When the idea of Wimbledon adopting a heat policy was raised - jocularly at first - the incongruity was not lost on the All England Club. But while people used to get hot under the collar when watching Tim Henman, the supporters could be overheating for real.
As they pored over the evidence from Sunday's test event, the authorities would have noted that, with the Centre Court roof tightly shut, it does get a bit toasty in there. “The plan was to replicate a decent summer's day,” Ian Ritchie, the chief executive, said. “What you don't want is air-conditioning systems that blast out huge amounts of cold air and everyone is freezing. We were aware that it was warm and there is flexibility as to the temperatures we can set.”
Ritchie pointed out that it was a chill, showery day - “exactly what we wanted to test everything out” - and most of the 15,000 spectators had brought overcoats, just in case the roof sprang a leak.
In late June, when the sun is higher in the sky, the patrons will dress accordingly. But it would be another Wimbledon milestone should the principal complaint of those on Centre Court on a rainy day be that their clothes had stuck to the new, wider padded seats.
That aside, there was nothing but relief and contentment, with the surface behaving a treat, the roof closing a couple of minutes quicker than the ten-minute estimate and the players united in their belief that the roof will enhance, not detract from, the quality of the sport.
“To tell you the truth, I was a little concerned,” said Andre Agassi, the 1992 champion, who participated in Sunday's celebration with Steffi Graf, his wife. “I don't move as well as I used to, but I didn't slip once, the court had a very solid feel to it and the acoustics were really magnificent. I believe we shall see some spectacular tennis on the Centre Court at future Wimbledons because the players will know that they can count on the conditions when the roof is closed.”
A couple of pigeons found their escape route blocked when the cover was drawn - the same happens at the Australian Open as birds wonder where the sky went - but as Ritchie said there is little that anyone can do until it is opened again. “We are not here this morning looking at the need for major remedies,” he said. “We needed to have this event when we did in case we needed time to adjust anything but all went as well as we could have hoped. Eddie Seaward, our head groundsman, was delighted with the state of the court and that was always the most important thing.”
Maria Sharapova, the former world No1, made a winning return to singles competition yesterday after nine and a half months out with a shoulder injury. The Russian, whose ranking has slipped to No126, beat Tathiana Garbin, of Italy, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 in the first round of the Warsaw Open. Anne Keothavong, the British No1, joined Sharapova in round two after beating Bethanie Mattek-Sands, the American, 6-2, 7-6.
Source:The times
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Amateur holds nerve to thrill home crowd
Hopes for a home winner were high when the 3 Irish Open got under way last week, but few would have bet that a 22-year-old amateur by the name of Shane Lowry would be the man proudly flying the tricolor come the end of the tournament at the County Louth club, north of Dublin yesterday.
But that is how things unfolded, Lowry stealing the thunder of his more illustrious countrymen - among them Padraig Harrington, who missed the cut - to win his national championship at the third hole of a sudden-death play-off with Robert Rock, of England.
In his first professional tournament, Lowry became only the third amateur to win an event on the European Tour - the others were Pablo Martin, in 2007, and Danny Lee, this year - and now has to decide whether to turn professional immediately or wait until he has played for Britain and Ireland against the United States in the Walker Cup in September.
Either way, when he decides to join the paid ranks, the Irishman will already have earned himself automatic playing rights on the tour for the next two years and saved himself the agony of a trip to Qualifying School. As he is an amateur, the first prize of about £440,000 found its way into Rock's pockets, rather than his, but the smile plastered to his face suggested that he could not give a jot about the money. If he turns professional straight away, he can play in the BMW Championship, the tour's flagship event, at Wentworth this week. The lure will be incredibly strong.
It would be fair to say that Lowry had put the thousands of followers who swarmed down and over the fairways through the odd moment of agony, but in the end he emerged a worthy champion. He could, and should, have wrapped up victory in regulation play when he had a putt of less than four feet at the 72nd hole, but he got ahead of himself on his walk to the green, raising his arms in acknowledgement of the cheers and the victory he assumed was his.
A little while later he was standing there, bent over and with his head in his hands, shocked that he had missed what, in footballing terms, was a sitter. It opened the door for Rock, who had a birdie putt for victory at the first play-off hole, but missed. The second was “shared” in five and the third was won by Lowry when the Englishman missed a seven-foot putt for par that would have taken them back to the 18th tee for a fourth time.
