Cincinnati Bengals tight end Hayden Hurst has been cleared to play in Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the Kansas City Chiefs after overcoming a calf injury.
Hurst had been limited at Bengals practice on Thursday but was a full participant on Friday before not being listed in their injury report.
Bengals head coach Zac Taylor indicated Hurst was available, having been limited for precautionary reasons. Hurst had missed three games with a right calf injury which he tweaked in Week 13 against the Chiefs.
"I thought he had a good practice today," Taylor told reporters on Friday.
The Bengals tight end had 52 receptions for 414 yards for two touchdowns during the regular season, adding nine receptions for 104 yards and one TD in their two playoffs games.
"He brings a lot of energy, always knows what he's doing, brings physicality, reliable in the pass game," Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow said on Thursday.
"Just a trustworthy, reliable, explosive player. Love to have him."
Stephen Curry and Joel Embiid have both been fined $25,000 in separate on-court incidents from Wednesday's game, the NBA announced on Friday.
Reigning NBA Finals MVP Curry was fined for "throwing his mouthpiece into the spectator stands" during Wednesday's 122-120 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
Curry was ejected for the act, which came out of frustration after not receiving a pass from Golden State Warriors team-mate Jordan Poole, occurring with 1:14 remaining in the fourth quarter.
It was the third ejection of Curry's career, all involving his mouthpiece, having thrown it at a referee in 2017.
"He knows he can't make that mistake again," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game.
Philadelphia 76ers center Embiid was fined for "making an obscene gesture on the playing court" during their 137-133 win over the Brooklyn Nets, where Ben Simmons returned to face his former side at a wound-up Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday.
The incident occurred when Embiid celebrated making a layup and earning a foul shot by emulating a gesture made by WWE wrestlers Shawn Michaels and Triple H.
Nets forward Kevin Durant, who was watching from afar due to an MCL sprain, described the act as a "trash celebration" on Twitter at the time.
In-form Jon Rahm surged into contention at the Farmers Insurance Open on Moving Day at Torrey Pines but Sam Ryder remains two shots clear ahead of the final round.
The Spaniard, who started the day at four-under overall, carded an impressive six-under-par 66 on Friday to fly up the leaderboard to 10 under and be within two strokes of Ryder (12 under).
Ryder had held a three-stroke advantage at the halfway point and maintained his lead despite an even round that included one birdie, where he made a great save after hitting the cart path, and one bogey as the event switched to the South Course for the final two days.
World number three Rahm seemed to relish the conditions in an ominous sign ahead of the final round, with the second-best round of the day underlining his surge, that included a run of three straight birdies before an eagle on the ninth.
Rahm moved into outright second with the eagle, with an excellent approach on to the green followed by an 11-foot putt. The 28-year-old claimed his first PGA Tour victory in 2017 at Torrey Pines.
Tony Finau enjoyed the best round of the day, carding an eight-under-par 64 to move into outright third at eight-under overall.
Finau, who was the only player to go bogey-free, had six birdies plus an eagle on the par-four first hole when he holed out from 138 yards on his approach.
A group of four players are tied for fourth at seven-under overall, in Sungjae Im, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and Sahith Theegala.
LeBron James' jersey from Game 7 of the Miami Heat's triumphant 2013 NBA Finals has been bought in New York for $3.68million, making it the third most expensive game-worn jersey ever sold by Sotheby's.
The figure comes in behind Michael Jordan's 1998 NBA Finals Chicago Bulls jersey at $10.91m and Diego Maradona's Argentina jersey from the 1986 World Cup game where he scored the 'Hand of God' goal against England, at $9.28m.
The highest previous figure for a game-worn James jersey was $630,000 from the 2020 All-Star Game.
The Heat clinched the 2013 NBA Finals against the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 with James scoring 37 points with 12 rebounds and four assists.
James won his fourth NBA MVP crown during the 2012-13 season along with the 2013 NBA Finals MVP, the second of four in his career.
"Today's tremendous result comes at a pivotal time in LeBron James' career, where he is in arm's reach of clinching the all-time points record," Sotheby's expert Brahm Wachter said.
James (38,210) is on track to pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's NBA all-time points scoring record (38,387) in the next fortnight.
The Kansas City Chiefs will have Patrick Mahomes under center for Sunday’s AFC Championship game – not that there has been much doubt this week.
