williams, claimed he had been racially abused at Indian Wells, while Venus Williams said she "heard whatever he heard".

Daniil Medvedev, who will concede his status as world number one back to Novak Djokovic from next week, said he can relate to how Osaka felt after recently hitting out at the "disrespectful" crowd at the Australian Open.

"I didn't see it with my own eyes, and I didn't watch the videos after, so I just heard it from someone who heard from someone, so I don't want to go too much into it," he said.

"It's tough for everybody because I can feel for Naomi. I mean, I felt not great in Australia. 

"You know they're [the players] getting millions. They should be ready for everything. At the same time, we're humans. We all make mistakes, good decisions. 

"Sometimes we feel bad. Sometimes we feel good. I can understand that Naomi didn't feel that great when she heard it and I can completely understand her feelings.

"Life would be easier if everybody would be calm and not angry but, even talking about me, I get angry, so I should be better also."

Karl-Anthony Towns revealed he was just following coach Chris Finch's orders when he went out and hit 60 points in the Minnesota Timberwolves' win over the San Antonio Spurs.

While MVP rivals Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid collided in Philadelphia, Towns stole the spotlight with a stunning display, hitting a season-high points total in the Timberwolves' 149-139 triumph on Monday.

Towns' tally took him ahead of the efforts of Trae Young and LeBron James, who both scored 56 this season, while it was also a franchise record.

And the 26-year-old said he had asked Finch pre-game what was required of him, with the coach telling him to "go get 60".

He continued: "I told coach before the game, 'Hey listen, we need this win. I'll do whatever it takes. If I need to play 44, 48 minutes, I'll get it done.'

"That was kind of the mindset I came in [with]. I had to dominate. I had to be my best.

"So I just went out there, tried to be really aggressive."

Finch was understandably delighted with Towns' showing, with Gregg Popovich's Spurs unable to stop him.

"They were selling out to protect the rim with everything else we were trying to do," Finch said.

"He had the matchup, and they didn't have an answer for him. We definitely needed it, and he stepped up."

Popovich, who recently racked up a record 1,336th victory as a coach, also heaped praise on Towns.

"Karl was fantastic," Popovich said. "He drove it, he shot it. He always plays hard. He's a hell of a player. It's not like it was a surprise, but tonight he was special."

After reaching half-time with 24 points, Towns exploded into life after the break, scoring 32 of his side's 46 third-quarter points on his way to final shooting figures of 19-31 from the field, 7-11 from three and 15-16 from the line.

Towns, who is the first center to hit 60 points in a single NBA game since Shaquille O'Neal in March 2000, also grabbed a personal season-high of 17 rebounds.

He became the first player in the league's history to have 60 points, 60 per cent 3-point shooting and 15 rebounds in a single game, while only four centers had previously enjoyed a 60-point game.

Tuesday sees two very finely poised games in the Champions League round of 16 as Manchester United host Atletico Madrid and Benfica travel to Amsterdam to face Ajax.

A 1-1 draw at the Wanda Metropolitano three weeks ago felt harsh on Atletico, and Diego Simeone will not have been too pleased to see Cristiano Ronaldo roar back into form at the weekend with a hat-trick in United's 3-2 win against Tottenham.

An exciting first leg in Lisbon saw Benfica and Ajax play out a 2-2 draw, with the Dutch side's star striker Sebastien Haller finding the net at both ends.

The removal of the away goals rule means there is not a single thing separating these sides heading into the second legs, so here are some Opta facts to help you decide who you think will come out on top on Tuesday.

Manchester United v Atletico Madrid

Ronaldo was back to his effervescent best on Saturday, and has scored in both of his Champions League home games for Ralf Rangnick's men this season. If he does so again, it would be only the second time he has managed three in a row for the club (previously between November 2007 and March 2008).

He has netted 13 goals in his last 15 home games against Atletico across all competitions, including two hat-tricks in his most recent four (for Real Madrid in May 2017 and Juventus in March 2019, both in this competition).

United have been eliminated from their last three Champions League knockout stage games when drawing the first leg, doing so against Real Madrid (2012-13 last 16), Bayern Munich (2013-14 quarter-final) and Sevilla (2017-18 last 16).

