Andy Murray looked out of sorts as he slipped to defeat against Rafael Nadal, while it is set to be a family affair at the European Curling Championships for the Muirheads. Here’s our review of the last 24 hours.
Andy Murray admitted delivering a below-par serving performance was always asking for trouble against Rafael Nadal as the Spaniard swiftly wrapped up a straight sets at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Having beaten Nadal’s compatriot David Ferrer in his opening round robin match, Murray went into Wednesday’s clash knowing that a second consecutive victory would put him on the brink of the semi-finals.
But while the first set proved to be tight affair with Nadal edging it 6-4, the match quickly got away from Murray in the second as his opponent wrapped up a 6-4, 6-1 win,
"I think that he was hitting the ball extremely well from the back of the court, but I didn't really help myself,” Murray said.
"I served poorly at the end of the first set and all through the second. That's not going to be good enough against him when he's playing that well.”
It’s set to be a family affair for the Muirheads at the forthcoming European Curling Championships and Olympic bronze medallist Eve – and skip of the Scotland women’s team – admits she has her eyes on more silverware.
Eve will be one of three Muirheads who take to the ice in Esbjerg, Denmark, for the European Championships which get underway on Friday.
Younger brother Thomas is vice skip in Kyle Smith’s team with sibling Glen the alternate – and all three will be supported by mum Lynn in Denmark.
However dad Gordon, himself a world and European gold medallist in the 1990s, will be keeping a keen eye on things from back home where he will hold the fort in their absence.
"It feels weird going to a major championships along with my two brothers but, at the same time, it's really special," Eve told BBC Scotland.
"Thomas has had a great season with Kyle Smith's team and they've had such a successful junior career.
"Mum is going to come out and support us but poor dad has to stay at home and feed the animals [at the family farm].
"It will be great to have us all there cheering each other on, if we don't all fall out!"
England sevens head coach Simon Amor thinks it's an exciting time for the game as his side prepare for the start of the Seven World Series and build towards Rio 2016.
Amor's side sealed a spot on behalf of Great Britain at next summer's Olympics last season and, while the home nations will come together in Brazil as part of a Team GB squad, they went head to head at the Millennium Stadium on Tuesday in preparation for a big season ahead.
The Sevens World Series is set to kick off next month in Dubai and Amor is excited about the prospects ahead for not just his England team but all of the home nations.
"These conditioned sessions with Wales and Scotland have provided the players with valuable game time against very good opposition," he said.
"Training with them at Bisham Abbey was successful but to do it here under the roof at the Millennium Stadium is brilliant preparation for everyone.
"Working together as Home Unions also brings a Great Britain element. There are lots of good conversations taking place with Gareth Williams [Head Coach Wales 7s and GB 7s Assistant Coach] and Calum MacRae [Head Coach Scotland 7s] about how we get all our teams absolutely firing for this world series.
"The more successful the Home Nations are, the better the place Team GB will be in come the summer. It is an exciting time for sevens."
Training may be particularly hard of late but high jumper Isobel Pooley knows it will all be worth it if she can raise the bar even higher next season.
Pooley, winner of a silver medal for England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, had another busy summer this year, including setting a new British outdoor record of 1.97m.
She also made her World Championships debut in Beijing although she missed out on qualifying for the final.
The 22-year-old is now back in training in preparation for the new season, with a focus on technique and strength and conditioning.
“At the moment we are in the middle of winter training, which is when we lay down the foundations for the next year in terms of fitness, strength and technique,” Pooley wrote in her latest BBC Sport blog.
“It's the toughest part of the whole year and involves the highest volume of training and requires a diligent and steadfast approach.
“In the long term, it's easy to imagine what my motivation is, with the World Indoor Championships, European Championships and Olympic Games just around the corner.
“I am so grateful that I have these incredible opportunities open to me and I am determined to make the absolute most of them.”
England's number one mixed doubles pairing of Chris and Gabby Adcock suffered an early exit at the Hong Kong Open as they lost out in the first round to their Korean opponents.
The sixth seeds held a 2-0 head-to-head advantage over Shin Baek Cheol and Yoo Jung Chae going into the opening round clash.
But the 2013 champions were off the pace as they lost out 21-9, 21-15 in just 24 minutes to bring a premature end to the final Asian leg of the year.
They still however have the end-of-the-year Superseries Finals in the Middle East to look forward to in Dubai next month.
And Chris admitted they were determined to bounce back there after a disappointing performance.
"Going home already! Nothing really went right today and up against a tough opposition it cost us," he tweeted afterwards.
"Hard to take right now but will make sure we learn from our mistakes and improve from then.
"Next focus Superseries finals in Dubai. Great opportunity to put things right!!"
Katie Ormerod announced herself to the snowboarding world in June 2014 when she became the first female ever to land a double cork 1080 aged 16.
But while the ideal scenario would have been to push on the following season and cement her position on the circuit, the British snowboarder was instead forced to watch on from the sidelines after rupturing her ACL just two months later.
Thankfully for Ormerod she is back fully fit and raring to go again – a fact proved when she qualified for the finals of the Mile High event in Perisher, Australia back in August.
“Luckily I’ve had a good start to this season now. I was making sure my knee was going to be super strong for this season and then we went to Australia for pre-season and I did my first competition there and made it to finals which I was really happy about,” she said.
“Going back to the board after my injury was the best feeling ever. I was feeling really strong and then I just got all my tricks back as quickly as possible. I was just loving it, it was the most fun thing to be back.
“The next competition is the Pleasure Jam at the end of November. And then I’ve got my first invite to the Dew Tour in Breckenridge in December so it’s starting to get busy again.
“In a year’s time, I would have loved to have reached the podium in competitions, or at least have got into the final of most of the competitions.
“I hope to have progressed as a snowboarder, to have done my back 10 again, have learnt new tricks. That would be a good season for me.”
Sportsbeat 2015