Steve McClaren's first examination as Newcastle United's head coach ended in a 2-2 draw at home to Southampton.

Now the real work can begin for the man who once managed England and is back in the Premier League for the first time in nine years.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers believes the determination shown by his players in the 1-0 victory over Stoke City will serve them well for the rest of the season.

The Reds were thrashed 6-1 at the Britannia Stadium on the final game of the previous Premier League campaign, but on the same ground in their opening fixture of this season -– just 77 days later -- battled to a narrow victory.

Rafael Nadal insisted Sunday that retirement is not on his mind despite a year in which he was dethroned as French Open champion and saw his ranking slip to its lowest in a decade.

The 29-year-old former world number one and 14-time major winner said that he will hang up his racquet only when he has lost the thrill of playing the sport.

Bordeaux and Saint-Etienne both suffered Ligue 1 opening day defeats on Sunday as French football was still suffering the shockwaves of Marcelo Bielsa's resignation as Marseille coach.

In the weekend's final match, last season's runners-up Lyon were held to a 0-0 draw by Brittany side Lorient at their Stade Gerland.

Tiny 10-year-old Alzain Tareq grinned from ear-to-ear on Saturday as the world championships' youngest competitor in Kazan swam her personal best to finish third in her 50m freestyle heat.

The Bahrain schoolgirl had caused a splash at the Kazan pool on Friday morning when she raced in the women's 50m butterfly heats and finished last of the event's 64 competitors.

A month after winning Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic will pick up a racquet once again as the world number one plays as top seed in the Montreal Masters, which begins Monday.

The Serb, who won the first of his three Canadian titles in 2007 in Montreal, also added another in 2011 and a 2012 honor in Toronto to his list of North American success stories.

Michael Phelps showed Friday he's still a formidable force as the Rio Olympics approach, clocking a stunning 1min 52.94sec to win the 200m butterfly at the U.S. swimming championships.

"This next year is going to be pretty damn fun," a laughing Phelps said after posting the fastest time in the world this year -- eclipsing Hungarian Laszlo Cseh's world championship-winning time of 1:53.48 in Kazan, Russia, this week.

The Premier League gets underway on Saturday with champions Chelsea looking to retain the title. On the eve of the much-anticipated new season, AFP Sport looks at five key questions:

- Will Mourinho pay for Falcao gamble?

World number two Maria Sharapova has pulled out of next week's Rogers Cup in Toronto after suffering a right leg strain, tournament chiefs confirmed on Friday.

The Russian right-hander's withdrawal was announced on the tournament's Twitter feed, which added that Romania's Simona Halep had now been elevated to second seed.

A second half goal from Brazilian winger Lucas Moura gave ten-man Paris Saint-Germain a 1-0 win, their first in a Ligue 1 opener since their new Qatari owners took over in 2011, at Lille on Friday.

The three-time Ligue 1 champions were a player down after half an hour after midfielder Adrien Rabiot was given his marching orders for two yellow cards in the space of five minutes.