Rafael Nadal says winning matches is the perfect cure to his injury problems after kicking off his Australian Open title defence with victory in four sets against Jack Draper.
Top seed Nadal's class told on Rod Laver Arena in a match lasting three hours and 43 minutes as he prevailed 7-5 2-6 6-4 6-1 to reach the second round for the 17th time.
The 36-year-old was competing for just the eighth time since September's US Open, with Monday's victory over Draper his first of 2022.
Not only has Nadal spent time recuperating from injuries, he is also adapting after becoming a father for the first time in October.
However, in his first grand slam since the birth of his child, Nadal says simply winning trophies is providing him with all the motivation he needs.
"I am enjoying life having a new member in the family," he told reporters. "I've always loved kids. To be able to enjoy this new moment in my life is something beautiful.
"But in terms of competitive feelings or motivation, it doesn't create any impact. It'd only create a negative impact if I was here a month, and they were not able to be with me.
"You don't know how you're going to react, you know? I've always been very respectful with the changes in life. You don't know how you're going to adapt.
"I don't know my feeling if the baby's not here with me for one month. I don't know if after three weeks I miss him, and I'll lose a little bit the focus.
"I have always been excited enough to play every single tournament. My approach to the competition is not changing much being a dad or not."
Nadal has now lost only one of his 18 matches at this stage of the Australian Open, with that defeat coming at the hands of Fernando Verdasco in 2016.
The record 22-time major winner did not have it all his own way against Draper, who appeared to be heavily affected by cramp later in the match.
He was not always at his confident best and made some uncharacteristic errors to allow his British opponent back into the match, but he ultimately got the job done.
"I am ready to keep fighting," Nadal said of his recent injury issues. "Victories help. When you win matches, you are more relaxed and you are more confident.
"I needed a victory, so that's the main thing. It doesn't matter the way it happens. The most important thing today is a victory against a tough opponent."
Draper levelled up the match at 1-1 and in the process became one of only 12 players to have taken a set off Nadal at this stage of a grand slam.
"As I said before the tournament started, this was one of the toughest first rounds possible being seeded," Nadal said.
"To win against Jack, I needed to do things well. I think I did things well. So I'm satisfied with the victory because that's give me the chance to play again in a couple of days.
"I accepted the mistakes I made. I was humble enough to accept that there was going to be a little bit of ups and downs during the match.
"This is typical when you're not in a winning mood. When you lose more, when you are not competing every week, that's the case. I accept these mistakes and keep going."
Nadal will now face Mackenzie McDonald in the last 64 after the American beat compatriot Brandon Nakashima in a five-set thriller.
Sinner avoids O'Connell upset at US Open
Jannik Sinner beat Australia's Christopher O'Connell in straight sets to reach the fourth round of the US Open on Saturday, avoiding a similar fate to Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic.
The men's draw at Flushing Meadows has been blown wide open by early exits for Alcaraz and Djokovic, but the top seed remains in the hunt after a composed performance.
He reached the fourth round for a fourth consecutive year with a routine 6-1 6-4 6-2 victory, setting the tone with several huge groundstrokes in the opening set.
O'Connell never looked likely to fight back as Sinner smashed 46 winners in a ruthless performance, wrapping up his win in one hour and 56 minutes.
The Australian Open champion will face either Tommy Paul or Gabriel Diallo for a place in the last eight, and he was relieved to survive an opening week full of surprises.
"Everything can happen in this sport, so I try to stay on my side of the net and I'm trying to take the tournament day by day," Sinner said in his on-court interview after the win.
"Each opponent is a very tough challenge and [I am] also enjoying every moment on the court. There have been already a couple of upsets, so let's see what's coming.
"But I'm very happy to still be here and hopefully I can play as many matches as possible. But as I said, we go day by day and then we'll see how it goes."
Data Debrief: Sinner heating up
Sinner lost his first set of the tournament to Mackenzie McDonald but has been largely untouchable since then.
He has only lost 18 games across his last nine sets of tennis, an average of two per set.
The Italian's winning streak now stands at seven straight matches, meanwhile, following his triumphant Cincinnati Open run.
Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Leipzig: Visitors fightback halts unbeaten streak for Alonso's side
Bayer Leverkusen suffered their first defeat in 36 Bundesliga matches, as Leipzig came from behind to stun Xabi Alonso's side 3-2 at BayArena.
Lois Openda struck twice for Marco Rose's, who recovered from 2-0 down to make it two wins from two and move to the summit of the table.
It looked like business as usual for the reigning Bundesliga champions when they scored twice in the last seven minutes of the first half through Jeremie Frimpong and Alejandro Grimaldo.
However, Leipzig replied deep into first-half stoppage time with Kevin Kampl reducing the deficit.
Openda then brought the visitors level in the 57th minute, before a stunning long-range strike completed the turnaround 10 minutes from time, condemning Leverkusen to their first league defeat in 15 months.
Data Debrief: Leverkusen's long streak comes to a shuddering halt
Leipzig became the first side to beat Leverkusen in a Bundesliga match since Bochum achieved the feat a staggering 462 days earlier.
The visitors have begun a Bundesliga season with two wins from two for only the second time, also doing so in 2019-20.
They are also now unbeaten in 13 league matches, their longest such streak since Rose took charge.
As for Leverkusen, their invincible streak is officially history, as is their 29-game unbeaten run on home soil.
'We really let ourselves down' - Coleman slams Everton after late Bournemouth collapse
Seamus Coleman acknowledged Everton "really let ourselves down" and must "look at ourselves in the mirror" following their spectacular late collapse against Bournemouth.
Sean Dyche's side, who were seeking their first points of the season, led 2-0 in the 87th minute at Goodison Park through goals from Michael Keane and Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
However, the hosts were undone by three crosses in the latter stages, with Antoine Semenyo pulling a goal back and Lewis Cook levelling, before Luis Sinisterra completed a sensational turnaround in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
Boos rung around Goodison Park as the Toffees remained pointless and rooted to the foot of the Premier League table, and Coleman echoed the supporters' frustrations.
"We really let ourselves down in front of our fans," the skipper said. "We cannot take our foot off the gas at this level. Unfortunately, we did that.
"We cannot be conceding the goals that we did. We have to look at ourselves in the mirror."
Meanwhile, Dyche bemoaned the lack of responsibility amongst his players, as they became the first side in Premier League history to lose a game after leading by two or more goals in the 87th minute.
"We did so much right until they scored their first goal," the Everton head coach said. "The game should have been out of sight. We conceded one and then threw it away. I can't put my finger on it right now.
"They kept raining it forward and got their reward in the end. They were playing it forward and crossing it into the box, and we didn't deal with it. Simple stuff, but we threw it away. It is the third game we have thrown away this season.
"Everyone was looking at someone else to deal with things and that is when there is trouble. You could see the body language change. You have to see games through, and we have enough experience to do that, but today we didn't."
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola added: "It was the worst game we played this season. Everton deserved to win today, but the players kept pushing.
"I always have hope because this team has spirit. We have done it before and had some good comebacks. The spark of the first goal made us believe we could do it again."
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