The sporting weekend in pictures

PA Wire

There were tears at the O2 in London as Roger Federer played his final professional tennis match in a Laver Cup doubles defeat alongside long-time rival Rafael Nadal.

It was a more joyous occasion elsewhere over the weekend as St Helens secured a historic fourth successive Grand Final triumph to rubber-stamp their status as the most successful team in the Super League era after a 24-12 victory over Leeds.

There were mixed fortunes for the home nations on the international football front, while both the men’s and women’s cricket teams endured narrow defeats.

Here, the PA news agency looks at the sporting weekend in pictures:

Roger Federer’s retirement from tennis ended in defeat as he and Rafael Nadal lost their Laver Cup doubles match at the O2 Arena in London (John Walton/PA) (PA Wire)

St Helens won an historic fourth successive Grand Final after a 24-12 victory over Leeds (Richard Sellers/PA) (PA Wire)

Wales were relegated from the top tier of the Nations League after defeat at home to Poland (Mike Egerton/PA) (PA Wire)

Scotland came from behind to beat the Republic of Ireland 2-1 in their Nations League match at Hampden Park (Andrew Milligan/PA) (PA Wire)

England lost a roller-coaster fourth Twenty20 international after Reece Topley was run out with four runs required for victory (Anjum Naveed/AP) (AP)

Deepti Sharma’s controversial run out of non-striker Charlie Dean gave India a 3-0 ODI series victory (Steven Paston/PA) (PA Wire)

Arsenal made it two wins from two in the Women’s Super League with a north London derby win over Tottenham in front of a record 47,367 crowd (Rhianna Chadwick/PA) (PA Wire)

Emma Raducanu missed out on a place in the final of the Korea Open due to injury (Ahn Young-joon/AP) (AP)

Joe Joyce (right) stopped Joseph Parker in the 11th round to claim the vacant WBO interim heavyweight title at Manchester’s AO Arena (Ian Hodgson/PA) (PA Wire)

Italian Guido Migliozzi produced a course record-equalling 62 to win the Open de France (AP Photo/Michel Euler) (AP)