Despite suffering a high ankle sprain in last weekend's 27-20 Divisional-round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Mahomes was able to practice three times this week and declared "I'm ready to go” on Wednesday.
Chiefs head coach Andy Reid has confirmed that Mahomes would play in the AFC title game for the fifth year in a row on Sunday when the Chiefs host the Cincinnati Bengals.
"He looks good," Reid said on Friday. "I mean, he's moving around good. He's going to go out and play."
After Mahomes said on Wednesday that he would be fit, the quarterback began fielding questions about how much a sprained ankle might change his effectiveness or style of play.
"I feel like I can still do a lot of things," he said. "We'll see as we get closer and closer, and we'll see during the game.
"You can't fully do exactly what you're going to be doing in those moments in the game [in practice], but all I can do is prepare myself the best way possible and then when we get in the game, you hope adrenaline kind of takes over."
Mahomes returned to last Saturday’s game to help lead the Chiefs over the Jaguars, but he was clearly limping and was unable to pull off some of his signature improvisation due to his injury.
After a week of rehabilitation, neither Mahomes nor Reid are willing to say publicly if the 2018 NFL MVP will be able to run the entire playbook.
"We have enough in the game plan where you can kind of pick and choose where you want to go with it," he said. "You have a variety of things that you can go to. Obviously, you don't use all the plays in the game plan, but they're available and so if you have to go a certain direction, you can go that direction with the calls."
Meanwhile, the Bengals are not expecting Mahomes to be any less potent.
Cincinnati pass rusher Sam Hubbard said: "We're preparing for Patrick Mahomes like he's 100 per cent, because I'm sure he's going to be playing 100 per cent. That's all you can do."
Conor McGregor avoided major injury when he was hit by a car while out cycling and the UFC superstar said it was his sporting expertise that saved his life.
The former featherweight and lightweight champion, who has not fought since a July 2021 loss to Dustin Poirier, posted a picture and videos on Instagram after the incident.
It appeared to have occurred on a country road, but it was not specified where the incident happened. McGregor has a home in Straffan, County Kildare.
The 34-year-old Irishman wrote: "Got a bang of [sic] a car just now from behind. A sun trap, the driver couldn't see me. Full speed straight thru me.
"Thank you God, it wasn't my time. Thank you wrestling and judo also. Having an awareness on the landing saved my life."
In a video, a panting McGregor tells the driver of the vehicle, who came to check on his wellbeing: "I could have been dead there mate."
The driver responds by saying: "I'm so sorry."
McGregor, who showed his trousers were torn, looked to brush off the incident and accepted the driver's apology before taking the offer of a lift home with his damaged bike.
In a video filmed while being driven back to his house, McGregor said: "I'm still here, thank God. That's all that matters."
Bernard Laporte resigned as president of the French Rugby Federation on Friday as his hopes of returning to power in time for the Rugby World Cup crumbled.
The former France head coach stepped back from his latest position with the federation (FFR) in December after being given a two-year suspended prison sentence and a €75,000 fine for corruption.
He denied wrongdoing and intends to appeal against his court punishments, which meant the FFR did not immediately oust Laporte and instead decided to render him effectively powerless pending the attempt to clear his name.
Sports minister Amelie Oudea-Castera called for Laporte to go in December, however, and he chose to permanently step down in the wake of clubs this week voting against his choice of president-delegate, Patrick Buisson.
Around 2,000 clubs took part in the vote, with 51.06 per cent saying they did not approve of Laporte proposing Buisson for the interim role.
The Rugby World Cup gets under way in France in September, and Laporte, president since 2016, had appeared eager to be back in charge of the FFR by then.
Les Bleus won the Grand Slam last year, and Laporte departs just eight days before the 2023 Six Nations begins.
Reports said Laporte delivered news of his resignation to the FFR executive committee on Friday morning at a meeting in Marcoussis, on the outskirts of Paris.
Oudea-Castera later told reporters: "I can give you confirmation of the resignation of Bernard Laporte. I welcome this decision, it was necessary at the end of this consultation in which the clubs were massively mobilised.
"The ethics committee played its role of supervision in this time of consultation which went well with dignified debates. Bernard Laporte drew the conclusions, which is a good thing for French rugby, its values and the future."
Laporte stepped down from his role as vice-chairman of World Rugby within hours of his conviction in December, which also saw him banned from rugby involvement for two years pending the outcome of any appeal.
Laporte was released without charge on Tuesday of this week after being detained as part of a tax fraud investigation.