However, when failing to win the first leg of a Champions League knockout tie at home, Atletico have been eliminated three out of four times. The only exception was a 3-1 win at Chelsea in the 2013-14 semi-final, following a 0-0 draw in the home leg.

Before this season, 69 per cent of teams to draw the first leg of a Champions League knockout stage tie at home have been eliminated (59/85). That being said, six of the last 10 such teams to progress have done so against English sides.

Atletico have lost their last two away trips to face English sides in the Champions League, losing at Chelsea in 2020-21 and Liverpool this season without scoring a goal in either. In addition, they have not kept a clean sheet in any of their eight total away games against English teams in the competition, conceding 14 goals overall.

The Red Devils have only won two of their last eight Champions League home games when hosting Spanish opposition (D3 L3), although the most recent of those did come earlier in the competition this season, beating Villarreal 2-1 with a stoppage-time winner from Ronaldo.

Despite the reputation of Simeone's side for being tight at the back, they have not kept a clean sheet in any of their last six Champions League matches – only between September 2009 and October 2013 (seven games) have they had a longer such run in the competition.

Ajax v Benfica

Ajax lost their first ever home game against a Portuguese opponent in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League (3-1 in February 1969 v Benfica) but have since gone unbeaten in five matches since (W4 D1). They have won all three encounters that have taken place in the Champions League era, including one earlier this season (4-2 win v Sporting CP in the group stage).

Including qualifiers, Benfica have only won one of their last 10 away games against Dutch sides in European competition – 1-0 v AZ in the Europa League in 2013-14. Six of the other nine games have ended in draws (L3), including one earlier this season against PSV in Champions League qualifying (0-0).

Ajax have won all three of their home games in the Champions League this season. They will be looking to win four in a row on home soil in the competition for the first time since March 1996, when they won seven in succession under Louis van Gaal.

Benfica are looking to progress beyond the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time since 2015-16, when they beat Zenit. It would be just the fourth time they have reached the quarter-finals of the competition in the 21st century, after doing so in 2005-06, 2011-12 and 2015-16.

Goal enthusiasts Ajax have scored at least twice in all seven of their Champions League games this season, netting 22 times in total. That is the most by team from outside of the big five European leagues through their first seven games of a campaign since Ajax themselves, who scored 30 in 1979-80.

Benfica have only won one of their last 14 away games in the Champions League (D4 L9), which was against AEK Athens in October 2018. In the knockout stages of the competition, Nelson Verissimo's side have lost five of their last six away games (W1).

Ajax have four different players in double figures for chances created from open play in the Champions League this season – Dusan Tadic (16), Haller (13), Steven Berghuis (12) and Antony (10). Only Manchester City have had as many different players do so (also four).

Haller has been directly involved in five goals in three home appearances in the Champions League this season (three goals, two assists), and could become just the fourth player in the competition's history to score in each of his first four home appearances, after Oscar (2013), Frederic Kanoute (2008) and Alessandro Del Piero (1996).

They say you should never judge a player on one good international tournament.

In fairness, when Bayern Munich splashed out a reported €35million on an 18-year-old Renato Sanches in 2016, he had already impressed at Benfica, but it was his showings at Euro 2016 for eventual winners Portugal that sped up the hype train.

Just over a year later, he was struggling to get game time during a loan move at Swansea City.

Sanches' star had fallen almost as quickly as it had risen, and after being unable to establish himself at Bayern, the midfielder made the move to Lille in 2019.

At the French side he finally settled and became a crucial part of Christophe Galtier's underdogs, who impressively beat Paris Saint-Germain to the 2020-21 Ligue 1 title.

Sanches followed up his championship medal with another comeback, standing out as one of the best players again at Euro 2020.

As football never seems to learn its lessons, hype rebuilt around Sanches following his performances for Portugal in last year's rescheduled tournament, and the 24-year-old has been linked with a transfer to one of Europe's elite pretty much ever since.

