As crazy as it sounds, Rooney's our best role model
Posted by Ben Blackmore on 31/01/2010
Unsurprisingly, all of Sunday’s media attention centred on John Terry, who has become public enemy number one to everybody apart from Tiger Woods, who may just have found a new best friend in the England star. The Daily Mail’s Piers Morgan probably has the best stab at unravelling Terry’s misdemeanours with Wayne Bridge’s better half, first by summing up why the England captain must relinquish his armband, and then by suggesting who should take it off him.
John Terry is finished as England captain. You can fight, booze, womanise and be photographed standing naked on top of London’s Millennium Eye singing ‘Ave Maria’ and still keep the biggest job in football. But bed a team-mate’s partner and it all gets a little too tricky. You can’t dip your pen in company ink and retain authority.Picture the scene: last five minutes of a World Cup semi-final against Brazil in June, it’s 1-1, a player goes down injured and Terry calls his boys together for one last great rallying cry.
‘Lads, we’ve got to stick together, dig deep, stay close, trust each other, stay loyal...’
To which Wayne Bridge snorts in disbelief, shouts ‘You hypocritical, lying, cheating *******’, and smacks him on the nose.
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Captain contradiction
Posted by Jo Carter on 30/01/2010
Friday's court ruling unlocked the floodgates with England captain John Terry making the front pages of Saturday's tabloids as well as the back. But as Oliver Kay writes in The Times, it leaves Fabio Capello with a tough decision to make.
The question, after Terry failed yesterday in an attempt to keep the latest allegations about his private life out of the public spotlight, is whether his position as England captain is now untenable. In theory, the answer should lie with one man, Capello, but the reality of modern Britain is that the public and media will have a big say: is this the man we want to be leading England into the World Cup finals and — although this remains a long shot — getting his hands on the trophy first if the team emerge triumphant in Johannesburg on July 11? Well, is he?
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The prop who admits to being scared
Posted by Ben Blackmore on 29/01/2010
Undoubtedly the most insightful article of Friday’s newspapers comes from the Independent, which features a Brian Viner interview with Wales prop Adam Jones. Props aren’t like your average sportsman, they don’t crave the limelight like your Cristiano Ronaldos or even your Danny Ciprianis of this world, although they do often crave the odd beer like Ricky Hatton. Jones is guaranteed to be an integral part of Wales’ opening Six Nations match against England, but he admits to being a little scared of such big games, like the Ospreys’ recent victory over Leicester...
The funny thing was that I'd been struggling for confidence all last week, because the year before against Leicester I'd had a nightmare, a really hard day at the office. If you ask my fiancée she'll tell you how nervous I was. Scared, if you want. Scared of being embarrassed. I thought if I got hammered again then people might think the Lions tour was a fluke.
The prospect of facing England must be one of the scariest prospects on offer for the straggly-haired front row then? Viner puts that exact question to his subject.
A few years ago it was, but maybe not anymore.
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Rooney silences high-profile critic
Posted by Josh Williams on 28/01/2010
Is there anything more satisfying then proving a doubter wrong? After Real Madrid's director general Jorge Valdano said that Wayne Rooney, and English players generally, could not adapt to any competition outside the Premier League, the England striker lit up an ill-tempered Carling Cup semi-final between Manchester United and Manchester City. Rooney's late strike meant that City suffered an injury-time Old Trafford defeat for the second time this season, and his performance provoked plaudits from Richard Williams in the Guardian:
No United player, however, gave more than Rooney, perhaps as a result of the slighting remark uttered this week by Jorge Valdano, Real Madrid's director general. "Rooney is English and we all know they find it difficult to adapt to another type of competition other than the Premier League," he said, responding to rumours of his club's interest in the player.
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Hollywood Haye in danger
Posted by Ben Blackmore on 27/01/2010
 David Haye celebrates after defeating Nikolai Valuev |
David Haye is putting the excitement factor back into boxing (who didn’t enjoy watching him dance around that giant statue in Germany?) but Jeff Powell has some concerns in the Daily Mail. Powell has seen fame destroy the best of them over the years, Tyson, Bruno... Grant Bovey. Now the seasoned boxing expert is worried that David “Hayemaker” Haye is about to become David “Hollywood” Haye unless he knuckles down for his April 3 bout with John Ruiz.
