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• Doncic backs Mbappe to turn fortunes around at Real Madrid

  NBA superstar Luka Doncic has backed Kylian Mbappe to "figure it out" after his underwhelming start to life at Real Madrid.

  Mbappe has scored eight goals in 16 games for Madrid in all competitions since joining as a free agent following the expiration of his Paris Saint-Germain contract.

  He has gone four matches without a goal – a run that includes losses to Barcelona and Milan – and has been left out of France's latest squad.

  However, Dallas Mavericks guard Doncic – a Real Madrid supporter due to his previous ties with the sports club – can see Mbappe turning things around.

  "Obviously [their season] could be better," Doncic told Managing Madrid after the Mavericks' win over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. 

  "But when you get a guy like Mbappe, it takes some time to get used to it. We'll figure it out."

  Mbappe has scored six goals in 11 LaLiga appearances for Madrid but has underperformed his season's expected goals (xG) total by 2.04.

  The forward is averaging a goal every 166 minutes in all competitions this term, compared to one every 88 minutes for PSG in his last of seven seasons in Paris.

  Madrid thrashed Osasuna 4-0 last time out in the league to return to winning ways but still trail leaders Barcelona by six points.

  Asked about his connections with Madrid, former Los Blancos basketball player Doncic said: "I follow Real Madrid every time.

  "I grew up there. They taught me everything, so it's a part of my life. You can call it a secondary home. 

  "I learned a lot of stuff there and, especially, they gave me a way to be here right now [in Dallas]. I always appreciate that 100%."

  Madrid return to action after the international break with a trip to Leganes on Sunday.

• Eight titles, two grand slams and 70 match wins: Sinner's spectacular 2024

  As far as seasons go, you won't find many better than Jannik Sinner's 2024 campaign.

  The 23-year-old had long been assured of his place at the top of the ATP rankings heading into 2025, but to further cement his dominance of the men's circuit, Sinner dominated the ATP Finals in Turin last week.

  Sinner's 6-4 6-4 defeat of Taylor Fritz ensured he became the first ATP Finals champion since Ivan Lendl in 1986 to win the tournament without dropping a single set.

  He became the seventh player to win the event on home soil, and the first Italian champion, as he made it eight titles for the year, including the Australian Open and US Open.

  Here, we recap Sinner's brilliant year using Opta's treasure trove of data.

  Breakout major success

  It almost seems strange to think Sinner began 2024 without a grand slam title to his name. That soon changed at the Australian Open, though, as he defeated Daniil Medvedev in a classic, five-set final.

  Sinner did things the hard way at Melbourne Park, also overcoming Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals and Novak Djokovic in the last four. 

  At the age of 22 years and 165 days, he became the youngest player to ever achieve successive wins over ATP top-five opponents in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of a grand slam, surpassing Michael Stich, who did so at the age of 22 years and 262 days at Wimbledon 1991.

  That triumph also made him only the third Italian man to win a grand slam, after French Open champions Nicola Pietrangeli (1959 and 1960) and Adriano Panatta (1976).

  By beating Djokovic, Sinner became the first Italian to defeat the ATP's top-ranked player at a major, with Italians previously going 0-23 in such matches since the ATP Rankings were first published in 1973.

  Sinner would also record a final victory over Djokovic at the Shanghai Masters later in the year, becoming the first player on record to not face a single break point in back-to-back tour-level meetings with the Serbian.

   

  Slam consistency

  Of course, Sinner later followed up his Australian Open triumph by clinching the US Open crown, downing home favourite Fritz in the Flushing Meadows final.

  Those major wins were two of seven triumphs for Sinner at hard-court events this year, making him just the fifth player to win seven or more finals on the surface in a year, after Andre Agassi (1995), Pete Sampras (1996), Roger Federer (2004-06) and Djokovic (2015).

  But perhaps his remarkable consistency across all four grand slams is what stands out most.

  Sinner reached at least the quarter-finals at each of 2024's majors, losing to Carlos Alcaraz in the French Open semi-finals and Medvedev in the last eight at Wimbledon.

  At 23 years and 17 days, he became the third-youngest man in the Open Era to reach the quarter-finals at all four slams in a single season, after Sampras in 1993 (22 years and 18 days) and Rafael Nadal in 2008 (22 years and 83 days).

  Sinner won 23 matches overall at grand slams this year, with no other player on the ATP Tour bringing up 20 (Alcaraz managed 19).

   

  Top of the world

  Following his defeat to Djokovic in the showpiece match at the 2023 ATP Finals, Sinner sat fourth in the ATP Rankings 12 months ago.

  He had already clinched top spot for 2024 as early as October 15, when he beat Djokovic in straight sets in the Shanghai Open final. 

  Since changes were made to the distribution of ranking points in 2009, only two players have ever sewn up top spot earlier – Djokovic in 2015 (September 14) and Nadal in 2010 (September 20).

  No Italian had previously topped the ATP Rankings, and few could deny Sinner was a deserving recipient of the accolade. His 70 match wins were the most of any player on the ATP Tour in 2024, while his 92.1% win rate is the best by any player since 2015, when Djokovic won 93.2% of his contests. 

   

  Sinner did not let the pressure of being number one affect him, either, going 37-3 since first taking top spot. His 92.5% win rate is the best by any male world number one by some distance, dwarfing Bjorn Borg's 80.4%.

  With Djokovic turning 38 next year, most would agree Sinner's breakout season has been good for men's tennis, teeing up what could be a long period of dominance by the Italian and his rival Alcaraz.

  His star should continue to rise in 2025.

• Retiring Nadal staving off emotions until Davis Cup campaign is over

  Rafael Nadal will not let his emotions get the better of him as he focuses on helping Spain win the Davis Cup Finals.

  The tournament takes place in Malaga this week, and will mark the end of Nadal's glittering career.

  Nadal, a 22-time grand slam champion, confirmed his retirement in October.

  But the 38-year-old made it clear he is not treating the Davis Cup as a farewell tour.

  "If I am on court, hopefully not, no, because at the end I am not here for retiring," he said when asked if he would be emotional during the competition.

  "I'm here to try to help the team.

  "Then it's of course going to be my last week on the professional tour, but at the end, we are here in a teams competition.

  "The most important thing here is to try to help the team and to stay all focused on what we have to do, which is to play tennis and do it very well.

  "Because the rivals are going to be difficult, and the conditions are difficult, too. So then the emotions are going to be for the end.

  "To play my last event in Spain, it's something that I am very happy with. Because I will never have the chance to thank enough everybody here in Spain, the support that I receive and the love that I felt."

  Spain take on the Netherlands in the opening matches of the Finals on Tuesday, with Germany or Canada their potential semi-final opponents.

  Though with Nadal having not played a competitive match since he lost to Novak Djokovic at the Olympics in August, Spain captain David Ferrer is unsure if he will be ready to feature against the Dutch.

  "I have not decided the players that are going to play," Ferrer said.