Martin Kaymer, seemingly the master of all he surveys in this part of the world, took everything that Ian Poulter could throw at him before emerging victorious after a brilliant final day at the Abu Dhabi Championship yesterday.
Kaymer, winner here in 2008 and runner-up a year later, had a round of 66 for a 21-under-par total of 267 and victory by one shot over Poulter, who also went round in 66, and two over Rory McIlroy, who lost touch with the pair midway through the outward nine but fought back to finish with a 67.
When the world rankings are released later today, Kaymer, who started the week at No 14, is expected to have moved up eight places to No 6, with Poulter at No 10, his highest ranking, and McIlroy at No 11. That would be just reward after a day in which Poulter and Kaymer, in particular, traded blow for blow, birdie for birdie, with golf of the highest order.
One stroke behind at the start of the day, Poulter opened with three birdies on the trot, drawing level at the 3rd, and took the lead for the first time with his sixth birdie, at the 12th. Six under par after 12 holes would normally be regarded as championship winning form, except that Kaymer was equal to the task. Both players reached the turn in 32, McIlroy taking three shots more.
Kaymer, a 25-year-old German, drew level once more with a huge birdie putt at the 14th and then, after chipping past the hole, held his nerve to sink one of about 15 feet at the 17th to save par when it looked as if he would go to the last trailing by a shot. In fact, Poulter was most disappointed with his own birdie attempt at that hole. He hit it perfectly on line from 20 feet, but it came up agonisingly short. It was a telling moment.
At the par-five 18th, Kaymer finished well past the Englishman with his drive and was able to reach the green with his three-wood approach from 275 yards. Poulter and McIlroy had been forced to lay up and were unable to exert any pressure on Kaymer with their approach shots.
And when the German ran his first putt from 60 feet to within three feet of the hole, he was able to start mentally celebrating his fifth victory on the European Tour in two years. It brought him a first prize of €250,000 (about £220,000) and gave an early boost to his bid to make the Europe Ryder Cup team later this year.
Asked if he had considered laying up at the 18th, Kaymer was bemused. “No way,” he said. “I’m an aggressive player and I wanted a birdie on the last. I knew if I got that, I knew I would at least be in a sudden-death play-off. We were all playing so well. It was all about birdies, birdies, birdies. We were going for the flags, going for the putts. We just went for everything, which was great.”
Between them, the group were 17 under par for the day, which is exceptional scoring in anybody’s book. And that is probably why Poulter accepted his fate with such good grace. “I’m pretty frustrated that I have walked away shooting that score and I haven’t won,” he said. “But Martin played very well. And what more can you want? When other parts of the world are suffering right now, you just realise how fortunate you are to be playing golf for a living.”
In three years playing the pristine National Course, Kaymer is a barely credible 56 under par. He, for one, will hope the tournament remains at the same venue next year, although the chances are that it will be moved to one of the new courses taking shape on the nearby multibillion-dollar development of Saadiyat Island.
Back to his best after a 2009 season that was curtailed when he broke his right foot in a go-karting accident last August — the metal plates have still to be removed — Kaymer has improved beyond all recognition from the player whose first victory on the European Tour was here in 2008. He led from start to finish that year but struggled to get across the finishing line.
Now, the barriers have come down. “My self-confidence is much higher than two years ago,” he said. “It comes from winning and playing around the world. You feel really comfortable when you know you can beat these guys.” McIlroy is another player closing in on another victory. At 20, his only victory so far was at the Dubai Desert Classic last year. But this was his seventh top-five finish in nine events, which is highly impressive. Soon, he will take some stopping.
Source:The times
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Michael Schumacher aims his Mercedes silver arrow towards more golden moments
It is going to feel like he was never away. Oozing confidence and the swagger of a champion, looking fit as a fiddle at 41 and giving as good as he got from those prepared to remind him of his days in Formula One that were less than glorious, Michael Schumacher returned to the biggest stage in motor sport yesterday.
After his long reign at Ferrari and a three-year retirement, this time the seven-times world champion was not decked out in the bright red livery of the Prancing Horse but the silver of Mercedes, a company positively purring with delight at having persuaded Formula One’s most successful driver to return at the wheel of one of its “Silver Arrows”.
