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• Italy 2-2 Belgium: Trossard completes comeback to deny 10-man hosts

  Italy dropped their first points of this Nations League campaign, as they were held to a 2-2 draw by Belgium in Rome.

  The 10-man Azzurri, who had Lorenzo Pellegrini sent off, were pegged back from 2-0 up at Stadio Olimpico, where Maxim De Cuyper and Leandro Trossard cancelled out earlier efforts from Andrea Cambiaso and Mateo Retegui.

  Just 59 seconds had elapsed when Italy broke the deadlock as Federico Dimarco played a one-two with Pellegrini, before his low cross was turned in at the far post by Cambiaso.

  It was 2-0 in the 24th minute when Koen Casteeles parried Cambiaso's low drive straight to Retegui, who tapped into an open goal.

  However, the Azzurri's momentum was halted after 40 minutes when Pellegrini was shown a straight red card following a VAR review after his late challenge on Arthur Theate.

  Belgium quickly took advantage to halve the deficit with a neatly worked free-kick as Youri Tielemans and Trossard combined to tee up De Cuyper, who curled past Gianluigi Donnarumma.

  And the comeback was completed just after the hour mark when Wout Faes nodded a deep corner into the six-yard box, where Trossard nipped in ahead of Donnarumma to ensure a share of the spoils.

  Data Debrief: Italy's quick start counts for nothing

  After back-to-back victories over France and Israel, Italy were quick out of the blocks in their quest to make it three wins from three.

  Cambiaso's strike saw the Azzurri score in the opening minute of a match for the first time since June 2013, when Emanuele Giaccherini struck early against Haiti.

  However, the pendulum certainly swung away from them following the dismissal of Pellegrini, who became the first Italy player to receive a direct red card since Domenico Criscito against Netherlands in June 2018.

• 'He's an inspiration for all of us' - Sabalenka salutes 'legend' Nadal

  Aryna Sabalenka paid tribute to "legend" Rafael Nadal, acknowledging the retiring Spaniard is "an inspiration to all of us".

  The 22-time major winner announced on Thursday via a video on his social media platforms that he will retire from competitive tennis following next month's Davis Cup finals in Malaga.

  Nadal's decision - generally expected given his injury struggles in recent years - has been met with widespread tributes throughout the tennis and sporting world.

  And WTA number two Sabalenka - the reigning Australian and US Open champion - was the latest big name to salute the 14-time French Open winner, who was dubbed "the King of Clay".

  "He's an inspiration for all of us, for the next generation, for current players. He's a legend," Sabalenka told WTA.

  "As he said, everything has a beginning and an end. We are all going to be there. I'm really happy for what he was able to achieve. He was inspiration for everyone. He's a hard worker. He definitely had so much love for this sport."

  Sabalenka is through to her 11th successive WTA quarter-final at the Wuhan Open after coming from behind to beat Yulia Putintseva 1-6 6-4 6-0.

  The reigning champion recovered from losing the opening set - plus a break point at 4-3 down in the second set - to claim his 14th straight victory in Wuhan. 

  "In the first set, I was all over the place," she added. "I'm really glad that I was able to put myself together in the second set and things clicked.

  "In that game [the eighth in the second set], I was just trying to cool myself down and just to remind myself to keep trying, keep fighting.

  "You have to work for it, you have to run, you have to play the point, build the point, find the right shot, then go for it, not rush things. I was just having that conversation in my head all the time.

  "After that game, I felt like something clicked. The return was better. The movement was better. The decisions I was making were much better. I felt like that was really the turning point in the match."

• Rafael Nadal retires: The King of Clay's career in numbers

  The day tennis fans across the globe had feared was coming for some time has finally arrived, with Rafael Nadal confirming his impending retirement on Thursday.

  Nadal had previously suggested 2024 was likely to be his final year on the ATP Tour after struggling with injuries throughout a difficult few years.