His lawyer, Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi, told the AFP news agency that Laporte had "neither been accused of having defrauded nor of having received any money".
Rory McIlroy put himself firmly in the mix at the Dubai Desert Classic after a flourish that disguised the "rusty" golf he feared would put him way down the leaderboard.
The lucrative DP World Tour event was again hit by wet weather on Friday, after a six-hour delay on Thursday, and with McIlroy among many in the field yet to begin the second round, organisers decided it would be extended to finish on Monday rather than Sunday.
McIlroy got his work for the day done in the morning at Emirates Golf Club, polishing off an opening round he left in a promising place overnight, having reached two under through 15 holes and given himself a short-range putt at the next that he elected to leave for Friday.
The world number one made that putt, then holed out from 107 yards for eagle at the eighth hole, his 17th, and finished with another birdie to complete a six-under 66 for what was a share of the lead at the time.
McIlroy summed up his performance on Thursday as "honestly not very good", so he was thankful to shoot such a low score.
"I struggled out there most of yesterday," McIlroy said. "I thought did I well to be under par by the end of the day. I fought back after some very sloppy rusty golf over the first 14 holes.
"And then today I came out and I don't really know if anything clicked because I don't think I hit enough shots to know. But it was definitely needed. I would have been happy with anything around 70 the way I played, and then to come in and shoot 66 is quite the bonus."
American Patrick Reed, involved in a pre-tournament spat with McIlroy and alleged to have thrown a tee at his rival, joined the Northern Irishman on six under through the opening 18 holes thanks to a 15-foot eagle putt at the last.
Reed, who missed the cut in Abu Dhabi last week, said: "I'm obviously really happy with the way I played. I felt like last week wasn't really a reflection of all the hard work I've been doing in the off-season.
"To come out this week and feel like I was able to put everything together and to have my mind right on game planning and course management was definitely a plus. I feel like I had full control of the golf ball and made a couple of putts."
Reed and McIlroy will play their second rounds on Saturday, but others began their second circuits before darkness brought an end to Friday's play.
The first-round joint lead was snatched away from Reed and McIlroy by Swedish amateur Ludvig Aberg and Englishman Ian Poulter, who both carded seven-under 65s.
Aberg then stumbled in the early stages of his second round, slipping back to five under through seven holes, but Poulter had a share of the overnight lead on eight under after making birdie at the third, the last hole he completed.
Alongside Poulter was fellow English veteran Richard Bland, who followed a 67 by picking up three shots in the opening four holes of his second round.
Spain's Angel Hidalgo held third place on seven under after he followed a 66 with an early birdie in round two, while South African Louis de Jager joined McIlroy and Reed in a share of fourth position.
Steve Wilks was left "disappointed but not defeated" after the Carolina Panthers appointed Frank Reich as head coach.
Wilks missed out on landing the job on a permanent basis after guiding the team to a 6-6 record following Matt Rhule's firing in October.
Reich was installed on Thursday, but Wilks took the blow of being overlooked on the chin.
"The sun rose this morning and by the grace of God so did I," Wilks tweeted on Friday. "I'm disappointed but not defeated.
"Many people aren't built for this but I know what it means to persevere and see it through.
"It was an honour for me to coach those men in the Carolina Panthers locker room as the interim head coach.
"I do wish Frank Reich all the best. I will always be a fan of the Carolina Panthers Football Team."
Wilks took over after the Panthers fired Rhule following a 1-4 start to the season.
He was Carolina's defensive pass game coordinator and secondary coach at the time.
Wilks went 3-13 in 2018 with the Arizona Cardinals in his only previous head coaching experience in the NFL.
Novak Djokovic insists his father did not intend to pose for pictures with supporters of Vladimir Putin and is hoping he will be able to attend Sunday's Australian Open final.
Srdjan Djokovic was not present at Rod Laver Arena for his son's 7-5 6-1 6-2 win over Tommy Paul on Friday, which set up a final against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The 62-year-old announced in a statement ahead of the match that he was staying away to avoid creating any "disruption for my son or for the other player".
It comes on the back of Srdjan being pictured standing next to a Russian flag with Putin's face on it, and a man whose t-shirt indicated support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
But Novak, who is chasing a 10th grand slam title in Australia and a record-equalling 22nd men's singles major overall, believes the situation has been taken out of context.
