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My sporting month: June 2011

June 1, 2011 Leave a comment

With Saturday’s Champions League final in the can, and the Football League promotion playoffs also completed, the football season is finally over – although the transfer window and the current controversy swirling around FIFA will no doubt keep the back pages full over the next few weeks. However, the ‘summer season’ is now well and truly upon us. The month of June includes several traditional summer events, such as Royal Ascot (14th-18th) and the Henley Regatta (which starts on the 29th). But here are five key dates which I’ve marked in my calendar for the month of June.

1. French Open finals (4th & 5th)

The second of tennis’s Grand Slam tournaments concludes next weekend, with the top four men’s seeds still on target to meet in the semi-finals. Defending champion Rafael Nadal is scheduled to meet Andy Murray, while the currently unbeatable Novak Djokovic would take on Roger Federer.

In the women’s draw, however, none of the top three seeds qualified for the quarter-finals – only the third time ever this has happened at a women’s Grand Slam tournament. That has opened up the draw for Maria Sharapova, seeking her first Grand Slam win since the 2008 Australian Open, who could face Belarus’s Victoria Azarenka (at four, the highest-ranked player left in the draw). Meanwhile, home hopes rest on the shoulders of Marion Bartoli, who will face defending champion Francesca Schiavone after the pair won their respective quarter-finals.

2. Critérium du Dauphiné (5th-12th) and Tour de Suisse (11th-19th)

With the Tour de France barely a month away, the Dauphiné and Tour de Suisse are the two key tune-up events in advance of the biggest race of the year. While one shouldn’t read too much into the overall results – last year’s races were won by Janez Brajkovič (RadioShack) and Fränk Schleck (now Leopard-Trek) – the nature of the mountain-heavy courses do provide some clear indications of form ahead of the Tour. Alberto Contador was restrained at the Dauphiné but showed flashes of his trademark acceleration in the mountains, while Andy Schleck tested himself with a couple of stinging attacks in Switzerland.

The Tour de Suisse is perhaps more likely to attract the top sprinters, with three stages looking flat enough to end in bunch gallops (the Dauphiné has two). But expect the top GC contenders to be split more or less evenly across the two, with each race featuring four mountain stages, a prologue and a longer individual time trial to provide a good all-round test. The winner of the Tour de Suisse is likely to have been decided before the closing time trial, whereas the Dauphiné concludes with a tough mountain stage which starts with a Tour favourite, the Col de la Croix de Fer, and finishes on the summit of La Toussuire.

3. Canadian Grand Prix (12th)

On the same weekend as the Le Mans 24 hour, the Canadian Grand Prix has long been a favourite on the Formula 1 calendar. An unforgiving circuit which is notoriously tough on engines, brakes and tyres, it has always been one of the better tracks for overtaking. And with the introduction this year of both the DRS drag reduction system and lower-endurance Pirelli tyres, this year’s event should provide plenty of close racing, overtaking moves and accidents as drivers slither around on worn tyres trying to fend off faster cars behind.

The chasing pack will be desperate to prevent defending world champion Sebastian Vettel – who has won five out of six races already this year – from extending an already commanding 58-point lead. Vettel has never won in Canada before, but Lewis Hamilton took his second victory here last year, and Michael Schumacher (a record seven times) and Fernando Alonso are also previous winners.

4. US Open (16th-19th)

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell had a stunning 2010 season, winning his first major in this tournament at Pebble Beach – the first European to win since Tony Jacklin 40 years previously – and going on to seal the point which won the Ryder Cup for Europe. This year the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland hosts the second major of the year, with McDowell joined by fellow Brits Luke Donald and Lee Westwood, the current top two in golf’s rankings, looking to continue foreign success on American soil after South African Charl Schwartzel won the Masters in April. McDowell’s compatriot Rory McIlroy will also be looking to put his Masters experience behind him, when he shot a disastrous 80 after taking a four-shot lead into the final round.

5. Wimbledon (starts 20th)

For many Britons, this is the unofficial start of summer – and often the cue for two weeks of torrential rain.

The 2010 tournament was arguably most memorable for the world record 11-hour, 183-game match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, which eventually finished 70-68 in Isner’s favour in the fifth set. Ladies’ champion Serena Williams has not played in nearly 11 months, since suffering a foot injury and subsequently undergoing emergency surgery for a blood clot on her lung. She has not yet confirmed whether she will be present to defend her title. Meanwhile, Federer, Djokovic and Murray will all have their eye on unseating defending men’s champion Nadal.

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My sporting month: May 2011

May 1, 2011 3 Comments

The month of May is arguably the most exciting in the sporting calendar in terms of the variety of major events which occur during this period. Of course, most of the major football league titles will be won or lost this month, not to mention the showpiece events of the FA Cup and Champions League finals. But we also have the first of the year’s three cycling Grand Tours, the second tennis Grand Slam event and the two most glamorous dates on the motor racing calendar, which this year take place on the same day to provide an incredible double-header for petrolheads everywhere.

