12-14 January: Men's and women's singles first round

14 January: Men's and women's doubles begins

15-16 January: Men's and women's singles second round

16 January: Mixed doubles begins

17-18 January: Men's and women's singles third round

19-20 January: Men's and women's singles fourth round

21-22 January: Men's and women's singles quarter-finals

21 January: Wheelchair tournament begins

23 January: Women's singles semi-finals

24 January: Men's singles semi-finals

25 January: Women's singles final

26 January: Men's singles final

"I just loved what they wore," Aiava said of Sharapova, Ivanovic and Serena Williams.

"I think some of the stuff that is being designed is quite ugly. I just like to wear what I think looks good. I don't like wearing the same thing as everyone else."

Aiava, who wants to pursue a degree in fashion design, will face Belgium's Greet Minnen in the first round of the Melbourne major, which starts on Sunday.

"I didn't really think it would make any impact at all, me wearing the dresses. But I'm glad I did. Yeah, it's been fun bringing them back," she added.

"I think even if you lose, it's still kind of a fashion runway when you're on the court."

Despite wanting to secure a sponsorship deal with a sportswear brand, Aiava is enjoying the benefits of not currently having a sponsor.

"I am hoping to get a sponsor. I'll probably have to put up with wearing the same thing as other people," she said.

"But, for now I'm loving picking whatever I want to wear and buying whatever I want."

If it had been suggested to Murray in Paris that he would be back in the game and coaching Djokovic five months later, you imagine he would have laughed.

There will be little, if any, japing around in Melbourne.

The pair are born winners who know the dedication and commitment required to be the best.

From the glimpses this week, it is clear anything less than Djokovic landing a record-extending 11th title would be unsatisfactory.

"At times it's very enjoyable. But high performance is not supposed to be laughs and jokes and messing around," said Murray.

"In all the times I've been on tour, I haven't seen that from any of the best players in the world.

"I've seen it from some of the lower ranked players, and that's one of the reasons why they're not there."

During Djokovic's open practice sessions against Carlos Alcaraz, Jack Draper and Arthur Fils on Rod Laver Arena, Murray watched every movement intently.

Stood close behind Djokovic and sometimes in the doubles alley, Murray constantly offered feedback, shouted praise after winners and made notes during the practice sets.

He also compared observations with Boris Bosnjakovic, who ran Djokovic's training centre in Belgrade before becoming part of the team last May after long-term coach Goran Ivanisevic left.

"It's about making small changes to things and trying to help him and improve with the whole team," said Murray.

And what about when things aren't going so well? Murray and Djokovic are both known for sounding off at their box, but this time the Scot might find himself on the receiving end.

"I know it's not easy out there - it's stressful and at times he's going to want to vent towards his team and his box," said Murray.

"Providing that he's giving his best effort and trying as hard as he can, I'm absolutely fine with him expressing himself how he wants."

Although the unpredictable nature of a Grand Slam means things do not always pan out as expected, the draw ceremony is always an exciting event that allows fans to plot what may happen.

The leading two seeds are split, meaning they cannot play each other until the final - should they get that far.

Sinner has been drawn in the same half as American fourth seed Taylor Fritz and Russian fifth seed Daniil Medvedev.

It means Sinner cannot play 10-time champion Djokovic or Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, who is aiming to complete the career Grand Slam aged just 21, until the semi-finals.

Despite being at the opposite ends of their careers, Djokovic and Alcaraz have developed an intriguing rivalry which has produced some enthralling encounters.

The pair could meet again in the Melbourne quarter-finals.

In the women's draw, Sabalenka could face Gauff - who faces 2020 champion Sofia Kenin in a tough all-American first-round opener - in the semi-finals.

Neither Sabalenka or Gauff can face second seed Iga Swiatek, who begins against Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, until the final.

Life has moved fast for Zac Ward over the past 12 months.

This time last year, he was preparing for the start of a big year with the Ireland Sevens team in Perth.

One of Ireland's standout players in the shorter code, he realised a dream in the summer when he became an Olympian.

