Morning mail: children head back to school, Nadal breaks grand-slam record, Russia faces ‘mother of all sanctions’

Monday: Rafael Nadal defeats Daniil Medvedev in five-hour epic to win Australian Open. Plus: how can the school system offer world-class education for all?

Good morning. For many families and teachers in New South Wales and Victoria, this week is off to an anxious start as children return to school amid the ongoing Omicron outbreak, which over the weekend saw NSW recorded its deadliest day, with 52 deaths, and four confirmed cases of the Omicron subvariant son of Omicron". There were also plenty of celebrations over the weekend ahead of the luna new year.

Rafael Nadal has made history and claimed his record-breaking 21st-grand-slam titles at the Australia Open after an epic five-and-a-half-hour battle against Daniil Medvedev. From two sets down, Nadal somehow recovered to defeat Medvedev 2-6, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4, 7-5. Nadal now takes sole ownership of the all-time record, breaking his tie of 20 with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. Without a doubt it's been one of the most emotional moments in my tennis career ... One month and a half ago I said maybe there was a chance that's going to be my last Australian Open ... but now that's plenty of energy to keep going," Nadal said post-match. Nadal's win follows Australian Ash Barty's historic defeat of Danielle Collins 6-3 7-6 (2) - the first Australian to win an Australian Open singles title since Chris O'Neil in 1978, and her third grand-slam win.