Presented at the company’s Stuttgart headquarters alongside Nico Rosberg, his German compatriot and new team-mate, Schumacher made it clear that he has no qualms about what his hotly awaited comeback is all about. There was only “one target”, he said at a stage-managed event in front of 600 guests, and that is more championships. And he admitted he is champing at the bit to get going.
“I’m hot,” he said, when asked if he was sure he was up to it, with the first pre-season official Formula One test now only a few days away. “It’s just taking far too long to get going and we can’t wait for next week.”
There was always an edginess and a coldness about Schumacher, who never gave an inch on the track or off it and he was back to his best on that score when confronted with the legacy of a career punctuated by some of the sport’s worst episodes of gamesmanship.
It was put to him that Rosberg’s father, Keke, the former world champion, remarked after Schumacher stopped his car on purpose at the Rascasse corner during qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix in 2006 that Formula One would be better off without him. So how did he feel now about driving alongside Rosberg’s son? “Good,” came Schumacher’s monosyllabic reply.
And the German responded acerbically when it was put to him that his return to the grid was really a way for him to atone for his past misjudgments and show the motor sport world that he can win the right way. Schumacher was having none of that.
“Yeah,” he replied, “I’m sure 91 wins and seven titles, you only win them in the bad way, absolutely, you are right.”
The moments of tension were few on a day when Schumacher celebrated a new beginning that he hopes will bring more titles. “The main reason I am doing this is because I am thrilled about it,” he said. “I feel big excitement to just drive and compete at the highest level of motor sport. I have been doing it for two or three years in go-karts, and other categories, which was great, but now I say, ‘Why not do something at a higher level?’ ”
While it was a great day for Schumacher and Mercedes, which bought the team that Ross Brawn steered to the constructors’ and drivers’ championships last year, it was another painful one for Honda. The “Silver Arrow” presented by Mercedes was in fact last year’s “Brawn GP” car, built by Honda in 2008 at a cost of hundreds of millions. Having sold the team to Brawn, the Japanese have since watched their racing machine capture two championships and now the signature of the sport’s most successful driver.
It emerged yesterday that a tweak to the new Formula One points system is likely. A meeting of the Formula One Sporting Working Group decided on Friday to reward race winners with 25 points, while awarding points down to tenth place. The latest points system, which has yet to be formally approved by the FIA, is: 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1.
Source:The Times
After his long reign at Ferrari and a three-year retirement, this time the seven-times world champion was not decked out in the bright red livery of the Prancing Horse but the silver of Mercedes, a company positively purring with delight at having persuaded Formula One’s most successful driver to return at the wheel of one of its “Silver Arrows”.
Presented at the company’s Stuttgart headquarters alongside Nico Rosberg, his German compatriot and new team-mate, Schumacher made it clear that he has no qualms about what his hotly awaited comeback is all about. There was only “one target”, he said at a stage-managed event in front of 600 guests, and that is more championships. And he admitted he is champing at the bit to get going.
“I’m hot,” he said, when asked if he was sure he was up to it, with the first pre-season official Formula One test now only a few days away. “It’s just taking far too long to get going and we can’t wait for next week.”
There was always an edginess and a coldness about Schumacher, who never gave an inch on the track or off it and he was back to his best on that score when confronted with the legacy of a career punctuated by some of the sport’s worst episodes of gamesmanship.
It was put to him that Rosberg’s father, Keke, the former world champion, remarked after Schumacher stopped his car on purpose at the Rascasse corner during qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix in 2006 that Formula One would be better off without him. So how did he feel now about driving alongside Rosberg’s son? “Good,” came Schumacher’s monosyllabic reply.
And the German responded acerbically when it was put to him that his return to the grid was really a way for him to atone for his past misjudgments and show the motor sport world that he can win the right way. Schumacher was having none of that.
“Yeah,” he replied, “I’m sure 91 wins and seven titles, you only win them in the bad way, absolutely, you are right.”