Clubs including Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Juventus, Barcelona and Real Madrid have all been mooted as possible destinations, but recent reports suggest that Milan could be where Sanches takes the next step of his journey, and potentially where he could finally fulfil that much-discussed potential.

Although Lille have failed to come close to defending their title this season, Sanches has continued to impress when available.

He has played 25 games in all competitions (21 starts), registering one goal and five assists, three more than any other Lille midfielder.

Sanches has completed 57 dribbles, with Jonathan Ikone – more of a forward player and who moved to Fiorentina in January – completing the next most at the club this season (38), and he has created as many big chances (eight) as Ikone having played the same number of games. A big chance is defined by Opta as a situation where a player should reasonably be expected to score.

Comparing the same numbers to Milan's midfield, he has created twice as many big chances as the Rossoneri's most creative players (Sandro Tonali and Alexis Saelemaekers – four), and only Saelemaekers has completed more dribbles (58), albeit from more appearances. Sanches averages more completed dribbles than the Belgian per 90 minutes (3.01 to 2.51).

One assumption would be that Sanches has been earmarked to replace Franck Kessie, who appears likely to be leaving San Siro when his contract expires at the end of the season, though the two are not all that similar as players.

Kessie has six goals this season, two from the penalty spot, but just one assist, and has only created two big chances. Sanches also makes far more dribbles, attempting 91 compared to 38 from Kessie.

Sanches has made almost as many recoveries as the Ivory Coast international (146 to 158) but has attempted fewer tackles than all of Milan's midfielders (20), with the lowest tackle success rate (45 per cent).

His pass success percentage is also worse than Kessie's (81.77 to 88.73). You might think that could be down to the intent of those passes, but Kessie is even more comfortably ahead when it comes to pass success percentage in the opposition half (75.53 to 85.53).

Sanches, of course, plays in a different league, and so how do his numbers compare in this season's Champions League?

While it must be noted that Lille had an easier time of things in the group stages than Milan, who went up against Liverpool, Atletico Madrid and Porto, Sanches did seem to shine on the big stage more than Stefano Pioli's current crop.

Only Ismael Bennacer (39) made more recoveries than Sanches' 38, having played a game more, while no-one at the Serie A side attempted as many as his 209 passes, and none won possession in the opposition's final third more than him (four).

Milan suffered elimination in their group, while Lille won theirs and put up a respectable fight against Chelsea in the first leg of their round-of-16 clash at Stamford Bridge.

Sanches in particular looked good again, though he was unable to prevent the Premier League side taking a 2-0 lead over with them to the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Wednesday, where Sanches sadly will not play after picking up a muscle injury in the 0-0 draw with Saint-Etienne on Friday.

"Renato Sanches underwent tests this morning following the injury contracted on Friday during the match between LOSC and AS Saint-Etienne," read a statement from Lille. "The midfielder has suffered an injury to the biceps femoris muscle in his left thigh.

"His unavailability is estimated at three weeks, depending on the clinical evolution of his injury."

And this is arguably the thing that has held Sanches back more than anything, his injury record.

For context, at the age of just 24, he already has two pages of injuries listed on his injury history on Transfermarkt, the vast majority of which have been muscle issues that just do not seem to go away.

In terms of what he has shown on the field in the past couple of years, Sanches seems more than ready for another shot at an elite club.

Whether he can stay fit long enough to do so is another matter.

On a day that saw MVP favourites Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic go head-to-head, it was fellow center Karl-Anthony Towns who stole the headlines.

Towns scored a career-high 60 points in the Minnesota Timberwolves' 149-139 win over the San Antonio Spurs.

It is the most points scored by any player in a single game this season, ahead of Trae Young and LeBron James, who both scored 56.

After reaching half-time with 24 points, Towns exploded into life after the break, scoring 32 of his side's 46 third-quarter points on his way to final shooting figures of 19-31 from the field, 7-11 from three and 15-16 from the line.

Towns, who is the first center to hit 60 points in a single NBA game since Shaquille O'Neal in March 2000, also grabbed a personal season-high of 17 rebounds, while on the other side Dejounte Murray was no slouch with 30 points and 12 assists, though it was not enough for the Spurs.