While that journey ended in heartache with a quarter-final loss to Fiji crushing any hopes of leaving Paris with a medal, Ward had no time to dwell on anguish as he answered Ulster's call.

Taken on by the province on a trial basis, Ward found himself back in green before donning the white jersey as part of the Emerging Ireland series in South Africa.

Having banked valuable 15s experience, he has continued to tick personal accomplishments off his checklist, with an Ulster debut against Bordeaux quickly followed by a three-year deal that will keep him at the province until 2028.

Now, with a "surreal" 2024 in his rearview mirror and having sorted his future, the 26-year-old is determined to achieve new goals and scale new heights as he forges a new path as a 15s winger.

"My goal is definitely to play at the highest level I can," Ward told BBC Sport NI.

"I've worn the green jersey playing in the Sevens and the Olympics, so my next goal is to wear the green jersey in 15s."

In a statement released through Connacht, Hansen said he "let my emotions get the better of me" following the Leinster game.

"Upon reflection, my comments to the media were ill-advised, and fell far short of the standards I expect of myself, and what the sport expects of its players," he said.

"I want to offer an apology to the match officials for any distress my comments may have caused. Our games are built on mutual respect and I didn't show that after the game.

"I also want to apologise to the URC, and I fully accept the findings of the independent disciplinary panel.

"I love Connacht, and I love rugby. Moving forward, I will channel all my energy and passion into representing my province and country to the absolute best of my ability both on and off the field."

Hansen has been one of Ireland's standout performers since breaking into the team in 2022, scoring 13 tries in 27 caps, but missed last year's Six Nations because of injury.

The news will be welcomed by Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby, who has lost Tom O'Toole for the England and Scotland games following the Ulster prop's six-game ban for a dangerous clearout in last month's match with Munster.

Head coach John Mitchell has replaced Marlie Packer with Zoe Aldcroft as England's captain for 2025 as the Red Roses count down to this summer's World Cup.

The Gloucester-Hartpury lock, 28, will lead the Red Roses in the upcoming Women's Six Nations and in the home Rugby World Cup that starts in August.

Saracens flanker Packer is named one of the vice-captains alongside Leicester centre Meg Jones.

The decision by Mitchell comes with increasing competition for places in the Red Roses squad, especially in the back row where Packer plays.

Aldcroft was named World Player of the Year in 2021 and has led Gloucester-Hartpury to the last two Premiership Women's Rugby titles.

"It's an incredible honour," said the versatile forward, who can play lock and across the back row and has 58 caps.

"I feel privileged to have the trust of John Mitchell and the coaching staff.

"To be able to follow in Marlie's footsteps means a lot to me. I am extremely grateful for the knowledge and advice she has shared with me over the years, and I know I will be well supported by her, Meg and our whole leadership group."

Aldcroft has captained England before, including against Scotland in their successful 2024 Six Nations Grand Slam campaign.

The decision to take the captaincy from Packer is indicative of the depth England now possess in her position and that her place in the matchday squad is not guaranteed.

"As with many positions, there is intense competition for places in the back row and Marlie's ability to deliver big performances on the pitch needs to be her focus," said Mitchell.

"I've outlined that as a challenge for her, one that I know she'll take on with everything she has."

Packer has 108 caps and was named World Player of the Year in 2023 but the 35-year-old did not start every match of the 2024 Six Nations.

"I have loved every minute of being captain of the Red Roses and have created memories in the role that will last a lifetime," Packer said.

"Zoe is a fantastic leader who deserves this opportunity. The way she conducts herself on and off the field is outstanding; she has all the attributes to succeed as Red Roses captain.

"She has my full support, and I will do everything I can to enable her. I will continue to give everything to the team."

Jones will resume her role as vice-captain having missed England's WXV campaign last autumn with injury.

The 28-year-old said earlier this week that rugby has been "an escape" for her following the death of both her parents in 2024.

However she has also stressed a need to slow down and focus on her priorities.

"This is a big year from a Roses' point of view, but I just want to take each day as it comes," she said.