Haye is reported to have made more appearances than the stars on these cold, clear nights of midwinter. Britain's world heavyweight champion has hardly missed a ceremony during this awards season and has apparently been sighted at more than enough celebrity bashes to confirm his arrival on the A-list of most desirable guests.Nothing wrong with that. Not of itself. It is not every year that an Englishman reaches up to grasp boxing's supreme prize and this young man from south London would not be human had he not taken time out to celebrate this achievement. Especially since this David slew his Goliath to claim his crown.
But now it is back to business. Starting today if the Hayemaker is not to fall into a trap as old as prize-fighting itself.
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PM wades into debt debate: Football's not Britain's
Posted by Alex Livie on 26/01/2010
You know things are not great in sport when the Prime Minister is wading into the debate over the mounting debt at football clubs. While some would suggest to Gordon Brown that it’s not wise for people in glass houses to throw stones, the man from No. 10 has claimed in the Times that clubs must trim their levels of leverage.
It is an issue for the clubs themselves they have got to deal with this issue. There is an issue here for supporters that, over the last few years, a number of clubs have become highly leveraged and therefore they have far higher levels of debt than the income they are able to generate from footballing activities and the television activities.It is a matter that the clubs themselves have got to be concerned about. In many cases there are very simple ways that they can deal with these problems; in other cases, clubs don’t have the income that is necessary to deal with the leverage that they have.
It’s a worry to supporters and I think the management of football clubs have got to look very seriously at their responsibilities to their supporters, that they have high levels of income from the supporters but the debt levels have been at a leverage level that is too high.
Horse racing embraces a new racetrack on Thursday and it’s not just any racetrack. The Meydan city is opened to the public for the first round of the Maktoum Challenge and this place could be a bit special. It should be, seen as it is estimated to have cost $1.25 billion to construct. At a time of severe financial strife it could be seen as a huge gamble by Sheikh Mohammed, but Greg Wood in the Guardian feels it could be the start of something big.
The point about Meydan, for all the money and effort that has gone into its construction, is that it is not an end in itself. If the form of the last 30 years tells us anything, it is that Sheikh Mohammed not only thinks big, but also long term. He will have a five- and a 10-year plan for Meydan, which will surely envisage it being rather more than just a track to get Frankie and friends sharp for the Guineas meeting.Dubai is not to everyone's taste. It can look and feel like a gaudy veneer on the surface of the desert and, in many respects, it is. But it also has the potential to stage a truly international championship race meeting, at the right time of the year and in the right time zone to attract a truly global audience. And, depending on how this year's Carnival goes, it could be here much sooner than you think.
Ruud not rewarded for his talent
Posted by Alex Livie on 25/01/2010
A new chapter in the career of striker Ruud van Nistelrooy is looming with the Dutchman set for a transfer to Hamburg. There is no doubt that he has made scoring goals a clinical art form, but his career has been blighted by injuries and Sam Wallace in the Independent feels Van Nistelrooy has not picked up the silverware that his talent merits.
As Ruud van Nistelrooy completes the last transfer of his career this week he will surely reflect that, as a striker who has scored so many goals in his career, he has not won as much as his talent deserved.The right man in the right place at the wrong time – the story of Van Nistelrooy's life. At Manchester United he scored 150 goals in 219 games but his five years there fell between two epic eras at the club and all Van Nistelrooy had to show for it was one Premier League medal and one FA Cup winners' medal. Less talented players at Old Trafford have won much more than Van Nistelrooy ever did.
To complain about winning only three league titles in England and Spain might seem ungrateful but the big players measure out their success by the big prizes and Van Nistelrooy never got close to winning the Champions League. He is the competition's second-highest goalscorer of all time and has never been further than the semi-finals.
Arsene Wenger made his standard gambit by shuffling his pack for the FA Cup clash with Stoke. It backfired as Arsenal were beaten and James Lawton of the Independent feels the move could have an impact on their challenge for Premier League and Champions League glory.
