Australian Open: Tennis community coming together

Published: Jan. 25, 2020, 12:45 p.m.

Some of the biggest names in the tennis world have made donation pledges to the Bushfire Appeal – we’ll be live in Melbourne with the BBC’s Tennis Correspondent Russell Fuller where we hear how the opening week of the Grand Slam has gone, especially as the build up to the tournament was dominated by the air quality. We hear from Alexander Zverev who vows to donate all his prize money if he wins the tournament and how the bad boy of tennis, Nick Krygios is starting to win fans over in his home country. One of Australia’s top sporting stars tells the BBC why she is so passionate on climate change and why she decided to move to England to join Chelsea. The Australian international holds the all-time goalscoring records in both the American and Australian leagues, aged just 26. She’s been telling the BBC’s Jo Currie why England and the Women’s Super League is becoming popular around the world. A few months ago, Mollie Hughes couldn't ski but she is now the youngest woman to ski solo to the South Pole, it took a gruelling 58 days where she spent almost 650 hours skiing alone battling through storm-force winds and temperatures hitting -45C. Only six other women and 17 men have successfully completed the trip without making any stops – On her return back to the UK, Mollie has been telling Shabnam how it feels to be in the history books. Ju Wenjun defended her World Chess title beating the Russian Grandmaster Aleksandra Goryachkina on a dramatic tie-break. The first two games of the tie-break were drawn, but the World Champion struck in the third game to win the match and retain her title. We speak to four time champion, and current world number one, Hou Yifan from China on the growth of the game globally. There has also been talk of combining both men and women to play in one tournament – we ask Hou whether it would be a good idea or would it do more harm to the sport? We’re also in Johannesburg for the latest from the fourth Test between South Africa and England, we’ll check in at the under 19’s World Cup where England are in action against Nigeria who qualified for the tournament for the first time and at Griffin Park where Brentford host Premier League side Leicester City in the FA Cup. Speaking of the FA Cup, find out why the trophy has its own seat on a plane. Photo: The players pose for a group photo during the Rally for Relief Bushfire Appeal event (Getty Images)