Saudi Minister of Sport Crowns Cassidy First in 2024 Diriyah E-Prix

 Envision Racing driver Nick Cassidy (37) addresses the media after winning the New York City E-Prix racing event at Brooklyn Circuit. - File Photo/Reuters
Envision Racing driver Nick Cassidy (37) addresses the media after winning the New York City E-Prix racing event at Brooklyn Circuit. - File Photo/Reuters
TT

Saudi Minister of Sport Crowns Cassidy First in 2024 Diriyah E-Prix

 Envision Racing driver Nick Cassidy (37) addresses the media after winning the New York City E-Prix racing event at Brooklyn Circuit. - File Photo/Reuters
Envision Racing driver Nick Cassidy (37) addresses the media after winning the New York City E-Prix racing event at Brooklyn Circuit. - File Photo/Reuters

Minister of Sport and President of the Saudi Olympic and Paralympic Committee (SOPC) Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal crowned Saturday the New Zealander Nick Cassidy, the racing driver of Jaguar Formula E racing team after came first in the third round of the ABB FIA Formula E 2024 World Championship in its 10th season and the 2024 Diriyah E-Prix Round 2.
The Dutch racer Robin Frijns, driver of the Envision Racing team, secured second place, while the British Oliver Rowland, driver of the Nissan team, snatched third place.
More than 300 media professionals from various local, regional and international platforms attended the event, and it was broadcast via 45 channels in 16 countries.
Following the end of the second and third rounds hosted by the Kingdom, the drivers will head to Sao Paulo in Brazil, which will host the fourth round of the global event, while Japan will host the fifth one, Italy in the sixth and seventh rounds, then France will host the eighth round, as Germany will host the ninth and tenth rounds.
The eleventh and twelfth rounds will be held in China, and then the tournament will move to the US, which will organize the thirteenth and fourteenth rounds. Finally, it will conclude with the fifteenth and sixteenth rounds in London, UK.

In Saudi Arabia, the ceremony was attended by Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Saudi Automobile & Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) and President of the Saudi Motorsports Company.



Sinner, Djokovic in Opposite Halves at Australian Open, Sabalenka vs Stephens in 1st Round

09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa
09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa
TT

Sinner, Djokovic in Opposite Halves at Australian Open, Sabalenka vs Stephens in 1st Round

09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa
09 January 2025, Australia, Melbourne: Belarusian tennis player Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Italian tennis player Jannik Sinner pose with Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup during the draw for the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament, at Melbourne Park, Melbourne. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP/dpa

Defending champion Jannik Sinner and 10-time Australian Open winner Novak Djokovic have landed in opposite sides of the draw for the season’s first major, ruling out a replay of last year’s semifinal match.
Sinner upset Djokovic in the semifinals at the Australian Open last year before coming back to beat Daniil Medvedev in the final 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 for his first Grand Slam singles title.
Top-ranked Sinner has a first-round match against Nicolas Jarry and also has Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Medvedev in his quarter of the draw. Fritz will open against fellow American Jenson Brooksby.
Djokovic and No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz could meet in the quarterfinals, with a possible semifinal against No. 2 Alexander Zverev.
At the draw Thursday to set the brackets for the singles fields, defending champions Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka walked into the official ceremony holding thei trophies.
Sabalenka won her second consecutive title at Melbourne Park in 2024 by defeating Zheng Qinwen 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Sabalenka will be attempting to win a third consecutive women’s singles title at Melbourne Park, something last accomplished by Martina Hingis from 1997 to 1999.
Sabalenka drew a tough opening match against 2017 US Open champion Sloane Stephens and has 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva and Zheng in her section.
“I have a lot of great memories and to be back here ... as a two-time Australian Open champion, it’s definitely something special,” Sabalenka, who won the Brisbane International title last week, said at the draw ceremony. “I hope that I can keep doing what I’m doing here in Australia.”
Third-seeded Coco Gauff is a potential semifinal rival for Sabalenka. Gauff has a challenging first-round match against former Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin and is in the same section of the draw as seventh-seeded Jessica Pegula.
The Australian Open starts Sunday morning in Melbourne (Saturday night EST) and will run for 15 days.
Djokovic will be playing in his first event alongside new coach Andy Murray, his former on-court rival and a three-time major champion. Nobody has won the men's title at Melbourne Park more often than Djokovic, although he said he still feels trauma from the one year he wasn’t allowed to play.
Nick Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up who withdrew from an exhibition against Djokovic this week because of an abdominal strain, will face Jacob Fearnley in the first round if the mercurial Australian is fit enough to contest his first major since the 2022 US Open. Kyrgios is in the same section as Zverev.