It was a self-inflicted wound at a pivotal point of a season of promise in which the FA Cup offered itself as probably Arsenal's best chance of ending the trophy drought of recent years.There was another familiar victim. It was the old tournament itself and any sense that it might not necessarily be doomed to the status of a cup of convenience, somewhere you commit yourself wholeheartedly only when all else is lost.
This was the third successive season in which Arsenal made an inglorious exit which brought heavy questions about their ability to settle down to some serious accumulation of lost glory. In 2008 a brilliant run in the Premiership began to unravel after a humiliating 4-0 thrashing at Old Trafford, one in which, of all people, Nani was able to strut around like some Latin reincarnation of George Best.
Love United, hate the Glazers
Posted by Martin Williamson on 24/01/2010
The on-field glow of a 4-0 rout by Wayne Rooney of Hull City was not enough to overshadow growing unrest among Manchester United fans with the financial “management” of the Glazer family. The news earlier in the week the Americans could take up to £130 million cash out of the club next year if enough lenders sign up for the bond they have launched was not lost on fans who chanted "We love United, we hate the Glazers" for long periods.
In the Observer, Julian Coman writes about a grim future for the club if the Glazers continue unchecked.
Like a footballing Lehman Brothers, England's best-supported club has maintained its outward swagger while being devoured from within by a toxic combination of excessive debt and wildly irresponsible assumptions of future success. Too big to fail? Probably. Too big to go into wholly unnecessary decline? Certainly not. And if United's results turn sub-prime, who will finance the debt, currently standing at £711m?
The silence of Sir Alex Ferguson is also alarming many. But, after all, why should anyone expect a very well-rewarded employee to criticise his bosses?
Ferguson, to the frustration of many, has remained silent on the state of the club's finances. Gary Neville, the veteran full-back and club captain, said last week that the debt and its implications were not an appropriate subject for players to discuss.The business laid itself open to the ruthless exploitation of Glazer, who would analyse the drive for profit and, recklessly, believe that he could do better, at the expense of those who created the value in the first place.
Cup run shows Leeds are back
Posted by Josh Williams on 24/01/2010
Leeds are the surprise package of this season's FA Cup, having followed a 1-0 victory at Old Trafford with a deserved 2-2 draw away to Tottenham in the fourth round. After they suffered a dramatic fall from grace - from a 2001 Champions League semi-final to League One in 2008 - in the first decade of the 21st century, are we now witnessing Leeds' rebirth as a force in English football? Paul Hayward, writing in the Observer, seems to think so:
Beckford is the individual billboard star of this year's FA Cup and Leeds are the big romantic tale in a competition that squeals for our attention in a schedule crammed with Premier League and Champions League drama.The Yorkshire revival is back on course. A draw and two defeats since the Old Trafford ram-raid had broken a sequence of 17 games unbeaten. Coincidence? A fair extrapolation is that the third-round win interfered with the team's ascent. Cup runs often work as a distraction for clubs bent on promotion. Mischievously, some of us wondered whether Simon Grayson's men motored to White Hart Lane thinking the best result would be a hiding.
If so they hid it well, as an early Tottenham onslaught subsided, and the 4,500 travelling fans proclaimed a first-half counter-surge after a torrid opening chapter. "We're not famous any more," sang the Leeds throng, subverting a chant many opposing crowds have tried to tickle them with since they plunged from a Champions League semi-final in 2001 to a league housing Yeovil and Leyton Orient.
Westwood's not in the groove
Posted by Alex Livie on 23/01/2010
Lee Westwood crashed out of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship thanks to a shocking round of 78 in the second round. Barely a couple of months ago he had demolished a top-class field to win the Race to Dubai. In the intervening period the pins have been moved, so to speak, as the rulemakers deemed the old U-shaped grooves - relatively wide and with sharp edges - were giving the players too much spin and outlawed them for professionals. Top players are likely to be able to adapt, but it seems Westwood has taken a little longer than anticipated – writes Peter Dixon in the Times
At the Dubai World Championship at the end of November, Lee Westwood demolished a stellar field with a display so good that it took the breath away. He knew that victory would bring him the inaugural Race to Dubai and he had no intention of playing second fiddle to anybody — and that included his main rival for the title, a young genius by the name of Rory McIlroy.So when Rick Kulacz, a virtual unknown from Australia, moved to the top of the leaderboard yesterday at the Abu Dhabi Championship at the same time that Westwood was packing his bags after missing the cut, it was inevitable that questions would be asked. In particular, what had happened in the intervening weeks?