Among those on hand to congratulate Lowry was Rory McIlroy, who put his arm around him after he had missed the “winning” putt in regulation play and told him, “Hang in there. You are still going to win.” And at the end it was McIlroy who led the celebrations by spraying the victor with champagne and whispering in his ear that it was time to turn pro. “He's got nothing left to prove and will learn much more out here than in the amateur ranks,” he said.
“I feel shock more than anything,” Lowry said. “I got an invitation to play and [being] my first tour event, I would have been happy enough to make the cut. But then I went out and shot 62 [in the second round] on Friday and I thought, 'Right, this is my week. I can win.' I still can't believe it.”
At the start of the final round, Lowry shared the lead with Rock, on 16 under par, two shots ahead of Johan Edfors, their playing partner. He fell two shots behind after dropping a shot at the 11th, but after getting birdies at the 14th and 16th holes, he led by one, only for Rock to draw level with a birdie of his own at the 17th. Both settled for rounds of 71, and 17 under-par totals of 271, before setting off for their shoot-out in torrential rain. But in the end, Rock was denied the chance to rain on the local hero's parade.
“It's absolutely unbelievable what Shane has done,” Rock said. “I'm so happy for him.”
Source:The times
But that is how things unfolded, Lowry stealing the thunder of his more illustrious countrymen - among them Padraig Harrington, who missed the cut - to win his national championship at the third hole of a sudden-death play-off with Robert Rock, of England.
In his first professional tournament, Lowry became only the third amateur to win an event on the European Tour - the others were Pablo Martin, in 2007, and Danny Lee, this year - and now has to decide whether to turn professional immediately or wait until he has played for Britain and Ireland against the United States in the Walker Cup in September.
Either way, when he decides to join the paid ranks, the Irishman will already have earned himself automatic playing rights on the tour for the next two years and saved himself the agony of a trip to Qualifying School. As he is an amateur, the first prize of about £440,000 found its way into Rock's pockets, rather than his, but the smile plastered to his face suggested that he could not give a jot about the money. If he turns professional straight away, he can play in the BMW Championship, the tour's flagship event, at Wentworth this week. The lure will be incredibly strong.
It would be fair to say that Lowry had put the thousands of followers who swarmed down and over the fairways through the odd moment of agony, but in the end he emerged a worthy champion. He could, and should, have wrapped up victory in regulation play when he had a putt of less than four feet at the 72nd hole, but he got ahead of himself on his walk to the green, raising his arms in acknowledgement of the cheers and the victory he assumed was his.
A little while later he was standing there, bent over and with his head in his hands, shocked that he had missed what, in footballing terms, was a sitter. It opened the door for Rock, who had a birdie putt for victory at the first play-off hole, but missed. The second was “shared” in five and the third was won by Lowry when the Englishman missed a seven-foot putt for par that would have taken them back to the 18th tee for a fourth time.
Among those on hand to congratulate Lowry was Rory McIlroy, who put his arm around him after he had missed the “winning” putt in regulation play and told him, “Hang in there. You are still going to win.” And at the end it was McIlroy who led the celebrations by spraying the victor with champagne and whispering in his ear that it was time to turn pro. “He's got nothing left to prove and will learn much more out here than in the amateur ranks,” he said.
“I feel shock more than anything,” Lowry said. “I got an invitation to play and [being] my first tour event, I would have been happy enough to make the cut. But then I went out and shot 62 [in the second round] on Friday and I thought, 'Right, this is my week. I can win.' I still can't believe it.”
At the start of the final round, Lowry shared the lead with Rock, on 16 under par, two shots ahead of Johan Edfors, their playing partner. He fell two shots behind after dropping a shot at the 11th, but after getting birdies at the 14th and 16th holes, he led by one, only for Rock to draw level with a birdie of his own at the 17th. Both settled for rounds of 71, and 17 under-par totals of 271, before setting off for their shoot-out in torrential rain. But in the end, Rock was denied the chance to rain on the local hero's parade.
“It's absolutely unbelievable what Shane has done,” Rock said. “I'm so happy for him.”
Source:The times
Ferrari must play fair or go
Of one thing we can be sure. Formula One is desperately in need of new management. The present crisis in the sport, over an attempt by the FIA to introduce budget capping on the teams, has incidentally revealed details of a secret agreement it holds with Ferrari that should have no place in any professional sport.