It’s going to be quite a month, so here are my top five events for May.

1. Giro d’Italia (7th-29th)

2010 winner Ivan Basso is unable to defend his title because of injury, but his absence will be amply compensated for by the presence of 2008 champion and three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador (currently racing despite being the subject of a combined UCI/WADA appeal into a positive doping test at last July’s Tour). With eight mountain-top finishes in its 21 stages – including the climb of the active volcano Mount Etna – this year’s route is one of the most gruelling ever and is sure to result in spectacular and unpredictable racing. The Tour de France may be the most prestigious cycling race on the 2011 calendar, but the Giro d’Italia looks set to be the most punishing.

2. Manchester United vs Chelsea (8th)

Arsenal‘s win over Manchester United earlier today threw the Premier League title race open again. Although United remain favourites for an unprecedented 19th championship, a win by Chelsea at Old Trafford will move them to the top of the table on goal difference, with Arsenal potentially three points back ready to pounce on any further slip-ups. It’s a big if, but it really is that close.

3. French Open tennis (starts 23rd)

Rafael Nadal will arrive at Roland Garros in search of a win which would move him up alongside Björn Borg as the only six-time winner in the Open era. (Only Max Decugis, who claimed eight French titles between 1903 and 1914, has won more.) But the imperious Spaniard will face stiff competition, particularly from Novak Djokovic, who has been unbeatable so far in 2011 and has won his last 29 singles matches.

In the ladies’ competition, world number four Francesca Schiavone will seek to defend her title, the only one she has ever won in either a Grand Slam or a WTA Tour event. Already in 2011 she has reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open for the first time in her career, a run which included a 4 hour 44 minute victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova, the longest ladies’ singles match at any Grand Slam tournament in the Open era.

4. Champions League final (28th)

With both Manchester United and Barcelona holding 2-0 leads from last week’s away legs against Schalke 04 and Real Madrid, it appears likely that these two teams will meet in the final at Wembley at the end of the month, in what would be a repeat of the 1991 Cup Winners’ Cup final (which United won 2-1). It is only the second time the final will be held on a Saturday (as opposed to its previous midweek date), and a United vs Barça showdown would result in the winner lifting the trophy for the fourth time in their history. Even as an Arsenal fan who has a plethora of reasons to dislike both clubs, it’s a mouth-watering prospect.

5. Monaco Grand Prix and Indianapolis 500 (29th)

Although it is in many ways Formula 1‘s most boring race – overtaking on the narrow twists and turns of the principality is nigh on impossible – Monaco remains the most glamorous race on the calendar, with many of the temporary circuit’s landmarks – Casino Square, Loews hairpin, the tunnel – instantly familiar to even the most casual of fans. Defending champion and current championship leader Sebasitan Vettel has never won here, although last year his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber took the chequered flag. Michael Schumacher, a far less likely winner, would also dearly love to claim a win on the streets of Monaco which would move him level with Ayrton Senna as the only six-time winner of the event.

Later in the day, the fabled Brickyard at Indianapolis will host the 100th anniversary edition of the Indy 500, with two-time Scottish winner Dario Franchitti seeking to complete a hat-trick. Last year fellow Briton Mike Conway suffered a spectacular crash (see below) on the final lap in which he was fortunate to escape with only a broken leg. Conway will return to Indianapolis for the first time since then, having already won once in 2011.

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The week in numbers: w/e 23/1/11

January 24, 2011 3 Comments

Southee's five-wicket haul steered NZ to victory over Pakistan

11 – New Zealand ended their 11-match losing run in one-day internationals as they crushed Pakistan by nine wickets in Wellington. Seamer Tim Southee took 5/33, the best ever bowling figures by a Kiwi bowler in ODIs against Pakistan.

14 - Barcelona equalled their club record of 14 straight La Liga wins with a 3-0 defeat of Racing Santander on Saturday evening.

5 – Including Wednesday’s 3-1 win at Elland Road, the last five times Arsenal and Leeds have been drawn together in the FA Cup, the eventual winner of the tie has triumphed on their opponent’s turf.

2 – Winning margin in seconds for Cameron Meyer in cycling’s Tour Down Under after nearly 18 hours of racing.

23 – Age of HTC-Highroad cyclist Carla Swart, who was killed in a collision with a lorry while on a training ride in South Africa.

Safina failed to win a single game against Clijsters (image courtesy of dinarasafina.com)

1 – Dinara Safina became the first former world number one in Open era history to suffer a double bagel (6-0 6-0) defeat at a Grand Slam, losing to Kim Clijsters in the first round at the Australian Open.

8 – Rafael Nadal beat Bernard Tomic in straight sets, ensuring that all of the top eight seeds qualified for the last 16. This has only happened at the tournament twice before in the Open area (1985 and 2009).

284 - Francesca Schiavone beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 1-6 16-14 in their last-16 match. At 284 minutes, it was the longest women’ singles match at a Grand Slam tournament in the Open era.