Westwood admitted that he was rusty after taking a six-week break from the game but had other thoughts on his mind. Namely that he had become the inadvertent victim of a change in the rules.
The rule in question has been exercising the minds of players and equipment suppliers for much of the past year. With fears that clubs were allowing players to generate too much spin, and thus control, from out of the rough, the R&A and the USGA, the game’s rules makers, decided that grooves on the clubs needed to be altered.
The penalty for missing fairways, it was argued, had been neutralised, allowing the long hitters an unfair advantage over shorter hitting, more accurate players. So from January 1, the old U-shaped grooves — relatively wide and with sharp edges — were outlawed for professionals, to be replaced by narrower grooves with rounded edges giving less bite.
While the vast majority of the leading players will be able to adjust to the changes pretty quickly, where Westwood came unstuck was that he had to change all the clubs in his bag and had given himself too little time to familiarise himself with them.
Many of his rivals, Ian Poulter among them, had already been using “conforming” irons towards the end of the year, the exception being their most lofted clubs, the sand irons and lob wedges.
Westwood, who followed up his first round of 69 with one of 78, ended the day on three over par, 15 shots behind Kulacz and 14 adrift of Sergio García, Shane Lowry and Peter Hanson. With four bogeys in the first four holes, he got off to the worst start imaginable and could not get back on track. He reached the turn in 40 and came home in 38. This was not the player we had seen a few weeks earlier.
A refreshing view on Gallas
Posted by Ben Blackmore on 22/01/2010
In a world where a heavy handful of media figures rarely resist the temptation to jump on the bandwagon, it’s refreshing to see Andy Townsend speaking out in his column for the Daily Mail. Ex-pros are welcomed into the media spotlight for one reason, namely, they can provide an insight that regular journalists cannot. So while every other pundit and his dog has been keen not to step out of line in condemning William Gallas’ challenge on Mark Davies, it is good to see Townsend offer an honest view on the situation.
I am not going to condemn William Gallas for the tackle because I have made tons like that myself. Sometimes as a victim you come out of it OK and sometimes you come out of it feeling six studs from your opponent on the top of your foot.
I am glad to hear Mark Davies has not broken anything but Gallas was just late, his feet were not in or around the knee area and he was not trying to fold him in half. It is the sort of tackle that can happen at any given moment in our game and happens every week. He didn't jump in two-footed and he wasn't hideously over the top.In the true sense of sportsmanship you would have liked Gallas to have picked the ball up. But it would be hypocritical of me as an ex-midfield player to condemn someone for that type of challenge.
Move over Mr Murray, Bally's in town
Posted by Alex Livie on 21/01/2010
Andy Murray is in danger of losing his dominance of the Australian Open headlines to a fellow Brit. Her name is Elena Baltacha and in knocking out No.30 seed Kateryna Bondarenko she is doing her best to put the women’s game back on the map. Dinari Safina lies in wait in round three and Baltacha could well go down with a whimper, but for the moment let her revel in the spotlight. Neil Harman of the Times has taken a look into Baltacha’s routine and there is a secret weapon in her camp.
Elena Baltacha does not have a coach in the accepted sense of the word. Nino Severino describes himself as a “project manager” and the aspiration is to make the utmost of what is left of the 26-year-old’s career that has had more stops and starts than the lights at the top of Regent Street. So far, in this Australian Open, the two British No 1s have forfeited a single set in four matches. Andy Murray completed his second straight-sets victory, a 6-1, 6-4, 6-3 cruise against Marc Gicquel, which means that he will meet Florent Serra, another Frenchman, in the third round and, quite possibly, a third in succession, Gaël Monfils, in the last 16. Baltacha’s 6-2, 7-5 thumping of Kateryna Bondarenko, the No 30 seed from Ukraine, leaves her with the fascinating prospect of a duel with Dinara Safina, the world No 2 from Russia, to come next. Baltacha should not reflect too long on the last time Safina met a British No 1 in a grand-slam tournament, last year’s French Open, when Anne Keothavong was dispatched without a game to her name.