The moments of tension were few on a day when Schumacher celebrated a new beginning that he hopes will bring more titles. “The main reason I am doing this is because I am thrilled about it,” he said. “I feel big excitement to just drive and compete at the highest level of motor sport. I have been doing it for two or three years in go-karts, and other categories, which was great, but now I say, ‘Why not do something at a higher level?’ ”
While it was a great day for Schumacher and Mercedes, which bought the team that Ross Brawn steered to the constructors’ and drivers’ championships last year, it was another painful one for Honda. The “Silver Arrow” presented by Mercedes was in fact last year’s “Brawn GP” car, built by Honda in 2008 at a cost of hundreds of millions. Having sold the team to Brawn, the Japanese have since watched their racing machine capture two championships and now the signature of the sport’s most successful driver.
It emerged yesterday that a tweak to the new Formula One points system is likely. A meeting of the Formula One Sporting Working Group decided on Friday to reward race winners with 25 points, while awarding points down to tenth place. The latest points system, which has yet to be formally approved by the FIA, is: 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1.
Source:The Times
Troubled Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu fails drugs test
Adrian Mutu, the Fiorentina and Romania striker, tested positive for a banned stimulant following a Serie A match earlier this month, the Italian Olympic Committee has announced.
A statement said traces of sibutramine, an anti-obesity drug, were found in a sample given after the 2-1 victory over Bari on January 10 in which the Romanian scored.
This is Mutu's second failed drug test after he was sacked by Chelsea after testing positive for cocaine and was given a seven-month worldwide football ban.
Following his ban, Mutu joined Juventus in January 2005 before moving to Fiorentina at the end of the following season.
Chelsea sued Mutu for breach of contract, and the player is still in the process of making a third appeal against a fine of more than €17million (£14.75million).
Mutu, who faces a ban of between one and four years, is under contract at Fiorentina until June 2012 and has scored four goals in 11 league appearances this season.
Source:The Times
A statement said traces of sibutramine, an anti-obesity drug, were found in a sample given after the 2-1 victory over Bari on January 10 in which the Romanian scored.
This is Mutu's second failed drug test after he was sacked by Chelsea after testing positive for cocaine and was given a seven-month worldwide football ban.
Following his ban, Mutu joined Juventus in January 2005 before moving to Fiorentina at the end of the following season.
Chelsea sued Mutu for breach of contract, and the player is still in the process of making a third appeal against a fine of more than €17million (£14.75million).
Mutu, who faces a ban of between one and four years, is under contract at Fiorentina until June 2012 and has scored four goals in 11 league appearances this season.
Source:The Times
FA adds extra game to Rio Ferdinand's ban
Rio Ferdinand has had his ban for violent conducted extended to four matches after the Football Association ruled that he made a frivolous appeal against the charge. The Manchester United defender was initially banned for three games.
Ferdinand will miss the Premier League match away to Arsenal on Sunday, as well as games against Portsmouth, Aston Villa and Everton next month. However, he will be available for the first leg of the Champions League tie against AC Milan in the San Siro on February 16 and the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa at Wembley on February 28.
An FA statement said: "The Independent Commission felt that the player's claim against the charge was frivolous and on that basis have awarded an additional one match ban upon the statutory three match ban awarded for violent conduct."
It seemed United took a calculated risk when Ferdinand appealed against the charge yesterday, thus making himself available to play last night's Carling Cup semi-final, second leg victory over Manchester City.
However, in his programme notes, Sir Alex Ferguson said Ferdinand would not have been considered for Sunday as it would be unfair to ask him to play three games in a week so soon after his recovery from a back problem. The manager also said Ferdinand had a good case to appeal the charge, which related to an incident in the match against Hull City last weekend.
Ferdinand appeared to catch Craig Fagan in the face with his arm but his manager felt he was provoked. "If he gets a fair hearing Rio has a good chance," said Ferguson. "He was getting wrestled and punched. There were all sorts of things happening. He was trying to get himself free of it and unfortunately caught the lad on the back of the neck."
Source:The Times
Ferdinand will miss the Premier League match away to Arsenal on Sunday, as well as games against Portsmouth, Aston Villa and Everton next month. However, he will be available for the first leg of the Champions League tie against AC Milan in the San Siro on February 16 and the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa at Wembley on February 28.
