The Hong Kong event is Sharapova's only warm-up event before the Australian Open, which begins on 18 January.

BBC: Maria Sharapova sees off battling Zheng Jie

Murray is bidding to become the first Briton to win the pre-Wimbledon warm-up event since Bunny Austin in 1938.

CNN: Injured Roddick misses out on Murray final

Smith smashed the course record by 20 seconds at the warm-up event for next month's big race in the capital.

BBC: SPORT | Athletics | Mason beats Morris on Merseyside

And he'll be particularly disappointed that his defence of the Aegon Championships at Queen's - his only scheduled warm-up event before SW19 - lasted just two matches.

BBC: Andy Murray knows he can win Wimbledon - Tim Henman

Cinemagoers are being encouraged to "pack your flags and warm up your singing voices" ahead of the event on Saturday 8 September.

BBC: Last Night of Proms in 3D cinemas

The event, which is viewed as a warm-up for the Australian Open, will also feature players such as Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams and Justine Henin.

BBC: Andy Murray and Laura Robson set to play in Hopman Cup

The still lifes are a warm-up for the exhibition's main event: four large galleries of landscapes, the best of which give a splendid impression of Van Gogh's mercurial, impassioned genius.

WSJ: Vincent Van Gogh Up Close | Philadelphia Museum of Art | A Matter of Perspective | By Jonathan Lopez

There was none in Indianapolis, a city that may have been an atypical choice for a Super Bowl but ran an organized, efficient event (and unlike ice-buried Dallas in 2010, had the fortune of unseasonably warm weather).

WSJ: Super Bowl XLVI: Giants Take a Victory Lap That No One Expected