Nino Severino is the man driving Baltacha on and he has made it clear that distractions will not be tolerated.
It’s about doing what we can to secure the future for Bally, putting down realistic expectations and keeping her away from people who might mess with her mind because we don’t have all that much time to play with from her career standpoint. She’s not 16, after all. I vet people very close to her, to make sure that she only hears the right things. Just recently I had to ask someone who had been working with her not to come back again; he was becoming too disruptive. We are very careful the way we manage everything around her.
Legend still has an army of fans
Posted by Alex Livie on 20/01/2010
Diego Maradona is rightly classed as one of the greatest players ever to lace up a pair of football boots. His management career, so far, has not hit the same heights. His Argentina limped into the World Cup finals and have been written off by many pundits. Maradona has never been one to conform and South Africa 2010 is the perfect place for him to silence his critics. James Lawton of the Independent met up with the legendary figure and revealed Maradona still has an army of fans.
He may be a walking time bomb but his meaning, here at least, goes beyond a lifetime of a glory so repeatedly threatened by self-destruction. At a vital moment in the progress towards another World Cup, Maradona is a potent reminder of what the great tournament means. It is the enduring glamour of the most magnetic of footballers and, astonishingly when you retrace the turmoil of his last few years, Maradona still carries it with every stride.
Murray's (small) team catch the eye
Posted by Alex Livie on 19/01/2010
Andy Murray made serene progress on day one of the Australian Open, raising hope that he can end Britain’s Grand Slam drought. He claims his focus is on his tennis rather than off-field distractions and Paul Newman in the Independent picked up on the slimmed-down nature of Murray’s entourage.
There have been times when Andy Murray's courtside entourage would have done justice to an American football team. When he grew tired of spending day after day in the company of the garrulous Brad Gilbert, the Scot replaced his coach with a private army of assistants, ranging from physical trainers to friends who doubled up as hitting partners.There were still seven people in Murray's box here yesterday during his 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 victory over South Africa's Kevin Anderson on the opening day of the Australian Open, but they included his mother and her partner and two representatives of his management company. Team Murray was down to Miles Maclagan, his coach, Jez Green, one of his trainers, and Andy Ireland, his physiotherapist.
While people like Alex Corretja, who has played an increasingly important role as a coach, and Matt Little, another member of his fitness staff, will remain part of Murray's entourage, the 22-year-old Scot plans to travel lighter this year.
Benitez losing the faith and KP struggles
Posted by Josh Williams on 15/01/2010
With speculation mounting that Rafa Benitez's tenure as Liverpool manager may be drawing to a close, potential replacements are being mooted. Paul Hayward, writing in the Guardian, considers an immediate ousting of the Spaniard with Kenny Dalglish taking over in a caretaker capacity. Dalglish, writes Hayward, would protect Liverpool's owners from the ire of the Anfield crowd:
At 58, though, [Dalglish] is entitled to feel he's not too decrepit to test his faith that he could still mix it with Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, especially at a club where he is already a deity. There would be no onerous (for the club) five-year contract to tempt Dalglish in from his ceremonial role and his work with the club's best youngsters. It would most likely be an emergency appointment. Yet there would be an obvious appeal to Tom Hicks and George Gillett in hiring a human shield against the mounting fury of the Kop. Shankly's premature departure was never corrected. This time, in the short term, the precipitous resignation of an adored leader might find a happier resolution.
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What is it to be British?
Posted by Ben Blackmore on 14/01/2010
England's rugby union squad announcement on Wednesday confirmed what most of us either already know or refuse to accept, that the nation's best chances of success at world level rest on the talents of 'foreign' players. Kevin Pietersen proves it in cricket, Mike Catt played an integral part in rugby, while the country's flirtations with Manuel Almunia show football is in no great shakes as well. Mick Cleary of The Telegraph takes a look at how Martin Johnson has discarded national pride for this very reason...