  The Davis Cup Finals, set for Malaga in November, will now be the final event for one of sport's all-time greats.

  Here, we delve into the Opta data to run through the best facts and figures from Nadal's astonishing career.

  The records

  Across the ATP and WTA Tours, only Margaret Court, Novak Djokovic (24 each) and Serena Williams (23) have won more singles grand slam titles than Nadal's 22 in tennis history.

  An astonishing 14 of those triumphs came at the French Open (more on that event later), which is the most of any player at a single major in history. Djokovic's 10 Australian Open titles are the second-most by anyone at a particular grand slam.

  Nadal's first grand slam title came at the 2005 edition of Roland-Garros, while the 2022 season saw him triumph in the French capital and at the Australian Open, speaking to his remarkable longevity.

  He is the only player to win at least one major in 15 different calendar years, and between 2005 and 2014, he never ended a season without a grand slam title. No other player in the Open Era has won at least one major in 10 consecutive seasons. 

  Nadal ended 13 different years in the top two of the ATP World Rankings, more than any other player throughout the Open Era.

  He is also the only player in the Open Era to win multiple grand slam crowns both as a teenager and when aged over 30, and the only player since 1990 to win more than five ATP Masters 1000 finals before turning 20 (boasting a 6-1 record) and since turning 30 (8-3).

  The rivalries

  Nadal's exploits are even more impressive when one considers the competition he faced throughout his career, being a part of tennis' 'Big Three' alongside Djokovic and Roger Federer.

  The other members of the 'Big Three' (Djokovic – 37, Federer – 31) are the only players to compete in more men's grand slam finals than Nadal in the Open Era (30).

  Djokovic (257) and Federer (224) are also the only men to have won more matches against top-10 opponents than Nadal (186) since the ATP Rankings were first published. Nadal has played 289 matches against such opponents (third-most) and his win ratio of 64.4% is the fourth-best among players with a minimum of 100 such victories.

  Nadal and Federer, in particular, enjoyed many titanic tussles through the years, not least the 2008 Wimbledon final, which the Spaniard won 6–4 6–4 6–7 (5–7) 6–7 (8–10) 9–7 in four hours and 48 minutes, a match regarded by some as the greatest of all time.

  The duo faced off 40 times before the Swiss great retired in 2022, with Nadal edging their head-to-head 24-16 overall and 14-10 in finals.

  Djokovic, meanwhile, is the only player to beat Nadal at all four majors, winning 31 of the pair's 60 all-time meetings. 

  The King of Clay

  While Nadal enjoyed success on all surfaces and at all four majors (plus the Olympic Games), it is Roland-Garros that will be remembered as his tournament.

  Nadal's unbelievable 96.6% win rate at the French Open (112 wins from 116 matches) is the best of any player at a grand slam event in men's singles, with only Djokovic (twice), Robin Soderling and Alexander Zverev beating him at the tournament.

  Nadal's 112 French Open wins are the most of any man at a single major in the Open Era, while his 14-0 record in Roland-Garros finals is the best recorded by anyone at an event in that span.

   

  His dominance on clay extended beyond Paris, though, with Nadal's total of 63 career clay-court titles are more than anyone else in the Open Era, with Guillermo Vilas second on 49. His win percentage of 90.5% (484-51) on clay is also the best of any player on any individual surface in the Open Era.

  At the peak of his powers, Nadal managed an incredible 81 consecutive victories on the surface between 2005 and 2007 – the longest streak on a single surface in the Open Era.

  Only three tournaments have been won more than 10 times by the same player in the Open Era – Roland-Garros (14), Barcelona (12) and Monte-Carlo (11), all by Nadal on the clay.

  It was perhaps fitting, then, that Nadal's final match at the very top level – at the Paris Olympics in July – saw him soak up the adulation of the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd following a hard-fought defeat to old rival Djokovic.

  Current French Open champion Carlos Alcaraz may be the pretender to Nadal's throne, but the title of 'King of Clay' will surely always be his.