Serena Williams says she has fallen out of love with tennis despite recording an impressive comeback win over Chanelle Scheepers in the first round of the Brisbane International on Monday.

Playing her first match since losing the U.S. Open final to Samantha Stosur in August, Williams showed why she is the most feared player in the draw as she outgunned Scheepers 6-2, 6-3.

Kim Clijsters began preparation for the defense of her Australian Open singles title with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Romania's Simona Halep in the first round of the Brisbane International on Sunday.

Clijsters beat China's Li Na in the final at last year's opening Grand Slam at Melbourne Park. This year's Australian Open begins Jan. 16.

Novak Djokovic showed he remains the player to beat in 2012, routing David Ferrer 6-2, 6-1 Saturday to win the World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament.

The top-ranked Djokovic also beat Gael Monfils and then routed Roger Federer en route to his first Abu Dhabi title.

Arsenal's injury-plagued Belgian international central defender Thomas Vermaelen has been ruled out of Monday's Premier League match with Fulham.

The 26-year-old Belgian national captain - who missed most of last season through injury - strained a calf in the 1-0 win over QPR on Saturday.

British tennis fans longing for their first male Grand Slam winner since Fred Perry in 1936 will be hoping the unlikely figure of Ivan Lendl can help break the country's long title drought.

Lendl made a dramatic return to top flight tennis this week when Scotland's Andy Murray announced the former world No.1 had taken over as his fulltime coach with immediate effect.

Serena Williams says she doesn't regret her outburst during last year's U.S. Open final and warns she would do it again if her emotions are as high as they were during her loss to Australia's Samantha Stosur.

Williams reacted angrily when chair umpire Eva Asderaki ruled that her shout of "come on!" after hitting a forehand was a hindrance and awarded a point to Stosur.

English Premier League football clubs and their star players are being investigated by the tax authorities over "secret perks", a newspaper reported Sunday.

Investigators from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs have interviewed finance directors at Britain's richest clubs to find out more about the benefits footballers receive, The Mail on Sunday said.

Fixing now poses the biggest threat to the integrity of the Olympics, the British minister for the 2012 London Games told The Sunday Times newspaper, citing illegal Asian betting rings.

Olympics minister Hugh Robertson said fixing had overtaken drugs cheats in terms of the threat posed to the reputation of the Games.

New York Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire was benched for Saturday's NBA game at Sacramento with a left ankle sprain suffered in a loss two days earlier.

Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said the playmaker's availability will be decided on a day-to-day basis after he was hurt in a 99-82 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Stoudemire did not take part in a team workout on Friday.

Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum powered the Los Angeles Lakers past Denver 92-89 on Saturday, a victory sealed when Denver's Danilo Gallinari botched a game-tying layup in the closing seconds.

Bynum scored a game-high 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while Bryant added 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers, who improved to 3-2 while the Nuggets fell to 2-2.