"There was no intention," Djokovic said after beating Paul. "You're basically asking me a question like he did it intentionally, like he's not being careful about what he's doing.
"It can happen to many people what happened to him. He was passing through, made a photo, it has escalated. He was misused in this situation by this group of people.
"That's what happened. I can't be angry with him or upset because I can say it was not his fault. He went out to celebrate with my fans, and that's it. That's all that happened.
"After that, of course he felt bad because of me and he knew how that's going to reflect on me, the whole media pressure and everything that's happened in the last 48 hours.
"But it is what it is. You accept it and you move on."
Elaborating on the incident, he said: "The photo that he made, he was passing through. I heard what he said in the video. He said 'cheers'.
"Unfortunately some of the media has interpreted that in a really wrong way. I'm sorry that that has escalated so much.
"But I hope people understand that there was absolutely no intention whatsoever to support any kind of war initiatives or anything like that.
"There was a lot of Serbian flags around. That's what he thought. He thought he was making photo with somebody from Serbia. That's it. He moved on."
Asked if he expects his father to be back in the stadium for Sunday's final, Djokovic said: "Let's see. It wasn't pleasant not to have him in the box today.
"It's a decision that we made together. We just didn't know how things would play out, I guess.
"But yeah, I hope to have him [there for the final]. I hope he's going to be feeling okay to be in the courts because I would like to have him there for the final."
Djokovic argued with the umpire and appeared to completely lose focus as he let a 5-1 lead slip in the opening set, but he responded well en route to a straight-sets victory.
And the Serbian, who has still never lost either a semi-final or a final at the first major of the season, admitted the controversy surrounding his father impacted his performance.
"I saw, as everybody else saw, what happened yesterday," he said. "It was unfortunate that the misinterpretation of what happened yesterday has escalated to such a high level.
"There was, I would say, a lot of conversations with tournament director, with media and everyone else. It has got to me, of course, as well. I was not aware of it until last night.
"My father, my whole family, and myself, have been through several wars during the 90s. As my father said, we are against the war, we never will support any violence or any war.
"We know how devastating that is for the family, for people in any country that is going through the war."
Patrick Mahomes acknowledges he will be relying on "adrenaline" to carry him through an AFC Championship Game in which the Kansas City Chiefs will be thirsty for revenge against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Mahomes sustained a high ankle sprain last week, an injury that could have ruled the Chiefs quarterback out for the rest of the postseason.
But the MVP frontrunner is set for a swift recovery after his return to practice this week went "better than I expected".
Mahomes is still restricted in his movement, however, as he said on Thursday: "I feel like I can still do a lot of things, but we'll see as we get closer and closer.
"We'll see during the game. You can't fully do exactly what it's going to be like in those moments in the game.
"All I can do is prepare myself the best way possible, and then when we get in the game, you hope adrenaline takes over and you can make those throws when you need to."
The concern for the Chiefs is the Bengals won this game last year, again at Arrowhead Stadium, when Mahomes was fully fit.
This is the first time a conference championship has been repeated in consecutive years since the New England Patriots and the Baltimore Ravens played back-to-back AFC Championship Games in 2011 and 2012, with both of those in Foxborough.
However, the teams split those games. The Steelers, against the Houston Oilers in Pittsburgh in 1978 and 1979, are the only team to have beaten the same opposition at the same venue in successive conference championships.
The Bengals will be confident of joining that company, however, as they have won all three of their conference championship appearances, a record only bettered by the 5-0 New York Giants.
Cincy are also 3-0 in their past three games against the Chiefs, although the margin of victory has been just three points on each occasion. No team have ever won four consecutive games against a single opponent by exactly three points.
If nothing else, this is familiar territory for the Chiefs, who will have hosted five AFC Championship Games in a row.
No other team in either conference have hosted more than three straight championships, although Kansas City are 2-2 over the first four.
Jamaican Davis Cup Coach/Captain Mel Spence is confident that home-court advantage will be enough for his team to see off a tough challenge from Estonia in their group two qualifying fixture at the Eric Bell National Tennis Centre from February 4-5.
Estonia are currently ranked 59th in the world, ten spots ahead of the Jamaicans.
“The Estonia team is very good. On paper they have some rankings that are higher than us but that’s just on paper,” Spence said at a press conference on Thursday.
"We have the home court advantage and I think that’s going to push us through,” he added.
Spence noted that the Jamaican team comprising Blaise Bicknell, Jacob Bicknell, Daniel Azar, Randy Phillips and John Chin has been performing well for a while.
