DALLAS -- Dallas Mavericks star Kyrie Irving returned for Tuesday night's home game against the Denver Nuggets.

Irving, who is averaging 24.3 points and 4.9 assists per game this season, was sidelined the past week because of a lower back injury.

The Mavs went 2-3 during the five games that Irving missed.

Irving was listed as out due to illness for the Mavs' Jan. 3 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team announced before the next game that he had a lumbar sprain in his lower back.

Sources told ESPN's Shams Charania that Irving has been dealing with a bulging disk in his lower back.

Mavs co-star Luka Doncic has been sidelined since straining his left calf during a Christmas loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. He is scheduled to be reevaluated the last week of January.

SEATTLE -- The Seattle Mariners acquired infielder Miles Mastrobuoni from the Chicago Cubs on Tuesday for cash.

Mastrobuoni, 29, hit .194 with four RBIs in 50 games for Chicago last year. He can play second base, third, shortstop and the corner outfield spots.

Mastrobuoni was designated for assignment when Chicago acquired reliever Matt Festa on Thursday.

Seattle designated catcher Nick Raposo for assignment to make room for Mastrobuoni on its 40-man roster. Raposo, 26, was claimed off waivers by the Mariners from Toronto on Dec. 19.

Mastrobuoni made his big league debut with Tampa Bay in 2022. He is a .219 hitter with one homer, nine RBIs and 16 steals in 118 major league games.

Getting the call-up as a lucky loser means a second chance for tennis players - but it can often prove a stressful experience.

Lucky losers are players who lose in qualifying at a tournament, but receive a place in the main draw if another player withdraws through injury or illness.

Four players have received lucky loser entries into the men's and women's singles draws at the Australian Open.

Three of them - including Britain's Harriet Dart - have claimed first-round wins.

But being told you are in the draw, sometimes just minutes before you are due on court, is far from ideal.

"You never really know what's going to happen with being the first lucky loser," said British number four Dart, who was given one hour's notice before her three-set win.

Dart, who battled cramp and saved match points in her victory, said: "I got here pretty early, practised, and was fortunate enough to be able to play.

"When you get a chance, you really want to take it, and I was really happy to get over the line."

Another victorious lucky loser was Eva Lys, who was lying on a physio table receiving treatment when she was summoned.

The world number 128, who was given 10 minutes' notice, beat Australian number one Kimberly Birrel 6-2 6-2, but admitted she was "panicking" over the lack of preparation.

"I actually had my flight back booked for tomorrow morning," Germany's Lys, 23, said.

"I didn't really prepare my drinks, I didn't have match clothes on. I went to the locker room, got changed straight away, and then they called my name.

"So no warm-up, no anything. Maybe that's the key for next match."

On the lucky loser experience, she added: "If you are a lucky loser, you don't expect much. Your tournament is kind of over.

"But a lot of people gave me hope that there was a possibility for me to get in. That's why I was here the whole day, from 9am until 11pm, because you never know if someone is going to pull out.

"I went out and had no expectations. I was definitely the lucky one."

Fonseca was ranked 730th in the world at the start of 2024, but by the end of the year he had surged up the rankings into the top 150.

He captured tennis fans' attention with quarter-final runs at the ATP 500 event in his home city of Rio de Janeiro and at the ATP 250 in Bucharest.

The teenager truly established himself as one of the best newcomers by winning December's Next Gen ATP Finals - an event for the best male players aged 21 and under.

Current world number one Jannik Sinner, who won the tournament in 2019, is the only player to have lifted the title at a younger age than Fonseca.

In fact, it was Sinner who convinced Fonseca to turn professional when he was a hitting partner for the Italian at the 2023 ATP Finals.

Fonseca's showing against Rublev proved his potential, as he took charge with his powerful forehand and fired home 51 winners to the Russian's 33.

"I just enjoyed every moment on this amazing court, it's my first time playing in a huge stadium," Fonseca said.

Fonseca is just the second teenager since 1973 to beat a top-10 opponent at their maiden Grand Slam, after Mario Ancic beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2002.

Asked in his on-court interview how much money it would cost to have his talent, Fonseca referenced 20-time major winner Federer, replying: "Like Roger said, talent is not enough without hard work.

"My idol was always Roger, I grew up watching Roger. Everyone wanted to play like him and I even tried when I was younger the one-handed [backhand] for one week."

Fonseca will meet Italy's Lorenzo Sonego, who is ranked 57 places higher, in the second round on Thursday.

"Of course my expectations are bigger now," Fonseca said. "I want more and more, I think that is the mentality of champions."

When I was a child, tennis was nowhere near as big in Italy as it is now.

Football has always been the number one sport in our country - people live for it.

Now tennis is not far behind catching up with football in popularity.