Wayne Gretzky scored 894 goals in 1,487 career NHL games. Alex Ovechkin is poised to shatter that record, having scored 872 times in 1,451 games through Wednesday night.

That's a combined 2,938 career games played between the two players, sharing the ice with hundreds of teammates, spanning from Hall of Famers to one-night wonders. Yet there's only one player in NHL history that was a teammate to both Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin.

His name is Mike Knuble, a winger who played 16 hardscrabble seasons in the NHL. And he was as surprised as you are to learn he's the unexpected link between two hockey legends whose careers didn't overlap.

"I get to be one of the funny trivia answers! Got to put that in Trivial Pursuit or a bar game or something," he told ESPN recently, with a laugh.

As Ovechkin neared the Gretzky record, Knuble started wondering whether he was the only player to have skated with both the Washington Capitals star and The Great One as a teammate.

"I kind of was spitballing with somebody: 'Well, who's played in Washington and with the New York Rangers that's also about my age?' I'm like, 'There's nobody really. So maybe it's just me,'" he said.

Knuble was a 26-year-old forward with the New York Rangers in 1998-99, the final season of Gretzky's career. He played three seasons with Ovechkin in Washington (2009-10 through 2011-12) before finishing his career at age 40 with the Philadelphia Flyers.

"The fact that Ovi is nipping at Gretzky's heels is just crazy," Knuble said.

Gretzky was in his elder statesman era with the Rangers, and Knuble got to witness the mania when it was announced he was retiring after 20 seasons. But Knuble was the elder statesmen when he arrived in Washington to find a 24-year-rock star in Ovechkin, who had just won his first Hart Trophy and scoring title, as the face of the Capitals' "Young Guns" resurgence.

"I just felt so fortunate to play with them. They're both such superstars," he said.

In the process, Knuble became someone uniquely qualified to compare, contrast and analyze the two greatest goal scorers in NHL history as teammates.

KNUBLE WAS DRAFTED 76th overall by the Detroit Red Wings in 1991. After four seasons at the University of Michigan, and some time in the AHL, he joined the Red Wings as a rookie in 1996-97.

Knuble was no goal-scoring slouch, tallying 278 times in 1,068 NHL games, but he had a different approach to that art than Gretzky or Ovechkin did: He was famous for parking himself inches from the goaltender's crease and scoring short-distance goals while being mauled by opposing defensemen.

"[Hockey Hall of Famer] Dino Ciccarelli was the pioneer of that. He was undersized, under-gunned and got the s--- beat out of him all the time," Knuble said. "He scored 600 goals back when they could be really mean to you. I went [to the crease] when they weren't as mean."

Knuble chuckles when he sees goal-scoring heat maps in coaches' offices that show an intense crimson around the crease.

"I'll be talking to young players and I draw the East Coast of the United States. I draw Florida and then I draw Cuba and then a draw a big shark further away," he said. "And I'm like, 'If all the fish are right here between Florida and Cuba, why would you be swimming all the way over here if you're a shark and you're hungry? All the fish are right here! Go to where the fish are!'"

For most of the 1980s and 1990s, the fish were wherever Wayne Gretzky had the puck on his stick.

Knuble had never met Gretzky before, but he was a fan -- not just as a kid growing up in Toronto, but as an adult playing in the NHL.

Before the 1998 Olympics, he cornered Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman in the weight room to sheepishly ask if he might bring home a signed Gretzky stick from Nagano, Japan. Knuble was stunned when Yzerman returned with a personalized autographed stick, the butt end burned with an Olympic logo that incorporated Gretzky's initials into it.

A few months later, the Red Wings traded Knuble to the Rangers for a second-round draft pick. Which meant the guy asking for Wayne Gretzky's autograph was now Wayne Gretzky's teammate.

"You see his jersey and you see your jersey, and it's the same color as his. And you're just like, 'Holy s--- here we go,'" Knuble said. "I remember saying my hellos and then just sitting in my stall, not talking to him for a couple of weeks. I was quiet on the bus with him, too. I'd just sit and listen to his recollections about his time in Edmonton, dropping names and telling stories."