“I’m very confident in them. They’ve been playing very good tennis over the last six months to a year and they’ve gelled well. It’s basically the same team that we’ve had before. We have a tough opponent ahead of us but we’ve played tough opponents before and come out on top,” he said.
While the team can’t be together until a few days before the tie, Spence noted the amount of preparation that some members of the team are getting by competing for their universities overseas.
“Within their respective teams they’ll play matches against their other teammates but they just started the season so I’d say they play an average of two matches a week against other schools. That’s plenty of preparation for them.”
21-year-old Blaise Bicknell currently represents the University of Tennessee while Chin, 19, represents Boise State University. Bicknell is currently the highest ranked Jamaican on the ATP Tour at 764.
The San Francisco 49ers know all about playing on this stage, but Brock Purdy most definitely does not.
The Niners visit the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, their record 18th appearance in the conference championship in the Super Bowl era.
Yet they will do so with the youngest starting quarterback in a conference championship since Ben Roethlisberger in 2004.
And 22-year-old Purdy – 'Mr Irrelevant' in the 2022 draft – might have feared the prospect of facing a fierce Eagles defense this week as key team-mates Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel managed injuries.
Losing either player would represent a huge blow to Purdy and the 49ers; losing both is unthinkable.
Fortunately, coach Kyle Shanahan has continued to speak with optimism of their chances of playing in Philadelphia, while McCaffrey added on Thursday there was "zero" chance of him missing this game.
On the other side of the field, the Eagles, who go into the game rated as narrow favourites, know a thing or two about playing without their leading stars.
QB Jalen Hurts missed two weeks towards the end of the season with a shoulder injury but was able to return in time to hit the ground running in the postseason.
The number one seeds in the NFC showed exactly why they are that by beating the New York Giants 38-7 in the Divisional round last week.
That tied the Eagles' biggest ever playoff win, which had come by the same scoreline in their previous NFC Championship Game appearance against the Minnesota Vikings. After that victory, they defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.
Given the strength of the two defenses, this matchup should be a little closer – although perhaps not as close as the last time Hurts met Purdy.
Hurts' Oklahoma held off a comeback from Purdy's Iowa State for a 42-41 win in the 2019 college season.
That remains the only game in the past 10 seasons between Power 5 QBs in which both threw for 250 yards and three touchdowns while also rushing for 50 yards and a TD.
Defending champion Horizon and Waves share league-topping honours with five wins each as the preliminary round of the Elite 1 Caribbean Basketball Winter League concluded on Wednesday at the National Arena in Kingston.
Waves edged Storm 91-87 while Horizon defeated Rivers 105-86 in the second match of the day.
Waves led 19-17 after the first quarter and 42-36 at the half-way mark. Waves intensified their defensive play in the third quarter to widen the lead to nine points 63-54 at the end of the third. However, Storm stormed back in the fourth outscoring Waves 33-28 after the latter had opened a 16-point lead at the start of the closing stanza.
The rally excited the crowd but was not enough to overcome the deficit in the end.
Lushane Wilson led the scoring with 29 points for Waves. He got support from Nathan Akade’s 16 points and Tyran Walker’s 15. Jayrn Johnson had 24 points and Brandon Armstrong 20 for Storm. Crowd favourite Walker, who had several blocks in the game, revealed afterwards that he was intent on pulling out all the stops for the victory.
"(I was) trying to go out and get a win, doing anything it takes to get a win, be scrappy defensively, just trying to make a statement going into the play-offs,” he said.
“It’s a tough team, the Storm. They are going be a problem in the play-offs, if we end up playing them.”
Storm's assistant coach Simon Brown was naturally disappointed at the defeat.
I’ll be dead honest; I personally believe that the only reason that we lost tonight is because shots that we normally score we didn't start hitting them till the fourth quarter. Simple as that,” he said. "We have to get back to a mental game. Start learning to settle and to be calm in moments like this so that we can step up. Those turnovers came out of frustration rather than out of poor play."
Coach Brown promised that despite the loss, his team still have their eyes on the top prize.
"What you can expect is the championship,” he said.
“We going all the way to the top. We don't care if it’s the first, second or fourth-place team, whoever we get in front of us our plan is to beat them, play smarter basketball and I think we can take it all."