What price home-grown talent? What price English distinctiveness? What price development systems for English youngsters? One of the reasons Martin Johnson headed home after representing the All Blacks at colts level was that he felt himself to be first and foremost an Englishman. He takes a more pragmatic view as England manager, as do all international coaches.
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Tennis follows cricket's lead
Posted by Jo Carter on 13/01/2010
As exhausted players call for a the hectic tennis calendar to be reviewed, plans are afoot to create a Tennis World Cup. Designed to be tennis' answer to cricket's Twenty20 format, the plans, writes Neil Harman in The Times, will see a biennial ten-day team tournament with shorter matches and compulsory mid-match substitutions.
The speeding-up of the game and potential controversies as captains alternate their players are among the elements that will appeal to TV companies that are frustrated by the indeterminate length of matches and the youngsters whose attention span is notoriously fickle and who will be more inclined to pick up a racket and play.
Although it is not the first time a world cup concept has been put forward, the excitement surrounding the ideas are building, with top players including Andy Murray backing the plans. It is time, says Harman for a traditionally conservative sport to embrace the future and follow cricket's lead.
Tennis has a chance to seize the moment and be inspired. Rather than cling to the old tenets, it has to be moved by new ones. One can imagine the obstacles being built because, as anyone who has tried to bring change to the sport knows only too well, behind one committee that sees the light, there are several more that do not want to imperil their positions of authority.
Meanwhile, as Sol Campbell completed 45 minutes for Arsenal reserves on Tuesday night, his former team-mate Martin Keown is now tipping him for a place in Fabio Capello's World Cup squad. Arsene Wenger would not be interested in him if he didn't think he was fit enough to play in the Premier League, writes Keown in The Daily Mail.
I was still playing when I was 37 in the team that went unbeaten and I’m quite proud of playing at that age. Arsene Wenger has been around the likes of me, Steve Bould and Tony Adams, who all played to a ripe old age. He won’t be frightened by Sol’s age.Sol will want to get into the side and then try to break into the England team. He’ll want to prove he is the best in his position. Usually if you make it into the Arsenal, Manchester United or Chelsea team, you’re very close to breaking into the England squad.
Love the key to World Cup glory
Posted by Alex Livie on 12/01/2010
Britain’s Got Talent legend Amanda Holden is proving her versatility by delving into the world of football and in her column in the News of the World she has got the perfect idea for how England can win the World Cup: love and harmony.
I predict big love for my friend The One Show's Christine Bleakley and Chelsea footballer Frank Lampard. They've been avoiding the paparazzi but if they go public with their romance they'll be surprised how much easier life becomes. Christine's good for Lamps because she's not impressed by a footballer's glitzy lifestyle. Before we watched Everton play Chelsea recently, Frank asked where she'd be sitting and Christine replied: "I don't know, probably in the fancy seats." Bless her. Christine is refreshingly undemanding so won't be a stress to Frank during the World Cup.
Oh bless, so when Lamps makes a couple of misplaced passes and smashes a penalty against the post in the quarter-final defeat to Portugal we know who not to blame.
Horse racing is a world that the youth of today do not understand, so the British Horseracing Authority believe, hence the recent announcements by Racing For Change (RFC). Groundbreaking insights such as changing odds from fractions to decimals have been put forward to lure the kids to the courses of the UK, but Alan Lee in the Times feels the powers that be will be better served solving the fixture congestion.
The best thing about the first raft of reforms proposed by Racing For Change (RFC) - immaculate timing. Racing folk have had little else to divert them, this past snowy week, so the ten quick fixes unveiled last Monday have stimulated debate to a degree no marketing spin could have achieved. Naturally, this has its downside. An empty stage has been a gift to the loudest mouths at both ends of the spectrum - those to whom utter revolution must happen yesterday and those reduced to a state of shivering fear by the word “change”. There have also been disingenuous responses from some who should know better, condemning these relatively trivial recommendations as if they were the totality of the project, rather than an exploratory toe in the water. Only when the bloated and incoherent fixture list has been addressed can RFC be judged fairly.