Time with Gretzky away from the rink was fleeting. There were cities on the road where Gretzky could grab dinner with his teammates and not get mobbed -- mostly "non-traditional" hockey markets, according to Knuble -- but everywhere else, fans would swarm the most famous hockey player in the world.

"He'd give the time, but it wasn't going to be too much time. He knew how to handle that balance," he said.

Gretzky wasn't a boisterous presence in the Rangers' dressing room. That's partially because the Rangers had other leaders to whom he would defer, such as captain Brian Leetch. "He wasn't trying to outshine anyone. But everyone knew that when he wanted to say something, the floor was his," Knuble said.

Knuble wasn't a primary linemate for Gretzky during his time with the Rangers. He'd watch from the bench as The Great One operated from his office behind the opponent's net, and wait for his chance to join the Gretzky scoring ledger.

"You're just hoping that he scored and you got a point with him. You just want to hear your name linked with him," said Knuble, who scored two goals assisted by Gretzky in 1998-99.

Those goals by Knuble were some of the final points collected by Gretzky in his legendary career. That season would be his last.

The Rangers weren't going to make the playoffs that season. As the games dwindled on the schedule, the speculation about Gretzky's future grew louder. Knuble remembers the Rangers players purposefully avoiding the topic inside the room, but then it happened: It was officially announced very late in the season that Gretzky would be retiring.

The Rangers' next game after that announcement was at the Ottawa Senators on April 15, 1999.

"We were in Ottawa and the Canadian National Guard surrounded our hotel because it was his last game in Canada," Knuble recalled. "I'll never forget coming out of the hotel for the game and seeing guys with rifles."

The hotel restricted access to guests only, having people show some form of ID to get into the lobby, which was still jam-packed with people trying to find Gretzky. The Rangers' bus would park in front of the hotel, drawing all of the attention from fans as Gretzky found another exit.

"Wayne was always really good about going out the back door, sending diversion out in the front, and then he'd slip out," Knuble said. "And I'm sure Alex got good at playing those games, too."

KNUBLE CURRENTLY COACHES teenage hockey players in Michigan. They know about his NHL career. They'll ask whether he has Alex Ovechkin in his phone contacts list.

"I'll show it to them and tell them that he's probably changed his number like eight times. But go ahead and call him. Go knock yourselves out," he said, laughing. "But I'm super proud to have it. The kids appreciate that. It's a good cocktail party conversation, too."

Knuble was in his third NHL season when he became Gretzky's teammate. He was entering his 13th season when he signed with the Capitals as a free agent in 2009, having previously battled against Ovechkin & Co. as a member of the Flyers.

As much as he knew about Gretzky before becoming his teammate, Knuble knew little about Ovechkin before joining him.

"There was a little bit of mystery," he said.

Ovechkin had scored 219 goals in his first four NHL seasons and would add another 50 goals to that total in Knuble's first season in Washington. He skated fast, blasted more shots than anyone in the league and hit like a truck. He was a force of nature. Knuble said one of his biggest challenges as a teammate was not to be in awe of Ovechkin's abilities.

"As a player you had to be very careful that you didn't defer to him too much. You knew what he could do, but it wasn't like 'force it, force it, force it' to him all the time," he said. "I think you had to get him the puck when you could and do some of the legwork. But when you had a chance -- and you were in a high-end, high percentage scoring area -- you had to shoot the puck. You couldn't defer all the time."

Knuble assisted on 14 goals by Ovechkin during his 220 games with the Capitals.

"I think the biggest thing is you didn't want to slow him down. He's trending to be a hundred-point guy, and now you're playing with him, you're linked to him, you don't want his percentage go down," Knuble explained. "If he's down to an 80-point pace, well, who are they going to point the finger at? It's not because of him, it's because of me. So you didn't want to be that guy."