Everyone has known for years that Ferrari, who are tomorrow launching a legal action in Paris against the governing body to try to stop the budget cap, has special treatment in Formula One. The Italian luxury sports car manufacturer is regarded by both Bernie Ecclestone, the sport's commercial rights-holder and Max Mosley, the FIA president, as the goose that lays Formula One's golden eggs, giving the championship a touch of class, glamour and historical continuity.
It is for this reason that when the Scuderia wins the manufacturers' world championship it is paid £55 million more than any other team, something that would be utterly untenable in any other sport.
Imagine Chelsea having a special deal with the FA under which they were paid tens of millions of pounds more than Manchester United or Arsenal for winning the Premier League - the notion would be laughed out of court.
Over the last two weeks, however, another more secret deal in Ferrari's favour has emerged in the course of the budget-capping row, but this time it is not with Ecclestone, but with the FIA. It appears that when the Italian team abandoned a breakaway move in 2004-05 by team bosses fed up with being starved of income by Ecclestone and returned to the FIA fold, not only did Ecclestone agree special financial arrangements for them, Mosley agreed to Ferrari having an exclusive veto over changes to the technical rules in the sport.
In other words, Ferrari would be able to stop anything they did not like or changes which they might suspect could be advantageous to their competitors or moves in technical directions which either did not suit their cars or the abilities of their designers and engineers. Ferrari could thus decide exactly how far apart the goalposts should be in what is supposed to be the world's pinnacle series in motor sport. Once again, any analogy with other sports underlines just how indefensible this arrangement is. Imagine the English cricket team having a secret deal with the ICC allowing them to veto any changes in the rules when this is not available to Pakistan, Australia or South Africa?
It is just possible to see why Ecclestone, as the commercial driving force behind the global business that is Formula One, might be allowed to vary payments to teams of differing circumstances - just. It is an altogether different case when it is the governing body itself that has chosen to favour one team against all the others in a deal which it has never admitted to up until now. The FIA is supposed to be an impartial, independent, rule-making body that sets a level playing field for all teams competing in Formula One. With this cosy backroom deal with Ferrari it has completely abandoned all those principles and cannot claim that it has acted with impartiality. Furthermore, there is no possible excuse for such favouritism; if Ferrari did not want to play in Formula One except on its own terms, Mosley should have shown the team the door, not indulged them.
The upshot is that in the French capital tomorrow Ferrari are going to the civil courts to apply for an injunction stopping Mosley introducing radical cost-cutting measures for next year, which most of the other teams now favour, because the Italians believe their secret deal, which they should never have had in the first place, has been broken by the FIA.
According to Ferrari, if the FIA wanted to impose a £40 million budget cap, it should have presented its plans to Maranello first, where the Italians could have vetoed it if they did not like it.
An FIA official admitted today that the deal has been kept secret until now (it emerged during leaked correspondence between Mosley and Luca Di Montezemolo, the Ferrari president, in the course of the budget cap row). “I am not sure it is something that we have discussed (in public),” he said. He tried to defend it by arguing that the 2005 agreement was merely a continuation of a secret arrangement with Ferrari that had been in place for years - in other words Mosley had merely endorsed a fix which he should have scrapped.
If one good thing comes out of the present crisis in Formula One, it should be the end of the feather-bedding of Ferrari, once and for all. All teams should get their fair share of the financial pot in a transparent manner and no teams should ever be given a secret right of veto over how the sport is governed. If Ferrari do not want to play a fair game, they should go elsewhere, which they are threatening to do in any case. The problem with achieving this is that Mosley and Ecclestone have run the sport for years as a double act on the telephone which is largely unaccountable. Until both of them have gone, which is unlikely to happen in the near future, the backroom deals can be expected to continue and the sport will be the poorer for it.
Source:The times
Everyone has known for years that Ferrari, who are tomorrow launching a legal action in Paris against the governing body to try to stop the budget cap, has special treatment in Formula One. The Italian luxury sports car manufacturer is regarded by both Bernie Ecclestone, the sport's commercial rights-holder and Max Mosley, the FIA president, as the goose that lays Formula One's golden eggs, giving the championship a touch of class, glamour and historical continuity.