An FA statement said: "The Independent Commission felt that the player's claim against the charge was frivolous and on that basis have awarded an additional one match ban upon the statutory three match ban awarded for violent conduct."
It seemed United took a calculated risk when Ferdinand appealed against the charge yesterday, thus making himself available to play last night's Carling Cup semi-final, second leg victory over Manchester City.
However, in his programme notes, Sir Alex Ferguson said Ferdinand would not have been considered for Sunday as it would be unfair to ask him to play three games in a week so soon after his recovery from a back problem. The manager also said Ferdinand had a good case to appeal the charge, which related to an incident in the match against Hull City last weekend.
Ferdinand appeared to catch Craig Fagan in the face with his arm but his manager felt he was provoked. "If he gets a fair hearing Rio has a good chance," said Ferguson. "He was getting wrestled and punched. There were all sorts of things happening. He was trying to get himself free of it and unfortunately caught the lad on the back of the neck."
Source:The Times
England have no substance without spin
Eight Tests to go until the Ashes — six if you are Andrew Strauss — and Michael Vaughan thinks that there are only two small things that need to be sorted out if England are to contemplate retaining the urn. The problem is that they are a) the batting and b) the bowling.
To be precise, the former England captain fears that mental weakness among the former could cause physical problems for the latter — and God help us all if Graeme Swann picks up an injury. The spin bowler, who made his Test debut little more than a year ago, is, according to Vaughan, England’s key to beating Australia next winter.
“He is the pivotal member of the team now,” Vaughan said yesterday. “He brings a real zest to the side. My big concern is that if Swann gets an injury, we really will struggle. He has developed into a spin bowler who can take wickets on the first day. If he wasn’t around, we’d struggle with only three seamers.”
And the reason England would have only three seam bowlers is that they could not risk batting Matt Prior as high as No 6 or Stuart Broad at No 7. It has the air of that proverb about kingdoms tumbling because of a shortage of nails for horseshoes. For want of a Freddie, the Ashes were lost?
Vaughan doesn’t mention the F word, though, and he remains optimistic about the year ahead. “There are signs that the team can go down there and be successful,” he said. “The talent is there and they can become the real deal by November. But there are also signs of vulnerability, especially with the batting.”
He is worried by the difficulty that England have in scoring 400 — only four times in their past 20 innings — despite a top six that appears strong. “Sometimes the thinking between the ears is not what it should be,” Vaughan said, showing a Yorkshire bluntness that proved a hit during his commentary debut on Test Match Special over the tour to South Africa.
They will have the chance to earn easy runs on the tour to Bangladesh that starts next month, but Vaughan has seen enough to know that England will need the insurance of six batsmen in Australia next winter.
The problem is that Prior, once a fine batsman but a fallible wicketkeeper, has regressed in what used to be his strength and, says Vaughan, cannot go in at No 6. Against Australia and South Africa in the past year, he had a batting average of 28.
“He plays a lot of shots but they are not controlled enough,” Vaughan said. “Even at No 7 you have to have an element of control. You can’t just be gung-ho and try to hook every ball.”
Yet Vaughan would not have anyone else wearing the gloves. “His keeping is now excellent,” he said. “Prior is definitely the man for the Ashes and they should stick with him.”
Broad offers useful runs at No 8, but lacks consistency, and Swann — that man again — “can take the game away from the opposition at No 9”. Neither should bat higher, Vaughan feels, which means that England must play six batsmen and only four bowlers, which could prove costly in Australian conditions.
“In England you can roll teams over in 70 overs because it is swinging,” he said. “You don’t see that in Australia, particularly with the Kookaburra ball. Generally it takes 130 overs and that will mean some tired bowlers.”
The solution, he believes, is to use the part-time bowling of Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott more.
Vaughan also wants the batting order tweaked. It is past high time that Pietersen batted at No 3, he feels, and is given the chance to show he is as great as he wants to be. Trott would be more secure at No 4 and Collingwood is one of the most underrated No 5s.
“He is a better player than people give him credit for,” Vaughan said. “He is the best aligned player in the team, in terms of being in the right position when the ball is released. He only struggles when he is mentally tired.” And that is the problem.
