Nicki Minaj to headline at Wireless Festival

Nicki Minaj, Avicii and Drake are to headline Wireless Festival this year.

The Anaconda rapper is to take top billing at the annual British music event this summer and will be joined by the other two pop superstars at the three-day music event.

It will be Nicki’s first return to the festival since her appearance on the bill in 2012, while Drake had to pull out of headlining Wireless last year due to illness.

An insider exclusively told BANG Showbiz: “Nicki is going to be the main attraction this year. It’s a real coup, as at the moment, it is her only UK festival appearance. The organisers are hoping she does something really sexy onstage for her British fans. It’s great that Drake is coming back after pulling out last minute in 2014 – while Avicii will bring the dance vibe, and hopefully, drop some of the tracks he has recorded with Madonna.”

Wireless Festival will return to Finsbury Park in London for the second year running, but unlike 2014, it will not be jointly held at Perry Park in Birmingham, following underwhelming ticket sales and disappointing revenues.

The insider added: “Wireless is going back to being just a London festival. The organisers tried to replicate the success of the Reading and Leeds Festivals, but the Birmingham site proved to be a flop, despite having the same acts as the capital city.”

Wireless Festival – which was headlined by Kanye West and Bruno Mars last year – will be held between Friday July 3 and Sunday July 5, and other acts are set to be confirmed in the coming months.

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Nicki Minaj to headline at Wireless Festival

Wozniacki, Venus headline Auckland Classic

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AFP) — Former world number ones Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams headline the Auckland Classic which starts tomorrow in the build-up to the Australian Open.

They are drawn to potentially clash in the final of the tournament, which features five top-30 players two weeks out from the first Grand Slam of the year.

“I think everybody coming into the year wants to start off well and I’m the same,” said Wozniacki, the tournament top seed who has slipped to number eight in the world since dominating the rankings three years ago.

“I just want to try to win as many matches as I can and get a good start to the year.”

Williams, who has not played since illness forced her out of the China Open three months ago, is back inside the world top 20 for the first time since 2010 and declared herself primed for Auckland where she was the beaten finalist last year.

But in the same side of the draw as the 34-year-old American is Italian Sara Errani, seven years her junior, four places higher in the world rankings and who beat her in the third round of the US Open last year.

Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (ranked 25) and two-time Grand Slam champion and former world number two Svetlana Kuznetsova (27) are also in the field.

Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, now down to 75, is also hoping to rekindle her career at the tournament she won in 2010 without dropping a set.

The mild New Zealand summer was an ideal lead-in to the heat of Melbourne for the Australian Open, she said.

“Coming from Europe and spending the winter at home, it’s quite nice to have it be not that hot yet.

“It gets us adapting faster to the weather than going from zero to 40 in one hop, so that’s quite nice.”

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Wozniacki, Venus headline Auckland Classic