Maria Sakkari prioritised a pedicure after earning a shot at Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in the Indian Wells Open semi-finals.
Thursday was to be a recovery and re-setting day for Greek Sakkari, one of the stars of the Netflix 'Break Point' series, who is through to her third semi-final of the year.
She booked a last-four spot thanks to a stunning fightback from a set and a break down to Petra Kvitova, but Sakkari's efforts this week in California have left her with bleeding toes.
It is hardly surprising, considering she has taken a long route through to the semi-finals, reeling off four consecutive three-set wins.
Sakkari has lost the first set in three of those four matches but found a way to battle back, but she will want to start strongly against a dialled-in Sabalenka.
After coming through 4-6 7-5 6-1 against Kvitova, Sakkari said in an on-court interview: "I need a pedicure because my feet are bleeding so badly."
Asked about that comment later, she said in a press conference: "It's just my nails. It's not ideal, but nothing bad, like I can properly play and run and everything, but it's not nice."
It sounds far from pleasant, yet Sakkari fights on, aware that despite not playing her top-level tennis so far this fortnight, resilience has pulled her through.
"It is strange, but at the same time, I'm just telling myself, look, you're not playing your best tennis and you're still winning and beating amazing players," Sakkari said.
"By just surviving and just finding ways, eventually I'm sure that my game is going to get better. I really want to see how it's gonna be when I will start feeling good with my game.
"But of course I don't want to say that like I was playing s*** and I won. That's not the case. That's also very bad for the opponent."
Considering Kvitova is a two-time Wimbledon champion and a 29-time singles title winner on tour, Sakkari ranked Wednesday's win as one to log alongside her finest victories.
"For me coming back against her, now that she's playing good, now that she has beaten so many good players, it's a bloody good win," Sakkari said. "The fact I found a way was one of the best comebacks of my life."
Sakkari trails 4-3 in the career head-to-head against Sabalenka despite winning their last two encounters, both at the WTA Finals in each of the past two seasons.
They have not faced each other since Sabalenka became a first-time grand slam champion in Melbourne at the start of the year.
Sakkari was runner-up at Indian Wells 12 months ago, losing to Iga Swiatek in the final, and she has designs on beating Sabalenka to earn another crack at the title match.
Asked about the Belarusian, Sakkari said: "She's an amazing player. I knew that she was gonna win a grand slam. It actually came, and I was very happy for her.
"She's very fun to be around. It's going to be very, very tough, because she's feeling the ball really well."
Djokovic thrilled by prospect of 'one last dance' with Nadal
Novak Djokovic is thrilled by the prospect of meeting Rafael Nadal for "one last dance" at the Paris Olympics, if the Spaniard overcomes an injury setback to feature at Roland-Garros.
Thursday's men's singles draw saw Djokovic paired with Australia's Matthew Ebden in the first round, with Nadal taking on Marton Fucsovics.
The legendary duo – who have won 46 grand slam singles titles between them – will meet in the second round if they both advance through their openers this weekend.
Djokovic and Nadal have previously faced off on 59 occasions, with the Serbian winning 30 of those contests but losing four of the last six, the most recent being a Nadal victory in four sets in the 2022 French Open quarter-finals.
Nadal's participation at the Games was thrown into doubt when his coach Carlos Moya said he had suffered a "setback" on Thursday and required 48 hours of rest.
If Nadal – who is widely expected to retire later this year – does make the tournament, Djokovic is looking forward to the prospect of facing him for a 60th time.
"Obviously he hasn't played much. His ranking dropped, so there was always going to be that possibility of me meeting him in an early round and there we go," Djokovic said.
"It's going to be a spectacle, definitely, if we get to meet. We will spread some fireworks on the court, like the good old times.
"I hope we get to meet because it will probably be one last dance for the both of us."
Djokovic is set to appear at his fifth Olympics in the French capital, the joint-most by any male player since the sport returned to the Games in 1988 (with Yen Hsun Lu).
He is the player with the most matches played (19) and joint-most matches won (13, level with Roger Federer) at the Olympics since 1988.
However, his best result at the Games remains a Bronze medal at Beijing 2008, when he was beaten by eventual gold medallist Nadal in the semi-finals.
Djokovic lost the bronze medal match to Pablo Carreno Busta at the delayed Tokyo Games three years ago, also losing to Juan Martin del Potro at both London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Linette dominates first all-Polish WTA final to win Prague Open
Magda Linette rounded off her Olympic preparations in style as she claimed her third WTA title with a comfortable win over Magdalena Frech at the Prague Open.
Linette, who beat Viktoriya Tomova and Linda Noskova on her way to the final, won in straight sets 6-2 6-1 as she now heads to Paris to face Mirra Andreeva.
The world number 41 was in the ascendency from the off, forcing a break in the fourth game and never looking back.
Despite the best efforts of Frech, who saved one set point, Linette continued to apply the pressure and another break put her a set up.
Linette would again break in the fourth game of the second set, winning three games on the bounce to secure her first career win over her compatriot.
Data Debrief: Linette prevails in first all-Polish affair
The final in Prague between Linette and Frech was the first all-Polish WTA level final in the Open Era.
Linette's triumph over her opponent was her first, having lost in the pair's previous encounter in Saint-Malo back in 2022.
During the contest, the world number 41 gave nothing away, saving all four of the break points she faced while converting three of the seven she had against Frech.
Nadal suffers injury 'setback' as Olympics participation thrown into doubt
Rafael Nadal may be facing another injury setback at the Paris Olympic Games after his coach warned over the Spaniard's fitness.
The 22-time major champion is widely expected to retire at the end of this year, though is preparing for a final swansong at Roland-Garros, where he has won 14 titles.
Nadal is set to play in the singles and doubles tournaments of the Olympics, partnering current French Open and Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz for the latter competition.
Yet his participation has become doubtful after coach Carlos Moya confirmed Nadal had cancelled his training session on Thursday due to a hamstring issue.
"It was a setback and we decided that today Rafa would rest and not train to recover," Moya said, as quoted by Spanish journalist Rafael Plaza.
"We are going to give ourselves 48 hours, we have to wait."
The 38-year-old is reportedly feeling soreness in both his left and right hamstring having pulled out of a scheduled practice session with Alexander Zverev.
Alcaraz had been partnering Nadal throughout the week during training on the clay courts of Paris, though the veteran's feature has now been thrown under a cloud of doubt.
Nadal is one of just two players to have won Olympic gold in both singles and doubles since the sport returned to the Games in 1988, doing so at Beijing 2008 (singles) and Rio 2016 (doubles).
In the singles in the French capital, Nadal has been drawn against Hungary's Marton Fucsovics in the opening round, and the prize could be a second-round date with long-term rival Novak Djokovic.
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