for the next four months anyway as knee surgery rules roger federer out of the french open. from denmark to catlunya via bordeaux and middlesbrough. we'll introduce barcelona's new front man. and leading from the front, the world number one is the man to beat in mexico. roger federer says he expects to make a full recovery from knee surgery after being ruled out of tennis for the next four months. he's opted to treat the longstanding problem to give him a better chance at competing in some big events later in the year. now 38, he's been managing his workload around the clay court season for the last five years or so — but this operation means he'll definitely miss the french open. commentator gigi salmon believes the timing is deliberately planned. i think the timing of this

arthroscopic knee surgery is good. he plays in australia and gets to the semifinals and then goes to south africa and plays for his foundation with rafael nadal stop he says the right knee has been bothering him. he was still able to play but they decided to do it now. the only other time he had an injury was 2016 with his knee when he injured it when he was taking one of his twins out of the bath. he came back from that by getting to the semifinals in australia the next year and winning at the year after that. we are a few is on but he must already be thinking about the end because of his age and his schedule. he does not play a schedule that would lead him to get to number one at the moment. it is pared down. he plays the tournaments he wants to play. he would love to add to his grand slam titles and it is significant that it is an olympic year. what is missing from his cabinet, one of the rare things is a gold medal in singles. he has had the doubles in the past. and there

will not be andy murray that stop him this year. meet barcelona's latest signing. even though the transfer window has long been closed — martin braithwaite has joined from leganes for 20 million dollars, having previously failed to impress at the likes of bordeaux and middlesbrough. barca were given special permission due to 0usmane dembele‘s season—ending hamstring injury. la liga regulations allow emergency signings if a player is ruled out for more than five months. barca paid the release fee in braithwaite‘s contract but leganes won't be able to use the money to get a replacement until the next transfer window. asa as a foot taller it is one of the biggest things to be able to come to the best club in the world. so it is special for the best club in the world. so it is specialfor me the best club in the world. so it is special for me and my whole family and this is something i worked hard forfor a long time and i am now finally here and i cannot wait to get started and i have many good

things in the future for me and my team. iam things in the future for me and my team. i am excited. he's ineligible for barca's champions league run. in the europa league — could ajax's campaign be done in the last 32. the dutch champions lost 2—0 to getafe in their first leg. meanwhile, manchester united drew 1—1 at bruges — another side who dropped down from the champions league. emmanuel dennis opened the scoring before anthony martial grabbed the equaliser and what could be a crucial away goal for 0le gunnar solskjaer‘s side. it was a difficult game against a well—organised team under difficult conditions. so i don't think it was one of the best games anyone has seen. we got away, and away goal, we got a draw, we go home next week so hopefully we can finish the job. here are some of the night's other results. sevilla — who are bidding to win the cup for a record—extending 6th

time — drew 1—1 at cluj in romania. arsenal were 1—0 winners over 0lympiakoas in greece. alexandre lacazette scored the only goal. diogojota scored a hat—trick as wolves thrashed espanyol 4—0. and christian eriksen was among the scorers as inter milan won 2—nil at ludogorets razgrad in bulgaria. it was his first goal for the club since joining them from tottenham last month. i think he is another player who needs to play. at the same time we needs to play. at the same time we need to find the right time to give him the opportunity to play. today it was the right opportunity for him to play from the start and to play for the whole game and it is ok. he continued to work very hard to prove

his physical condition and he has to continue this way. the build up to deyontay wilder and tyson fury fights are rarely dull. we've seen pushing and shoving at the press conference, trash talk aplenty but all was calm on thursday ahead of the eagerly anticipated world heavyweight title rematch in las vegas. after their controversial draw in 2018, the two meet again on saturday. with the weigh in not until friday, it's been quiter than usual — but not for our reporter ade adedoyin. it was a rest day for both fighters from media activity so another opportunity to hear from the legends of the sport that have come to vegas over the last few days. lennox lewis who held the undisputed heavyweight title, the last man to hold all major belts on the sport, he is here. he believes, david hey, that the power for here. he believes, david hey, that the powerfor wilder will here. he believes, david hey, that the power for wilder will be the difference tween the two men and he suspects wilder will when the fight ina suspects wilder will when the fight in a late stoppage. as for lennox lewis he says it is a difficult

fight to call but he believes that the fight will live up to the hype. i think it will be an unbelievable fight. if tyson fury comes out and says he wants to try and knock him out in the first few rounds he will probably try. he is a type of guy to do that. but if that does not work for him then he will resort back to boxing and we will see tyson moving around and doing all kinds of different things and leading with a jaba bit different things and leading with a jab a bit more. wilder or fury? i can't say. i cannot say. it really depends on the strategy of both fighters. both corners are great, the strategy in both corners, being able to advise each boxer and for the boxer to listen. lennox lewis on the boxer to listen. lennox lewis on the fence there. as for the weigh in on friday there will be a little bit ofa on friday there will be a little bit of a difference there. the nevada