It is for this reason that when the Scuderia wins the manufacturers' world championship it is paid £55 million more than any other team, something that would be utterly untenable in any other sport.
Imagine Chelsea having a special deal with the FA under which they were paid tens of millions of pounds more than Manchester United or Arsenal for winning the Premier League - the notion would be laughed out of court.
Over the last two weeks, however, another more secret deal in Ferrari's favour has emerged in the course of the budget-capping row, but this time it is not with Ecclestone, but with the FIA. It appears that when the Italian team abandoned a breakaway move in 2004-05 by team bosses fed up with being starved of income by Ecclestone and returned to the FIA fold, not only did Ecclestone agree special financial arrangements for them, Mosley agreed to Ferrari having an exclusive veto over changes to the technical rules in the sport.
In other words, Ferrari would be able to stop anything they did not like or changes which they might suspect could be advantageous to their competitors or moves in technical directions which either did not suit their cars or the abilities of their designers and engineers. Ferrari could thus decide exactly how far apart the goalposts should be in what is supposed to be the world's pinnacle series in motor sport. Once again, any analogy with other sports underlines just how indefensible this arrangement is. Imagine the English cricket team having a secret deal with the ICC allowing them to veto any changes in the rules when this is not available to Pakistan, Australia or South Africa?
It is just possible to see why Ecclestone, as the commercial driving force behind the global business that is Formula One, might be allowed to vary payments to teams of differing circumstances - just. It is an altogether different case when it is the governing body itself that has chosen to favour one team against all the others in a deal which it has never admitted to up until now. The FIA is supposed to be an impartial, independent, rule-making body that sets a level playing field for all teams competing in Formula One. With this cosy backroom deal with Ferrari it has completely abandoned all those principles and cannot claim that it has acted with impartiality. Furthermore, there is no possible excuse for such favouritism; if Ferrari did not want to play in Formula One except on its own terms, Mosley should have shown the team the door, not indulged them.
The upshot is that in the French capital tomorrow Ferrari are going to the civil courts to apply for an injunction stopping Mosley introducing radical cost-cutting measures for next year, which most of the other teams now favour, because the Italians believe their secret deal, which they should never have had in the first place, has been broken by the FIA.
According to Ferrari, if the FIA wanted to impose a £40 million budget cap, it should have presented its plans to Maranello first, where the Italians could have vetoed it if they did not like it.
An FIA official admitted today that the deal has been kept secret until now (it emerged during leaked correspondence between Mosley and Luca Di Montezemolo, the Ferrari president, in the course of the budget cap row). “I am not sure it is something that we have discussed (in public),” he said. He tried to defend it by arguing that the 2005 agreement was merely a continuation of a secret arrangement with Ferrari that had been in place for years - in other words Mosley had merely endorsed a fix which he should have scrapped.
If one good thing comes out of the present crisis in Formula One, it should be the end of the feather-bedding of Ferrari, once and for all. All teams should get their fair share of the financial pot in a transparent manner and no teams should ever be given a secret right of veto over how the sport is governed. If Ferrari do not want to play a fair game, they should go elsewhere, which they are threatening to do in any case. The problem with achieving this is that Mosley and Ecclestone have run the sport for years as a double act on the telephone which is largely unaccountable. Until both of them have gone, which is unlikely to happen in the near future, the backroom deals can be expected to continue and the sport will be the poorer for it.
Source:The times
Danny Cipriani left out of England squad for Test series against Argentina
Danny Cipriani has been left out of England's squad for the summer Test series against Argentina.
Cipriani has been included in the Saxons squad for the Churchill Cup after being overtaken in the England pecking order by Leicester's in-form fly-half Sam Vesty, who is among six uncapped players called up by manager Martin Johnson.
Steve Thompson, the 2003 World Cup-winning hooker, has been included in Johnson's squad alongside Newcastle prop David Wilson and Tom May, who has been playing at fly-half for the Falcons, and Harlequins pair Chris Robshaw and Jordan Turner-Hall.
England play the Barbarians at Twickenham on May 30 before tackling the Pumas home and away, at Old Trafford on June 6 and in Salta, Argentina a week later.
Thompson, 30, won the last of his 47 England caps off the bench in March 2006 before spending the best part of a year in retirement after suffering a neck injury. He took a coaching role with Brive but in 2007 he sought further medical advice, in both France and the United States, and was given the all-clear to pull on his boots again.