Vaughan was a lone voice among former England captains in defending Strauss’s decision to skip the Bangladesh tour. He still supports his former team-mate and feels that other key players, especially Collingwood, should be given a break this summer. However, Vaughan would not have missed the tour himself.
“He has been very honest to say that he is drained after only a year in the job,” Vaughan said. “If he has a stormer in Australia, no one will mind. But I know that I wouldn’t have felt comfortable to watch a team walk out without me if I was fit.
Source:The Times
To be precise, the former England captain fears that mental weakness among the former could cause physical problems for the latter — and God help us all if Graeme Swann picks up an injury. The spin bowler, who made his Test debut little more than a year ago, is, according to Vaughan, England’s key to beating Australia next winter.
“He is the pivotal member of the team now,” Vaughan said yesterday. “He brings a real zest to the side. My big concern is that if Swann gets an injury, we really will struggle. He has developed into a spin bowler who can take wickets on the first day. If he wasn’t around, we’d struggle with only three seamers.”
And the reason England would have only three seam bowlers is that they could not risk batting Matt Prior as high as No 6 or Stuart Broad at No 7. It has the air of that proverb about kingdoms tumbling because of a shortage of nails for horseshoes. For want of a Freddie, the Ashes were lost?
Vaughan doesn’t mention the F word, though, and he remains optimistic about the year ahead. “There are signs that the team can go down there and be successful,” he said. “The talent is there and they can become the real deal by November. But there are also signs of vulnerability, especially with the batting.”
He is worried by the difficulty that England have in scoring 400 — only four times in their past 20 innings — despite a top six that appears strong. “Sometimes the thinking between the ears is not what it should be,” Vaughan said, showing a Yorkshire bluntness that proved a hit during his commentary debut on Test Match Special over the tour to South Africa.
They will have the chance to earn easy runs on the tour to Bangladesh that starts next month, but Vaughan has seen enough to know that England will need the insurance of six batsmen in Australia next winter.
The problem is that Prior, once a fine batsman but a fallible wicketkeeper, has regressed in what used to be his strength and, says Vaughan, cannot go in at No 6. Against Australia and South Africa in the past year, he had a batting average of 28.
“He plays a lot of shots but they are not controlled enough,” Vaughan said. “Even at No 7 you have to have an element of control. You can’t just be gung-ho and try to hook every ball.”
Yet Vaughan would not have anyone else wearing the gloves. “His keeping is now excellent,” he said. “Prior is definitely the man for the Ashes and they should stick with him.”
Broad offers useful runs at No 8, but lacks consistency, and Swann — that man again — “can take the game away from the opposition at No 9”. Neither should bat higher, Vaughan feels, which means that England must play six batsmen and only four bowlers, which could prove costly in Australian conditions.
“In England you can roll teams over in 70 overs because it is swinging,” he said. “You don’t see that in Australia, particularly with the Kookaburra ball. Generally it takes 130 overs and that will mean some tired bowlers.”
The solution, he believes, is to use the part-time bowling of Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott more.
Vaughan also wants the batting order tweaked. It is past high time that Pietersen batted at No 3, he feels, and is given the chance to show he is as great as he wants to be. Trott would be more secure at No 4 and Collingwood is one of the most underrated No 5s.
“He is a better player than people give him credit for,” Vaughan said. “He is the best aligned player in the team, in terms of being in the right position when the ball is released. He only struggles when he is mentally tired.” And that is the problem.
Vaughan was a lone voice among former England captains in defending Strauss’s decision to skip the Bangladesh tour. He still supports his former team-mate and feels that other key players, especially Collingwood, should be given a break this summer. However, Vaughan would not have missed the tour himself.
“He has been very honest to say that he is drained after only a year in the job,” Vaughan said. “If he has a stormer in Australia, no one will mind. But I know that I wouldn’t have felt comfortable to watch a team walk out without me if I was fit.
Source:The Times
Andy Murray confident of making history in Melbourne
It all sounds so simple. Andy Murray is one match away from lifting the cloak of despair that has covered the British men’s game for 74 years when he plays in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday morning.