Team Robson have a plan
Posted by Alex Livie on 11/01/2010
Laura Robson is making her way up the tennis ladder and emerged from the Hopman Cup with her reputation enhanced. She lost all her singles matches en-route to the final, but hit form against Spain with a stunning win over world No.26 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Team Robson are in no rush to thrust the 15-year-old on to the Tour, but Laura’s mother Kathy clearly has a plan in mind for her daughter as she told the Times.
Laura is a fantastic sportswoman who will only get better if everybody gives her the space to get better and be kind to her. She needs to grow into a woman, she is already 5ft 10½in and has had a little bit of a spurt, so 5ft 11in looks about where she will finish. Fitness is paramount to Laura’s wellbeing and development.It would appear that Robson will use the best available facilities, whether that be in England under the guise of the LTA or over the Channel in France, as her mother has revealed.
We are using the Mouratoglou Academy in Paris for parts of the year because there are three French physical trainers there we absolutely love, especially one of them who comes from a tennis background and knows exactly where he wants to go with Laura.
Of course, we will use the NTC [the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton, southwest London], we have a relationship there. Last year when we were practising on a court next to Andy Roddick, a group of kids came rushing over shouting ‘Laura, Laura’, and Andy, quick as a flash, said, 'Who is she?' And that’s right. Andy Roddick is a hero, Laura is still just a junior player. When she goes to France, she is no one, she trains with other players as part of a great group and she knows how much she needs to improve to match these girls.
The events in Angola where the Togo squad were ambushed and shot at by militants have led to suggestions that the upcoming World Cup could also be targeted by terrorists. Officials from South Africa have played down links with what happened in Angola happening again this summer, but Paul Hayward in the Guardian feels it would be folly to be so dismissive.
With indecent haste, Togo's footballers might feel, the thoughts of richer nations swung quickly from sympathy for the three killed and the others wounded on the bus carrying them to the implications for the global gathering further south, where there is no separatist or terrorist organisation for the authorities to fear but plenty of potential for imported threat. According to the head of South Africa's 2010 World Cup organising committee, Danny Jordaan, those "implications" are no more valid than a bomb going off in Spain would be to a World Cup in England. Geographically this may be true but Jordaan invites us to ignore the reality that this kind of opportunistic violence is now portable. It gets on planes and comes in by land and sea. It follows its targets across frontiers.
South Africa show more bottle
Posted by Martin Williamson on 05/01/2010
The second day of the Cape Town Test was far from dull because the seamers really made the batsmen work hard for their runs and a lot of credit should go to the way the South Africans bowled, writes Michael Atherton in the Times. Makhaya Ntini’s omission helped, but the suspicion remains that this improvement was more to do with South Africa’s sharply honed competitive instincts rising to the fore again in the wake of the embarrassment of Kingsmead.
As well as South Africa fought, England may feel that they had too much of a hand in their own downfall with the bat. The pitch was a little two-paced and South Africa maintained an impressive discipline throughout, but too many batsmen got themselves in and then got themselves out, either through anxiety, overconfidence or a mixture of both.
Neither Alastair Cook nor Ian Bell could produce the decisive innings on the second day but at least they kept England in the game, writes Vic Marks in the Guardian. However both would have been disappointed by their dismissals.
This is proving to be tight and bewitching series. The one way in which England have shown more initiative than their opponents, is when playing the opposition's spinner. They have attacked Harris more purposefully and more successfully than the South Africans have Graeme Swann.
In the Telegraph, Simon Briggs writes that Graeme Smith has responded well to the immense pressure he's under to put the fight back in to South Africa.
Two evenly poised days in Cape Town represent a victory in themselves for the South Africans. The speed, and manner, of their Durban capitulation went against all the qualities – toughness, pride, determination – that this team hold dear. It must have been an awkward task to turn the dressing room around after such a below-par display, even if the omission of Makhaya Ntini solved one of the most glaring problems.
Ian Bell, England's 'pretty boy' has been hampered by familiar failings, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent.
Bell did a whole heap of pretty things. The cover drive with which he got off the mark was matched by a second a few minutes later. But he was not all showy, he was prepared, it seemed, to tough it out. This was Bell's big chance to persuade his critics that they have misjudged him: he has never scored England's only hundred in an innings, indeed he has never scored the first.