state athletic commission have barred the head to head shot so you will not fighters coming close together. they say they do not want any shenanigans like we saw a at the final press conference where both fighters were pushing each other, they say that is not the image they wa nt to they say that is not the image they want to project of the sport. it is highly unusual but a preventative measure to make sure the fight goes through as planned with no injury to any fighter. what i suspect is a raucous atmosphere because the arena whether fighters held we expect a few thousand fans to be shoehorned in and the majority of them will be fanciful fury. british fans have travelled here over the last few days so it could be a lively atmosphere. for the fighters they will just be atmosphere. for the fighters they willjust be glad to get all the media activities out of the way and then focus on what is the biggest night of the year so far. golf next and rory mcilroy leads after the first round of the wgc—mexico championship. the first world golf championship event of the year. after slipping from final day contention in los angeles on sunday, world number one mcilroy made five birdies and an eagle to sit on six under par — that's two shots clear

of bubba watson and justin thomas. thomas is chasing a third win of the season to extend his lead in the fed ex cup standings. watson has two top ten finishes in his last three events and two birdies on the back nine helped him into a share of second. behind the top three, there are four players a further shot back on 3—under—par — incuding the former 0pen champion louis 0osthuizen. not such a good day for adam scott — who's bidding for back—to—back tour wins following his victory in los angeles last week. he's 9 shots off the lead at 3—over—par, while the defending champion dustinjohnson is a further two shots back after carding a 5—over—par 76. let's return to tennis — where americanjennifer brady said she wasn't feeling her best — despite knocking out garbine muguruza to reach herfirst premier wta semi final at the dubai championship.

the number 9 seed from spain — who reached the australian 0pen final last month — was beaten in three sets by the qualifer brady. the world number 52 came from a set down to win — taking the deciding set 6—4. it's the third straight top 20 player that brady has beaten in dubai. brady will now face the simona halep in the last four. the top seed came from a set down for the second day in a row — beating aryna sa balenka. the 2015 champion actually beat brady in the first round of the australian open and thinks it's going to be a tough against a player with lots of confidence. in the other half of the draw, the number 2 seed karolina pliskova is out, she was beaten in straight sets by elena rybakina. the world number 19 from kazakhstan won 7—6, 6—3, and she'll face petra martic next. just time to update you from wellington. day one of the first test between new zealand and india.

india are currently on 95/11. from all of us at the bbc sport centre. thanks for watching. see you next time. hello there. the weather is staying unsettled to end the week and indeed into the weekend we have got more rain at times, also some strong winds, thanks to an active jetstream bringing areas of low pressure in. for friday, it's going to be a very windy day, and most of the rain would be across western hills, across the northern half of the country. here it is on the pressure charts. you can see lots of isobars across the country, so it will be windy and these weather fronts bringing outbreaks of rain to parts of northern ireland, particularly western northern ireland, into western scotland, north—west england and, at times, into northern and western wales. further south and east, it should be drier and brighter but a very blustery day for all. those winds gusting 30—110 miles an hourfor many.

parts of south—east scotland, east of the pennines, could see gusts around 60 miles a hour so these, in their own right, could cause some transport issues. temperature wise, though, milder than what it was on thursday. temperatures 10—12 degrees. now, as we head through friday night, it stays wet across western hills in the north, but it looks like some of that rain will start to push a little bit further southwards, so affecting parts of south—west england and in towards wales. of course, anymore rainfall here is extremely unwelcome. lots of showers piling into scotland. temperatures falling here so they'll be wintry on the hills. but it will be milder across the south. that weather front pushes its way southwards and eastwards into saturday, bringing an unwelcome band of rain there, but further north, it stays very windy indeed. a real squeeze in the isobars there and there will be lots of showers. these piling into much of scotland, some heavy with hail, thunder, and also settling snow on the hills and maybe some blizzard conditions as well with the strength of the winds. further south, rather cloudy, outbreaks of rain, mainly towards the west but it will be another mild day in the south — 11—14 degrees, but

colder further north. and then as we move through saturday night, this next feature runs into england and wales which could bring a spell of unwelcome rain once again. further north, it will be quite windy with further showers but at least the good news is, through sunday, that rain should clear away quite quickly and then skies brighten up quite nicely, with plenty of sunshine around, so a welcome day of drier and brighter weather but it will feel a bit colder. that settled spell of weather, thanks to this ridge of high pressure, will be short—lived because, across the atlantic, we will see the next very deep area of low pressure moving in on monday. pushing towards the north of the uk to bring a spell of severe gales and further rain at times. so with more rain in the forecast for the next few days, flooding could be a further issue so just head on line to the bbc weather website to check out the weather and flood warnings.

welcome to bbc news, my name's mike embley. our top stories: tens of thousands of germans attend vigils for the 9 people murdered by a far—right extremist. donald trump's former adviser gets a three year sentence for lying to congress, but the president is already talking about a pardon. an exclusive report, how a prisoner and her guard fled north korea. they tell us about their remarkable escape. and we speak to the actor daniel radcliffe about his new film, based on a true story of political prisoners in apartheid south africa.