Looking for Tennis and Racket Sports International News?

Kei Nishikori won his second match in two days, but his win was not enough to prevent the OUE Singapore Slammers from defeating his team Japan Warriors on day three of the 2016 International Premier Tennis League at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Sunday, December 4, 2016.

Nishikori won his set 9-4 over Singapore Slammers’ Nick Kyrgios in a packed stadium of fans who came to support their local hero.

Earlier in the day, UAE Royals defeated Indian Aces 30-20, elevating the Royals to the top of the standings.

The league moves on to Singapore on Tuesday.

The top two teams will play for trophy on December 11, 2016.

18-year-old hearing-impaired Duckhee Lee of South Korea continues to defy the odds as he advanced to the finals of the Australian Open 2017 Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off in Zhuhai, China.

Lee, who’s deaf, defeated Kai-Chen Chang in the semifinal match.

According to Ben Rothenberg’s New York Times article, Lee was diagnosed as deaf at the age of two.

Lee will play Denis Istomin in the final match. If Lee wins, this will be his first Grand Slam main draw entry.

Watch Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Play-off final matches on Tennis Channel starting at 10 PM ET.

Local hero Kei Nishikori helped his home team Japan Warriors clinch their first 2016 International Premier Tennis League win at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo, Japan on Saturday, December 3, 2016.

The Japan Warriors were down 17-19 but Nishikori’s win over UAE Royals’ Tomas Berdych helped secure a 23-20 win for Japan Warriors.

Earlier in the day, Indian Aces defeated OUE Singapore Slammers 26-25.

The top two teams on the standings will play the final match on December 11, 2016.

British player Johanna Konta has become the latest WTA player to make coaching changes this off-season.

The top British player and her coach Esteban Carril have called it quits, according to BBC Sports. Konta and Carril worked together for two and a half years.

A successful partnership ends.

British number 1 Johanna Konta “mutually” splits with her coach.

Full story ➡ https://t.co/Sd6q6Gqyo2 pic.twitter.com/GijzFSviRu

PARIS (AP) — Yannick Noah will remain Davis Cup captain of France next season.

The French tennis federation says the 1983 French Open champion, who was appointed in September 2015, will continue in his post in 2017. France last won the Davis Cup in 2001 and finished runner-up three times since, in 2002, 2010 and 2014.

France lost in the semifinals to Croatia this year. The team will travel to Japan in 2017 in the first round.

Noah, the last Frenchman to win the French Open, was reappointed in 2015 after guiding France to Davis Cup titles in 1991 and 1996.

Judy Murray, Andy and Jamie Murray’s fearless mother, tweeted a “Fab Four” Beatles photo of Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer on Throwback Thursday.

Murray, Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer, are famously known as the “Big Four” because of their dominance on the ATP Tour this past decade.

When The Big Four became The Fab Four.#Beatles pic.twitter.com/KQGBNWbKAr

— judy murray (@JudyMurray) November 29, 2016

 The Beatles, who were nicknamed “The Fab Four” by their legion of fans, were a 1960’s iconic British rock band.

PRAGUE (AP) — Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has hired Karolina Pliskova’s former coach, and Pliskova hired Kvitova’s former coach.

The 11th-ranked Kvitova will now work with Jiri Vanek, who parted ways with Pliskova last month. The sixth-ranked Pliskova, meanwhile, has hired David Kotyza, whose seven-year partnership with Kvitova ended in January.

With Vanek, who joined her in 2014, Pliskova jumped into the top 10 and reached the U.S. Open final.

During her seven years with Kotyza, Kvitova won 17 WTA titles, including Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014. But she was struggling after their split, and former doubles specialist Frantisek Cermak, who was coaching her from April until September, didn’t change that much.

Madison Keys, who is ranked No. 8, has severed ties with her coach Thomas Hogstedt.

Keys has stopped working with Hogstedt, who started coaching her in April, 2016. Keys won her second title in Eastbourne under his tutelage. Hogstedt worked with Genie Bouchard before joining forces with Keys.

Keys has had three coaching changes this year. She is now looking for a new coach.

ATP World No. 3 Milos Raonic has cut ties with his coach Carlos Moya.

Raonic posted the news on his Instagram account, thanking former World No. 1 Moya for his help.

Moya began coaching Raonic in January 2016. Seven-time Grand Slam winner John McEnroe joined the coaching team in June, which included Moya and Riccardo Piatti, but ended the relationship in August.

The 2017 tennis season is just around the corner and we can’t wait to see what it has in store for tennis fans.

No one predicted that Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber would end 2016 as No. 1, respectively, but they did. Will there be similar surprises in 2017? Who knows, but we do have a wish list.

10. World No. 1 Angelique Kerber had a great 2016 season where she ascended to the top of the WTA rankings. She won the Australian and the U.S. Open, and was a finalist at the Wimbledon Championships. Let us hope she is able to defend most of these points and maintain her No. 1 status, which is a huge undertaking.

The 22-time Grand Slam champion writes that women ”are constantly reminded” they aren’t men. She says people call her one of the ”world’s greatest female athletes,” but notes that male athletes such as LeBron James, Roger Federer and Tiger Woods aren’t described by their gender.

Williams says the equal pay issue frustrates her because women ”have done the same work and made the same sacrifices as our male counterparts.”

She says women ”must continue to dream big” to ”empower the next generation of women to be just as bold in their pursuits.”

The letter was published in Porter Magazine and republished by British newspaper The Guardian.

LONDON (AP) — Former tour player Anne Keothavong has been chosen to succeed Judy Murray as captain of Britain’s Fed Cup team.

The 33-year-old Keothavong was appointed national women’s team coach and Fed Cup captain on Tuesday by the Lawn Tennis Association.

Keothavong takes over the Fed Cup captaincy from Murray, the mother of top-ranked male player Andy Murray. She stepped down in March after five years as captain to concentrate on other roles.

Keothavong, who played 44 Fed Cup singles and doubles matches during her 13-year pro career, will prepare the team for the Europe/Africa Zone Group 1 tournament in Tallinn, Estonia, from Feb. 7-12.

The British team could feature top-10 player Johanna Konta, Heather Watson and Laura Robson.

Stan Wawrinka won a hard-fought match against Marin Cilic on Wednesday, November 16, 2016, keeping alive his chances of advancing to the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals in London, Great Britain.

Wawrinka, who’s now 1-1 in his group, won the match 7-6(3), 7-(3). Cilic had chances to push the match to the third set, breaking Wawrinka in the opening game of the second set, but Wawrinka managed to get the break back.

Wawrinka next plays Andy Murray, who’s 2-0 in their group after a tough three-setter against Kei Nishikori earlier today.

Gael Monfils, who’s in Novak Djokovic’s group, has pulled out of the event due to an injury. He will be replaced by substitute David Goffin, who faces Djokovic tomorrow.

Watch ATP Tour Finals live on Tennis Channel