The 34-man squad will be captained by Steve Borthwick and also includes recalls for Lewis Moody after an injury-plagued season and Ben Kay, who won his last cap on the 2008 summer tour to New Zealand.
England have lost eight players to the Lions while Johnson was unable to consider Paul Sackey, Mike Tindall, Jonny Wilkinson, Toby Flood and Tom Palmer due to injury.
"This is a very strong squad full of a mixture of experience and young talent," Johnson said. "I'm sure that any of the uncapped players will take the step up from the Saxons to the senior test arena if they are given the opportunity.
"I'm looking forward to all the games and the three-day training camp this week, which will give us further invaluable time with the squad."
England's 34-man squad:
Forwards: S Armitage (London Irish), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), G Chuter (Leicester), J Crane (Leicester), T Croft (Leicester), L Deacon (Leicester), N Easter (Harlequins), D Hartley (Northampton), J Haskell (Wasps), B Kay (Leicester), N Kennedy (London Irish), L Moody (Leicester), T Payne (Wasps), T Rees (Wasps), C Robshaw (Harlequins), S Thompson (CA Brive), J White (Leicester), D Wilson (Newcastle), N Wood (Gloucester)
Backs: D Armitage (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins), M Cueto (Sale Sharks), B Foden (Northampton), A Goode (CA Brive), J Turner-Hall (Harlequins), D Hipkiss (Leicester), P Hodgson (London Irish), T May (Newcastle), O Morgan (Gloucester), J Noon (Newcastle), D Strettle(Harlequins), M Tait (Sale Sharks), S Vesty (Leicester), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks).
Source:The times
Cipriani has been included in the Saxons squad for the Churchill Cup after being overtaken in the England pecking order by Leicester's in-form fly-half Sam Vesty, who is among six uncapped players called up by manager Martin Johnson.
Steve Thompson, the 2003 World Cup-winning hooker, has been included in Johnson's squad alongside Newcastle prop David Wilson and Tom May, who has been playing at fly-half for the Falcons, and Harlequins pair Chris Robshaw and Jordan Turner-Hall.
England play the Barbarians at Twickenham on May 30 before tackling the Pumas home and away, at Old Trafford on June 6 and in Salta, Argentina a week later.
Thompson, 30, won the last of his 47 England caps off the bench in March 2006 before spending the best part of a year in retirement after suffering a neck injury. He took a coaching role with Brive but in 2007 he sought further medical advice, in both France and the United States, and was given the all-clear to pull on his boots again.
The 34-man squad will be captained by Steve Borthwick and also includes recalls for Lewis Moody after an injury-plagued season and Ben Kay, who won his last cap on the 2008 summer tour to New Zealand.
England have lost eight players to the Lions while Johnson was unable to consider Paul Sackey, Mike Tindall, Jonny Wilkinson, Toby Flood and Tom Palmer due to injury.
"This is a very strong squad full of a mixture of experience and young talent," Johnson said. "I'm sure that any of the uncapped players will take the step up from the Saxons to the senior test arena if they are given the opportunity.
"I'm looking forward to all the games and the three-day training camp this week, which will give us further invaluable time with the squad."
England's 34-man squad:
Forwards: S Armitage (London Irish), S Borthwick (Saracens, capt), G Chuter (Leicester), J Crane (Leicester), T Croft (Leicester), L Deacon (Leicester), N Easter (Harlequins), D Hartley (Northampton), J Haskell (Wasps), B Kay (Leicester), N Kennedy (London Irish), L Moody (Leicester), T Payne (Wasps), T Rees (Wasps), C Robshaw (Harlequins), S Thompson (CA Brive), J White (Leicester), D Wilson (Newcastle), N Wood (Gloucester)
Backs: D Armitage (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins), M Cueto (Sale Sharks), B Foden (Northampton), A Goode (CA Brive), J Turner-Hall (Harlequins), D Hipkiss (Leicester), P Hodgson (London Irish), T May (Newcastle), O Morgan (Gloucester), J Noon (Newcastle), D Strettle(Harlequins), M Tait (Sale Sharks), S Vesty (Leicester), R Wigglesworth (Sale Sharks).
Source:The times
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