ATP Finals 2019: The battle for world No1 ranking and four more things to watch at the O2 this week November 10, 2019 Winning the final and biggest ATP Tour event of the year will be enough motivation for the eight taking centre stage at London’s O2 Arena this week, but for Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic the world No1 spot is also on the line. Nadal currently leads Djokovic in the rankings by 640 points, but the [...]
The Aeronauts film review: Felicity Jones shines in this good old-fashioned adventure November 8, 2019 A template is emerging for films starring Eddie Redmayne, and The Aeronauts fits it. It’s a period piece (in this case, the 1860s), everyone is endearingly upper-class, and proceedings are dominated at all times by an overriding sense of whimsy. It is based on the true Victorian adventure story of scientist James Glaisher (Redmayne) and [...]
Eddie Jones has enriched English rugby but the RFU should try and hire Steve Hansen November 7, 2019 Firstly, I want to hold my hands up: I called the Rugby World Cup final completely wrong. I have rewatched the match since to try to make sense of it, and although Kyle Sinckler’s early injury helped give South Africa the ascendancy in the scrum, it was far from the biggest factor in England’s 32-12 [...]
Revealed: How Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes retained their Formula One titles but kept a lid on costs November 7, 2019 Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team has become the only outfit in the past decade to win the Formula One championship without increasing its spending by more than £1m. Hamilton steered his Mercedes to a sixth title at last weekend’s US Grand Prix despite the team’s costs only increasing by £0.9m to £321.5m, analysis of company accounts [...]
Red Star Belgrade 0-4 Tottenham: Spurs banish their demons with another rout of Serbian side November 6, 2019 Last month’s seven-goal thrashing by Bayern Munich suddenly feels a long time ago for Tottenham. Back-to-back Champions League wins over Red Star Belgrade with an aggregate score line of 9-0 has gone a long way to banishing the ghosts of Bayern, leaving Spurs four points clear of the Serbian side in Group B’s second place. [...]
England’s experienced players need to step up in New Zealand to allow youngsters time to develop November 6, 2019 I think England‘s inexperience has shown as they have lost the last two Twenty20 internationals in New Zealand to slip 2-1 behind in the five-match series. Six players went on the tour without a cap to their name and all of them played the most recent game on Tuesday, which England conspired to lose when [...]
Rugby World Cup: Why the legacy of Japan’s tournament will live on November 6, 2019 The Rugby World Cup may have ended without the ultimate prize for England last weekend but the tournament itself created winners beyond those in the triumphant South Africa camp. The decision to choose Japan as host nation, ahead of bids from Italy and the eventual winners, appeared bold back in 2009. With the benefit of [...]
Chelsea 4-4 Ajax: Fans get their money’s worth in relentless, epic clash at Stamford Bridge November 5, 2019 There’s rarely a dull moment with Chelsea at the moment, but even so tonight’s Champions League match against Ajax was scarcely believable. Frank Lampard’s exciting, exuberant and confident side only added one point to their total in Group H, yet fans certainly got their money’s worth at Stamford Bridge. The fast-paced nature of the match [...]
VAR has not helped the Premier League at all – but here is a how it can be fixed November 5, 2019 We all want to see the correct decisions being made and that is why video assistant referees were introduced but their implementation doesn’t seem to have been thought through. The introduction of VAR to the Premier League this season has not advanced the game at all but with every passing week has instead created more [...]
23 Capital: Meet the London-based finance company behind Barcelona’s signing of Antoine Griezmann and Atletico Madrid’s deal for Joao Felix November 5, 2019 Football’s two biggest deals of the summer transfer window had something in common, and not just that Atletico Madrid was either the buying or selling club. The other unifying factor in the signings of £113m Portuguese sensation Joao Felix and £108m France forward Antoine Griezmann was the involvement of financing from London-based 23 Capital on [...]