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Rafael Nadal powered to a record 11th Monte Carlo Masters title with a straight-sets victory over Kei Nishikori. The world No 1 recovered from going a break down early in the first set to win 6-3, 6-2 in 93 minutes and has now won 36 consecutive sets on clay, a run which stretches back to the first round of last year’s French Open. None of Nadal’s opponents has won more than four games in any of those sets, a statistic Nishikori looked like changing when he broke for a 2-1 lead at Monte Carlo Country Club. However, Nadal had other ideas and broke straight back on his to winning five of the next six games. The 31-year-old then broke Nishikori twice more in the second set to seal a 31st Masters 1000 title, one more than Novak Djokovic. Nadal said: “I want to thank all my team and my family. We had some tough moments during the last five months after a couple of injuries in a row. It’s great to have a group of great people behind me. I can say thank you very much always ...

Indian Ace   Shuttler Kidambi Shrikant is poised to become the World No. 1 in Men’s Singles Badminton World Federation Rankings, replacing Denmark’s Viktor Axelsen. He will move to the first spot with 76895 points and is set to become the first Indian to secure the top position since the inception of the ranking system. Earlier in April 2015, Saina Nehwal had become the first Indian woman shuttler to conquer the world number one spot in Women’s Singles. In the newly released ranking system, Srikanth is the only Indian in the top 10 in Men’s Singles. In Women’s Singles ranking, the sole Indian P.V. Sindhu occupies the third position. The 25-year-old Padma Shri winner is not stranger to accolades. In the XXI Commonwealth Games, he led the mixed badminton team to victory, giving the country its first ever gold medal in the event with a brilliant 3-1 win over defending champion Malaysia. He is the first Indian to win the golden trio of Grand Prix gold, Super Ser...

It was exactly a year ago when teammates first noticed a change in  Stephen Curry . The  Golden State Warriors  had just witnessed  Kevin Durant  suffer a knee injury, which immediately cast doubt on the team's chances of advancing to the NBA Finals for a third consecutive year. When the Warriors found out the next day that Durant would be available for the postseason, they were relieved. But no one within the organization knew if there would be enough time for the 6-foot-11 forward to return to his All-Star form during the playoffs. The pressure was mounting for a team with championship expectations, especially after the offseason acquisition of KD. That's when teammates say Curry, a team captain along with  Andre Iguodala , made adjustments to his leadership approach. It started behind the scenes. Players said they would arrive for practices to find Curry was already in the gym drenched in sweat. "You just saw him practicing and he started bec...