Novak Djokovic will return to the top of the ATP rankings after Daniil Medvedev fell to a brilliant Gael Monfils comeback at the Indian Wells Open.

Medvedev was beaten 4-6 6-3 6-1 by Frenchman Monfils, with the reigning US Open champion only able to connect on 50 per cent of his first serves, while he was broken three times in the decider.

For Monfils, the win earns him a spot in the fourth round against Carlos Alcaraz, while the loss means Medvedev will lose his position as world number one after only two weeks.

Speaking to post-match media, Medvedev said while he will work hard to earn the top-ranking back, starting in Miami next week.

"Is it better to be number one for, let’s say one week in your life, or never touch it?" he said. "I think it's still better to at least touch it.

"Now I know I'm going to lose it, so I have Miami to try to get it back. [I'm] usually feeling a little bit better in Miami in terms of tennis, so I'll try to play good there.

"I thought it could give me more motivation, well, I had motivation. It's just that I didn't find my best tennis."

World number five Anett Kontaveit slipped out of the Indian Wells Open after a 3-6 7-5 7-6 (7-5)  loss to Marketa Vondrousova.

Kontaveit was the second-highest seed remaining in the tournament entering Monday's play, and appeared to be on her way through to the fourth round after breaking twice in the opening set.

Yet Vondrousova got the better of her Polish opponent in a topsy turvy second set, forcing a decider that starter in frantic fashion, with a concession of serve in each of the opening five games.

Vondrousova held to end that street yet was pulled back to 4-4 by a resurgent Kontaveit, though the Czech world number 33 eventually closed the match out at the fourth time of asking in the tie-break to tee up a clash with Veronika Kudermetova.

Cameron Smith was not even prioritising golf in the lead-up to The Players Championship, where he carded 10 birdies in the final round to claim the largest purse in PGA Tour history.

The Australian finished one shot clear of Indian Anirban Lahiri, with England's Paul Casey in third, taking home a winner's cheque of $3.6million in the process.

The 28-year-old spoke with NBC Sport's broadcast after walking off the final green and ended up fighting back tears as he discussed the challenges of spending so much time away from his family and friends.

"[The win] is huge –  it's going to take a while to sink in I think," he said.

"It's cool being here in Jacksonville – I live here now, I call this place home and I had a lot of fans out there rooting for me today.

"I haven't seen [my family] in two years, it's really cool to have them here. 

"My main priority really was just to hang out with them, and golf was second for these few weeks, so it's nice to see them – and nice to get a win for them."

Smith only ended the day with four pars after what was a wild round.

But while other parts of his game may have been erratic, Smith was thankful he could rely on his putting to get himself out of some tricky situations, before touching on his remarkable tee-shot on the 17th.

"[Putting] was probably the big key for me today – it kept me in it," he added.

"I obviously made plenty of birdies, and I had to make a lot of good par puts at the end. 

"It's definitely the strength of my game, and sometimes I lean on it too much, but it's nice to see them go in.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't push [the tee-shot on 17] a little bit. 

"I was trying to hit it over the bunker there and hold it up against the wind, and the wind didn't really do much for three-quarters of the shot, but it held it up right at the end there – that was just awesome."

Cameron Smith claimed the biggest victory of his career and heftiest purse in golf as he won The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass despite a tense finish.

It was an action-packed final day for the tour's most-famous mullet, finishing with only four pars from his 18 holes on his way to a final score of 13 under for the tournament.

Smith started like a house on fire, birdieing the first four holes of the day and also the sixth, before things started to go awry with bogeys on the final three holes of the front nine.

Undeterred, Smith responded with another streak of four successive birdies to open up the back-nine, resulting in a multi-stroke lead with five holes to play.

On the famous 17th, Smith admitted he pushed his shot well right of his intended target, but it landed within one yard of the hole for a tap-in, taking a three-stroke lead.

However, the contest was far from over. Anirban Lahiri also birdied the 17th, trimming the margin to two with one hole to play.

It was a horror start to the last for Smith, spraying his drive into the trees before his recovery shot back towards the fairway ran all the way into the water.

