Tennis: Djokovic regains top spot, Nadal rises

20-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic regained the World No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings released on Monday despite not featuring in Indian Wells.

The Serbian tennis star lost the number one spot in ATP rankings to Daniil Medvedev on February 28 as the Russian became the 27th player to reach No. 1 in the world. But after Gael Monfils defeated Medvedev in the second round at the Indian Wells Masters, Djokovic has regained the number one spot.

The Serbian currently stands on top with 8465 points while Medvedev stands on the second spot with 8445 points.

Djokovic has only played one tournament this year. He played his first tournament of 2022 in Dubai where he lost to the Czech Republic's Jiri Vesely 4-6, 6-7(4) in the quarter-final.

Rafael Nadal, who lost to Taylor Fritz in the Indian wells final, has returned to the top three in the rankings. Nadal's unbeaten streak of 20 matches in 2022 came to an end as the 21-time grand slam champion lost to America's Taylor Fritz 3-6, 6-7 (5-7) in the final of Indian Wells.

Osaka takes equity stake in crypto exchange FTX

Tennis star Naomi Osaka has taken an equity stake in FTX and will be receiving compensation in crypto, the Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange, one of the most valuable startups in the world, said on Monday.

The four-time Grand Slam winner signed a long-term partnership agreement with FTX, as part of which Osaka will be focused on bringing women onto its crypto platform and will play an active role in directing and producing content.

FTX, the owner and operator of crypto platform FTX.com, has been rapidly raising capital over the past year. SoftBank's Vision Fund 2 invested $400 million in the company in January, a major funding that catapulted FTX's valuation to $32 billion.

Prior to her investment in FTX, Osaka backed salad chain Sweetgreen Inc that was listed in New York last year. She is also an adviser to a special purpose acquisition company, Disruptive Acquisition Corporation I, along with other well-known athletes such as Patrick Mahomes and Robert Lewandowski.