The amount of attention I received started to increase a lot after I reached the French Open singles final last year and again after I did the same at Wimbledon.

But I felt the biggest difference after I won a gold medal for Italy in the Olympic doubles.

It was crazy when I returned to Italy after Paris. The attention meant I couldn't go out! No, I'm joking with you, but it was intense.

So many people were coming up and saying something about the gold medal when I was out in the street.

I felt it was not just tennis fans who were recognising me now.

When I reached the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finals, it was more tennis fans who were stopping me for a picture, but the gold medal was something more global.

I haven't needed to hire a security guard yet, though!

Sometime people shake my hand or sometimes they hug me and say "please, I want to give you a kiss".

Older women in their 60s and 70s, they're the ones who come up and say they love me.

Hooper, who made his Super Rugby debut in 2021 after playing at that year's U20 Junior World Championship, is described as fiercely competitive by many in the Wallabies set-up.

He first drew interest from national team coaches in 2022 before suffering an injury, and was handed his test debut by then-Wallabies boss Eddie Jones during The Rugby Championship in July 2023 before being named in Australia's 2023 Rugby World Cup squad months later.

Chiefs Director of Rugby Rob Baxter said the club was "delighted" by the signing.

"A young international who is a big, abrasive back-five forward, we see him having the opportunity to play across our back row but cover second row as well," Baxter told the Chiefs' official website, external.

"He's got a lot of the attributes that are really important in Premiership rugby high work-rate along with good physical size and good physical abilities.

"He's also an interesting character and someone we're excited to bring to the club to grow the team we want to put together going forward.

"Alongside our other young back five forwards, such as Dafydd Jenkins, Rusi Tuima, Greg Fisilau and Ethan Roots, the back five has the ability to be a really strong group that can build over a number of years."

The Chiefs are currently on a poor run of form, with their latest loss a heavy 69-17 defeat at the hands of Bordeaux in the Champions Cup on Saturday.

Ireland have received a boost on the eve of their Six Nations squad announcement with Leinster confirming that Dan Sheehan and James Lowe are nearing a return to action.

Hooker Sheehan, 26, has not played since sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament injury during Ireland's defeat by South Africa in July.

New Zealand-born wing Lowe, 32, has been out since Ireland's Autumn Nations Series win over Australia on 30 November with a calf problem.

In an injury bulletin issued on Tuesday, Leinster said both players may feature in Saturday's Champions Cup match against Bath at Aviva Stadium.

Ireland back row Will Connors is also in contention, having been sidelined since the end of November.

Fit-again international trio Tadhg Furlong, Jack Conan and Ciaran Frawley all came through Sunday's win at La Rochelle without injury.

Having already qualified for the last 16, Leo Cullen's side - who have won all 12 of their games this season - are looking to seal top spot in Champions Cup pool 2 when they welcome Premiership leaders Bath to Dublin on Saturday (17:30 GMT).

Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby names his Six Nations squad on Wednesday.

Head coach Warren Gatland says Wales can defy the odds and win the 2025 Six Nations.

Wales have lost a record 12 successive internationals and finished bottom of the tournament in 2024.

But Gatland, whose position is under threat, told the Scrum V podcast that Wales will be in championship contention if they can win their opening two games away in France and Italy.

Read more: Players not experienced winning environment - Gatland

Borthwick says it is a matter of when, not if, he appears and thrives at Test level.

"Henry is an excellent player," Borthwick said of Pollock.

"We're intent on this guy being an England player for a very long time. Not necessarily this week or next week, we want to make sure this player in in an England shirt for a very long time."

Prop Dan Cole is at the opposite end of is career. The 37-year-old was left out of the squad with Leicester team-mate Joe Heyes and Sale youngster Asher Opoku-Fordjour preferred as tighthead options, but Borthwick insists Cole can still add to his 118 caps.

"There's always a hunger for Dan to be involved with England and help England," he said.

"I know he'd be disappointed but I also know that should we need him he'll be straight in and ready to go."

Overall, Borthwick resisted making widespread changes with 32 of his 36-strong group involved in squads for the autumn internationals or listed among those that would have been in contention for the campaign had they not been injured.

He says that continuity is crucial for England to develop the entertaining, attacking game they want to play and they are taking lessons from their first opponents in this year's Six Nations.

"You see the cohesiveness and consistency they've had in the Ireland team for many years - a number of them play together at Leinster," added Borthwick.

"We have to build that cohesiveness and the way we want to play. I think point of difference is going to be around the way we attack and move the ball.

"You look at the athleticism and the speed this England team has and has developed through 2024.

"How well you know each other, how cohesive you are and how many games you've played together just helps you to be more effective as an attacking team."

Hear more analysis on England's Six Nations squad from Ugo Monye, Chris Ashton and Chris Jones in Rugby Union Weekly's latest episode, out on Tuesday evening.