Needing a clutch chip to put himself in a position to save a bogey, Smith delivered, again landing within one yard of the hole and tapping in for a final-round 66.

Trailing by one stroke, Lahiri needed a birdie on the par-four last to force a playoff, but his second shot failed to make the green and he ultimately settled for par and a second-place finish.

Two-time major champion Dustin Johnson responded to a disappointing 76 in the third round to post a nine-under 63 – three strokes better than the trio of Smith, Max Homa and Rory McIlroy with 66.

In a day to forget, world number one Jon Rahm posted an eye-watering five-over nine on the par-four fourth hole, going on to finish with a final-round 77, tying for 55th.

For the win, Smith nets $3.6million – the biggest winner's purse in PGA Tour history – while Lahiri takes home over $2.1m in second, and Paul Casey collects nearly $1.4m in third.

Bernardo Silva insisted it is better to be in Manchester City's position rather than Liverpool's after the Premier League leaders were held at Crystal Palace.

Liverpool cut the gap on Pep Guardiola's side to three points with a 2-0 victory over Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, and City could only respond with a 0-0 draw at Selhurst Park on Monday.

City were twice thwarted by the frame of the goal, with Kevin De Bruyne and Joao Cancelo denied either side of the interval, but Palace battled valiantly to share the spoils.

Silva also squandered a pair of glorious chances in either half, with his touch letting him down from close range in the first before nudging wide from Jack Grealish's low cross after the break.

Liverpool play their game in hand against Arsenal on Wednesday and could be top by the time the two sides meet at the Etihad Stadium on April 10, but Silva claimed he would rather be in his side's position.

"It was a tough game, we actually played well, we controlled the game apart from one or two times," Silva told Sky Sports after the match.

"We couldn't score, and we should've scored. Nine games to go, but it's still better to be in our position than in Liverpool's, and they have to play in our stadium, so it's going to be exciting.

"It's never easy to play at any team away in the Premier League. It's always better to win than draw, and we wanted to have an advantage of six points over Liverpool."

The goalless draw ended a run of 18 consecutive Premier League games in which City had scored, since a 2-0 defeat to Palace in October 2021.

Guardiola's side also mustered 18 shots in total without scoring against Palace, their biggest tally without a goal in the competition since their 18 efforts against Tottenham in August 2021.

City will be hoping to make amends in their next league outing at Burnley on April 2, after the international break and an FA Cup quarter-final trip to Southampton on Sunday.

Pep Guardiola insisted he had "no regrets" with his Manchester City side, despite them failing to restore their six-point lead at the Premier League summit on Monday.

Reigning top-flight champions City headed to Crystal Palace knowing victory would see them regain their advantage over Liverpool, who defeated Brighton and Hove Albion 2-0 on Saturday.

However, Guardiola's team had to settle for just a point at Selhurst Park as they were twice denied by the woodwork through Joao Cancelo and Kevin De Bruyne either side of the break.

That leaves Liverpool, who are four points behind and play their game in hand against Arsenal on Wednesday, with the chance to top the table by the time the two teams meet on April 10 at the Etihad Stadium should City fail to beat Burnley in their next game.

But Guardiola, who did not introduce Gabriel Jesus or Raheem Sterling off the bench in search of a winner, refused to criticise his side after they again failed to breach Patrick Vieira's astute defence, Palace having recorded a 2-0 victory in the reverse fixture this season.

"I think they [Palace] played good," he told Sky Sports after the game.

"There are still many games to play, we have to win a lot of games but the way we played, there are no regrets about the team. We would have preferred to win of course but the game was well played.

"We played to win the game; we created more. The way we played was amazing in a difficult stadium with the grass not perfect."

He added to BBC Sport: "We played a really good game. In 90 minutes, we conceded mistakes a little bit, but the way we played was really good.

"Luck doesn't exist in football. We have to score goals and we didn't do it. We played to score goals and concede few. We struggled a little bit.

"The guys who were playing were playing good, that's why I didn't make changes. We didn't score, that was the mistake.

"The team that was there today was there before and will be there in the next game. I am very pleased with the performance and the way we played."