After making a speedy recovery from last month’s knee surgery, Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds is now looking forward for the next month tour of South Africa.

Commenting over Symonds fitness, team physio, Alex Kountouris said, “I would be disappointed if Andrew wasn't available to go to South Africa.”

“Things are progressing well. At this stage it's hard to say when Andrew will be back but I'd expect it to be somewhere between three to five weeks”, added Kountouris.

Melbourne, Jan. 19 : After receiving a Medal of Freedom from US President George W. Bush, John Howard has been voted Australia''s favourite prime minister since World War II.

A news. com. au report said that an online poll of 1000 people, conducted last week by Essential Research, found almost a third of people rating Howard as the best prime minister since the 1940s.

Current Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came in second with 20 per cent of the vote.

Labor PM Bob Hawke was third, while his colleagues Paul Keating and Gough Whitlam came in fourth and fifth respectively.

Liberal stalwart Robert Menzies can still pull a crowd - 11 per cent of people rated him No. 1.

Sydney, Jan. 19: The Chief Executive Officer of New South Wales (NSW) Cricket, David Gilbert, today said that Australia''s latest batting sensation, David Warner, deserves another chance to cement his place in the side, though he is yet to play first class cricket for his state.

When asked for his reactions to the possible dumping of Warner after his no show in yesterday''s one-dayer against South Africa at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart, Tasmania, Gilbert told the Sydney Morning Herald "That would be rough. It would be very difficult to form an opinion on a player after one game. David played a remarkable innings in his Twenty20 [international] debut and since then he has been under immense pressure, and there has been huge expectations."

Melbourne - Jelena Jankovic was forced to step lively on court at the Australian Open Monday as the soles of her new shoes failed to protect her feet from the Melbourne heat.

"My feet were burning," said the Serbian top seed, who reached the second round over Austrian Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 6-3.

"The soles of my shoes got so hot.

"During the changeovers I was putting my feet on ice, trying to cool them down."

Melbourne  - One-time Grand Slam winner Andy Roddick renewed his fight to regain relevance in tennis on Monday, beginning his Australian Open campaign with a defeat of Swedish qualifier Bjorn Rehnquist 6-0, 6-2, 6-2.

The number eight US player lifted his lone major honour at the 2003 US Open, then gradually slid into neutral and fell from the discussion when big titles were mentioned.

Melbourne, Jan. 18 : Thirteen-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer has said that those who harbour the dream of unseating him, would have to put up `heck of a performance to beat me’.

He is not uncomfortable admitting he expects to win. Having won the Grand Slams he has, that is not arrogance - it is realism.

Last year, he was below physical fitness here, but he won the last slam of the year in New York when he had finally recovered his fitness and form.

"It''s going to take a heck of a performance from one of the players to win this tournament so it''s going to be interesting," he said after winning the AAMI Classic exhibition tournament.