In the second match of the night Horizon and Rivers were locked on 43 points apiece at the half-way mark. Rivers led by one after the quarter 21-20 but then the Horizon settled down and never looked back.
They outscored Rivers 30-16 to close the third quarter 73-59 and while Rivers tried to stage a comeback in the final quarter ended up losing 105-86.
Bobby Gray led the scoring for Horizon with 35 points while the Rivers' Anthony Ottley had a game-high 38 points.
“It was great. It was a team effort, team win, that's what it takes to bounce back after a loss,” said Gray, whose team lost to Waves in their previous match. You got to play together and believe in yourselves.”
The next set of matches are scheduled for Friday (January 27) beginning at 6:00 pm when the second and third place teams battle for a place in the final and in the other match, the top team in the league will take on the fourth place team for the final spot.
Elliot Daly has been ruled out of England's Six Nations campaign with a hamstring injury, his club Saracens have confirmed.
Versatile back Daly withdrew from England's squad on Tuesday ahead of their opening match against Scotland at Twickenham a week on Saturday.
The 30-year-old, who sustained the injury ahead of Saracens' 20-14 Champions Cup loss to Edinburgh last week, is expected to miss around 12 weeks.
Saracens confirmed the news in a short statement on their official website on Friday, ending Daly's hopes of recovering in time to play a part.
England conclude their Six Nations campaign against Ireland on March 18 – seven weeks' time – as they begin a new era under head coach Steve Borthwick.
Jamie George also pulled out of England's training squad earlier this week, with Jamie Blamire and Ollie Lawrence called up as replacements.
Borthwick is also set to be without Courtney Lawes for his first match in charge at Twickenham next week, as the towering lock is struggling with a calf injury.
Hooker George McGuigan (knee) is also in the treatment room along with Luke Cowan-Dickie (ankle).
Blamire, Tom Dunn and the uncapped Jack Walker are the remaining hooker options for Borthwick.
Novak Djokovic said even his vivid imagination could not have dreamt up playing a 10th Australian Open final 15 years after winning his first at Melbourne Park.
The Serbian great has the chance to win a record-equalling 22nd grand slam for a male player after hammering Tommy Paul 7-5 6-1 6-2 – a scoreline that would have been even more commanding had Djokovic not endured a first-set blip from 5-1 up.
Djokovic is already a nine-time singles champion in Melbourne, with his first triumph coming back in 2008, and only Stefanos Tsitsipas stands in his way of a 10th.
"I have a pretty vivid and strong imagination, but even I don't think I imagined it would turn out this way," he said during his on-court interview on Rod Laver Arena.
"Super blessed and grateful, I'm trying to cherish and marvel in every moment. Without my family, without my team these things wouldn't be possible.
"You're by yourself, all eyes are on you, you take responsibility, you take credit, but you have to give credit where it's due and that's to the team who live with me day by day in good and bad moments. This is as much their success as it is mine."
Only one other male player has won double-digit titles at a single slam, that being Rafael Nadal at the French Open.
Tsitsipas is a player Djokovic has faced in a major final before, defeating the Greek at the 2021 French Open showpiece in a match where he had to come from sets down.
"I won that match, so my recollections are very positive!" Djokovic added to a laugh.
"I came from two sets to love down, I think it was the first time I came down from two sets down in a slam final. It was his first slam final, a really physical and emotional battle. It always is with Stefanos.
"I respect him a lot, he's one of the most interesting guys off the court, with his interests and hairstyle. But it's all business on Sunday, let the best player win."
Both players were involved in a slog at the start of the second set and when asked about his energy levels, Djokovic joked: "It's great, it's perfect, it's 110 per cent!"
He then added: "Look, of course you're not as fresh as at the beginning of the tournament that's for sure.
"We put a lot of effort in the off season weeks on our fitness, to be in good enough condition to play best-of-five sets."
Sunday's victor will also ascend to the top of the ATP rankings, something Djokovic concedes does add extra spice.
"Of course it does, winning grand slams and being number one are the two biggest peaks you can climb as a tennis player," he said. "Let's see what happens."
Novak Djokovic will play his 33rd grand slam final on Sunday, extending his men's Open Era record and edging closer to Chris Evert's leading mark across all singles players.
Djokovic beat Tommy Paul at the Australian Open on Friday to advance to a 10th Melbourne final, having won each of the prior nine.
The Serbian has also played nine title matches at the US Open, eight at Wimbledon and six at the French Open.