1 – Northampton were the only team to finish the Heineken Cup group phase with a perfect record of six wins from six games. Toulouse were denied a 100% record when David Lemi‘s last-minute try gave London Wasps a 21-16 win.

The Premier League week in numbers

Van Persie scored his first hat-trick in English football (image courtesy of arsenal.com)

1 – Robin van Persie scored his first Premier League hat-trick as Arsenal beat Wigan 3-0. He has previously scored twice in a Premier League game on nine occasions.

3 - Dimitar Berbatov‘s hat-trick in Manchester United‘s 5-0 demolition of Birmingham made him only the third man to register three Premier League hat-tricks in the same season. Ruud van Nistelrooy achieved this feat in the 2002/03 season, while Alan Shearer managed it twice, including one season where he scored an incredible five hat-tricks.

10 – Manchester United have now won their last ten home games against Birmingham, having kept ten clean sheets in the process.

11 – Tottenham‘s 1-1 draw at Newcastle means they have failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their 11 league away games this season.

Bent scored on his debut

3 – Darren Bent scored the only goal as Aston Villa defeated Manchester City 1-0. He has now scored on his Premier League debut for Aston Villa, Sunderland and Charlton.

22 – Players from 22 different nationalities (including substitutes) took part in Blackburn‘s 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion, a new Premier League record.

21 – West Brom have now gone 21 consecutive league games without keeping a clean sheet.

The NFL conference championships in numbers

10 – The Green Bay Packers became the tenth different NFC champion in the last ten seasons, as they held off the Chicago Bears 21-14.

2 – The Packers became the second number six (bottom) seed in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl, joining the 2005 Steelers. (If the Jets had won the AFC Championship game, they would have been the third.)

Raji rumbled 18 yards for a key defensive touchdown (image courtesy of packers.com)

3 – B.J. Raji’s 18-yard interception return touchdown was only the third by a defensive tackle in NFL playoff history.

3 – The Bears are the only team since 1970 to have three quarterbacks – starter Jay Cutler, Todd Collins and Caleb Hanie - attempt a pass in a conference championship game.

14 – Number of passes attempted by Hanie in his three-year NFL career prior to last night, when he threw 20 times.

8 – The Pittsburgh Steelers‘ 24-19 win over the New York Jets means they will play in their eighth Super Bowl, tied with Dallas for the most all-time. It will be their third Super Bowl appearance in six years.

0.833 – Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger improved his record as a playoff starter to 10-2. His .833 winning percentage is the second-highest in NFL playoff history (for quarterbacks with 10-plus starts). He trails only Bart Starr (.900).

121 – Rashard Mendenhall‘s 121 rushing yards was the most allowed by the Jets all season.

7 – Conference championship games are generally close affairs. This was the fifth consecutive year both AFC and NFC Championship games were within seven points in the fourth quarter.

(Some statistics courtesy of Opta Sports, The Times, @InfostradaLive, @StatManJon and NFL.com.)

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The week in numbers: w/e 6/6/10

June 7, 2010 Leave a comment

10 – Number of wickets lost by Bangladesh in the final session of the second day of the second Test at Old Trafford, having reached 96/0 at tea. Only ten wickets had been lost in the five preceding sessions.

8 – Bangladesh’s defeats to England at Lord’s and Old Trafford in the last seven days mean they have now lost all eight Test matches between the two countries.

0 – Total number of minutes played at the 2006 and 2010 World Cup finals by Arsenal forward Theo Walcott, who has been the main focus of media attention because of his selection/non-selection for the England squad for both competitions.

28.7 - Average age of England’s World Cup squad, the oldest of the 32 countries in the tournament. (The youngest squad is Ghana, with an average age of 24.1 years.)

23 – Roger Federer‘s quarter-final defeat to Robin Soderling at the French Open ended a streak of 23 consecutive Grand Slam singles tournaments where he had reached at least the semi-final.

97.4% - Win percentage of Rafael Nadal in French Open singles matches (won 38, lost one). His only defeat came at the hands of Soderling, his victim in yesterday’s final, in last year’s fourth round.

0 – Total number of Grand Slam singles titles for the four ladies’ singles semi-finalists at the French Open (Elena Dementieva, Francesca Schiavone, Jelena Jankovic and Sam Stosur) prior to this tournament, guaranteeing the final would be contested by two players seeking their first Grand Slam victory. (Schiavone beat Stosur in straight sets in the final, incidentally.)

351,000,000 – In pounds, the current size of Liverpool FC‘s debt.

16,000,000 – In theory, the amount in pounds due to former manager Rafa Benitez according to the terms of his contract. He is reported to have settled for a £6m severance deal. Nice work if you can get it.

23 – Liverpool scored 23 points fewer (63) in finishing seventh in the 2009/10 Premier League season than they did as runners-up the previous year (86). Coincidentally, they also finished 23 points behind champions Chelsea, having been just four behind Manchester United in 2008/9.

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