Off the ice, the two didn't spend much time together. Knuble was older and had children. Ovechkin hung with younger players, a crew who all grew up together on the Capitals. Knuble understood the dynamics.

"When I was in Detroit, it wasn't like I was hanging out with Yzerman. You're with your peers," he said. "Maybe there's the odd time you end up at the same restaurant or you have a team event where you hang out, but your boys are your boys."

As he watched Ovechkin continue to pile on goals, playing with a variety of teammates -- Knuble, for the record, thinks Ovechkin might already have the record if Nicklas Backstrom could have remained healthy -- he figured Ovechkin had a shot at catching Gretzky if his body cooperated.

"If he stayed healthy, with the way he finishes ... could he be second or third all-time? And then he stayed really healthy and kept playing well," Knuble said. "He's always been blessed with great health on the ice, where nothing super fluky happened to him. The most impressive thing about him is his longevity."

Ovechkin's maturity was a factor in that longevity, according to Knuble.

"I think Alex has just stood the test of time a little bit. You're a young guy, you kind of live hard on and off the ice, and then when you're older you realize, 'I can't be doing this as much,'" he said.

Finally hoisting something other than an individual trophy also helped.

"I think winning a Stanley Cup was really big for him, too. I think that was a big feather in his cap. You don't want to be a golfer that's never won a major, you know?" Knuble said. "I think him winning the team thing was just basically the last box he needed to check."

Ovechkin is now older (39) than Gretzky was (38) when Knuble played with him in New York. The Capitals captain has matured, but Knuble still sees that spark of youth in his game as he chases Gretzky's record.

"It's fun to see him just happy, see him in his joy," he said. "I think when he was younger, the joy that carried him was the most noticeable thing. Eventually you get older and the joy settles down a little bit, but still he plays with so much of it."

KNUBLE ADMITS THAT Ovechkin and Gretzky are "different in the way they do their things," but share one key similarity: the way the understood their responsibilities in selling the sport they love.

"Wayne was very good at being an ambassador of the game. He knew that it's super inconvenient for him, but he's going to do it with a smile on his face. He's not going to bitch about it. It's his job to move the game forward," he said. "Alex is pretty good about that stuff too. And it was hard for him. He's not a North American, but certainly Alex has been a great ambassador of the game here."

Part of being an ambassador of the game is inspiring subsequent generations to pick up a stick or watch a game. Knuble said both players accomplished that during their careers.

"They've both been so good to the game, to the NHL and great role models for kids," he said. "Wayne revamped the game in his way. And then Ovi revamped it again with his way -- a little more flash, a little more flare. We all copied Wayne and then kids today copied Ovi."

There have been other all-time players who starred in their respective eras, from Mario Lemieux to Sidney Crosby to Connor McDavid. But Knuble believes there's something different about the way Gretzky and Ovechkin have broken through as sports celebrities.

"People coast to coast in the United States know who [Ovechkin] is, and what more can you ask for, especially as a hockey player?" he said. "You go to California and you can be on the beach there playing volleyball and be like, 'Who's Alex Ovechkin?' And they'll be like, 'Oh, that Russian dude in D.C., right? Hockey player?' If you can get that kind of thing, then that's a successful athlete."

As Knuble watches the Ovechkin record chase unfold, his thoughts are with Gretzky. He believes The Great One has shown exemplary class in watching an all-time mark potentially fall. Like Gordie Howe did when Gretzky chased his records, Gretzky has blessed Ovechkin's own record pursuit.

"Wayne's such an ambassador, saying, 'Hey, I can't wait to see this come to fruition. I can't wait to see him chase it down. I'm going to be there and be thrilled for him when the time comes.' And that's not a lie. That's not bulls---. And it's just great," Knuble said. "The league is thrilled that another generational player has come through. It's just crazy that this even remotely had a chance to happen."

Almost as crazy as an NHL veteran who kicked around with five different franchises being the only player to have called the top two goal scorers in league history as his teammates.

"I was on the ice with both. Got sticks signed by both. Got to say that I spent with each of them," he said. "Again, I just feel so fortunate."