Even before this latest semi-final success, his tally of 32 major men's singles finals was unmatched in the Open Era.
But the 33rd saw Djokovic match Serena Williams in second place among both male and female players, with only Evert out ahead now on 34.
Djokovic will no doubt back himself to reach and perhaps pass that record before the year is out, with Roger Federer having retired and Rafael Nadal injured again – those two great rivals no longer keeping pace with the 21-time slam champion. A 22nd success on Sunday would equal Nadal's record.
With victory over Paul, Djokovic joined Federer and Nadal as the only male players in the Open Era to reach 10 or more finals at one major.
Federer went to 12 Wimbledon finals, while Nadal has played the title match at Roland Garros on 14 occasions.
Novak Djokovic limped into his 10th Australian Open final with a record-breaking 27th consecutive win in Melbourne against Tommy Paul on Friday.
Djokovic, who has never lost either a semi-final or a final at the first major of the season, came through 7-5 6-1 6-2 to eclipse the Andre Agassi win streak he had tied with a last-eight defeat of Andrey Rublev.
Despite a similar scoreline, however, this was not quite as straightforward as that prior match – particularly in a first set the nine-time champion threatened to throw away.
Djokovic also appeared to be suffering again with the hamstring injury that hampered his preparation for the tournament, but he now needs to come through just one more match, against Stefanos Tsitsipas, to add another title.
The semi ended as it started, with Djokovic in control, yet there was a blip when he looked to be coasting through the opener.
Having just passed up his first set point, Djokovic confronted the umpire when he was not allowed time to take a towel and appeared to lose his focus, allowing Paul to win the next seven points en route to consecutive breaks – the second clinched with a stunning 30-stroke rally.
Finally, with the set level, Djokovic regained some composure and soon enough took a long-awaited second set point before cupping his ear to the Melbourne crowd and being greeted with jeers in return.
It quickly became clear Paul had missed his chance as Djokovic cruised, his primary foe now that troublesome injury.
After stretching out his leg during the first-set collapse, the Serbian appeared in discomfort throughout a dominant second, asking for ice at 5-0 up ahead of Paul's sole hold in the set.
That ailment did not prove enough to derail Djokovic, though, as the third set followed a similar theme in an ultimately commanding semi success.
Data Slam: Djokovic closing on career-best streak
Now the sole owner of the longest Open Era winning streak in the main draw of the men's singles tournament at the Australian Open, Djokovic will match his best run at any grand slam if he beats Tsitsipas, having claimed 28 straight victories at Wimbledon.
Only Roger Federer (40 at the US Open and 40 at Wimbledon) and Bjorn Borg (41 at Wimbledon and 28 at the French Open) have previously had 27-match win sequences at two different majors.
ACES/DOUBLE FAULTS
Djokovic – 12/5
Paul – 4/0
WINNERS/UNFORCED ERRORS
Djokovic – 31/39
Paul – 18/32
BREAK POINTS WON
Djokovic – 7/11
Paul – 2/9
Rafael Nadal remains on course to return to action in March after undergoing further tests on the hip flexor injury he sustained on his way out of the Australian Open.
The 22-time major winner failed to defend his crown in Melbourne after losing 6-4 6-4 7-5 to world number 65 Mackenzie McDonald last week.
Nadal struggled to move around the court in the closing stages of the match and revealed afterwards he had aggravated an issue he had been suffering with for a couple of days.
An MRI scan showed the Spaniard had a grade two iliopsoas tear in his hip flexor, which would usually mean between six and eight weeks out of action.
After returning home to undergo further checks on Thursday, Nadal confirmed he is on course to return in that initial timeframe.
"Today I have been at the Tecknon Tennis Clinic in Barcelona where they have carried out some tests on me," he posted on his personal Twitter page.
"The Melbourne results are confirmed and the deadlines remain the same. I've established the treatments to follow and in three weeks they will perform new tests to see the evolution."
Nadal faces a battle getting back to full fitness in time for the Indian Wells and Miami Masters 1000 events in March.
Those were due to be preceded on his schedule by a high-profile exhibition match in Las Vegas against Carlos Alcaraz, who is also currently injured, on March 5.
Nadal was distraught to suffer yet another injury setback after severe foot and abdomen problems hit his 2022 season.
"In terms of sports and in terms of injuries and tough moments, I mean, that's another one," Nadal said last week.
"I can't say that I am not destroyed mentally at this time, because I will be lying."
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