Tomorrow, Murray will discover whether Roger Federer, the greatest player of them all, or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France, is to stand in his way. The 22-year-old reached his second grand-slam tournament final this morning, defeating Marin Cilic, of Croatia, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 at the Rod Laver Arena.
His first final, at Flushing Meadows in September 2008, ended in the rush of a straight-sets defeat by Federer. But that is the man he wants to play and, remarkably, since the 2005 French Open, the last three players to win their first grand-slam final, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro, all beat the Swiss en route to their momentous breakthrough.
Federer made 17 grand-slam appearances before he won his first title at Wimbledon in 2003. This is Murray’s 17th grand-slam event. The British No 1, who had not been beyond the fourth round here before, said: “It would be the best way ever, if you win against him, if you beat Federer in a grand-slam final it has to be an unbelievable achievement. I would love to win against him but he’s probably going to be the tougher opponent. I’m just focusing on trying to win and I can start working on the tactics tomorrow once I know who I play.
“I haven’t seen that much of Federer here but I did see some snatches of him against [Lleyton] Hewitt and he played great. It seems that he struggled a bit yesterday [against Nikolay Davydenko when Federer was a set and a break of serve down] but he came through and that’s the important thing. And he’s been winning reasonably comfortably.”
Murray confessed that nerves almost consumed him against Cilic in the semi-final, the Briton's longest and most troublesome match of the six he has played in the tournament. The memory of last year’s Wimbledon semi-final, when he was so close and yet was beaten by Andy Roddick, was in the back of his mind as well. “I had the chances to win that day,” he said. “But I don’t feel the expectation so much here.“
When the subject of Britain’s long wait for a grand-slam champion was raised by an Australian reporter, Murray said: “I don’t read the newspapers here, I haven’t been on TV that much so I can just kind of avoid it, I guess.
“I would love to do it. It’s not the only reason [breaking the 74-year duck]. I want to win for the people I work with, for my parents who did so much for me when I was growing up, then doing it for British tennis and British sport would be excellent as well. The pressure that I feel doesn’t come from the people around me. They are happy with anything I do. I want to win for them first of all.
“I would rather be in the position of having to wait for the final than what happened to me at the US Open in 2008 when I had to play on three consecutive days. In a slam, that hardly ever happens, so physically I’m going to be in good shape. This is the best I have played in a slam. I’m old enough and experienced enough to be able to deal with everything I need to.
“I love the atmosphere on the centre court here. When I played Nadal in 2006, it was the most amazing thing I had ever experienced. This is right up there as one of the best places in the world to play.”
Source:The Times
Tomorrow, Murray will discover whether Roger Federer, the greatest player of them all, or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, of France, is to stand in his way. The 22-year-old reached his second grand-slam tournament final this morning, defeating Marin Cilic, of Croatia, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 at the Rod Laver Arena.
His first final, at Flushing Meadows in September 2008, ended in the rush of a straight-sets defeat by Federer. But that is the man he wants to play and, remarkably, since the 2005 French Open, the last three players to win their first grand-slam final, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro, all beat the Swiss en route to their momentous breakthrough.
Federer made 17 grand-slam appearances before he won his first title at Wimbledon in 2003. This is Murray’s 17th grand-slam event. The British No 1, who had not been beyond the fourth round here before, said: “It would be the best way ever, if you win against him, if you beat Federer in a grand-slam final it has to be an unbelievable achievement. I would love to win against him but he’s probably going to be the tougher opponent. I’m just focusing on trying to win and I can start working on the tactics tomorrow once I know who I play.
“I haven’t seen that much of Federer here but I did see some snatches of him against [Lleyton] Hewitt and he played great. It seems that he struggled a bit yesterday [against Nikolay Davydenko when Federer was a set and a break of serve down] but he came through and that’s the important thing. And he’s been winning reasonably comfortably.”
Murray confessed that nerves almost consumed him against Cilic in the semi-final, the Briton's longest and most troublesome match of the six he has played in the tournament. The memory of last year’s Wimbledon semi-final, when he was so close and yet was beaten by Andy Roddick, was in the back of his mind as well. “I had the chances to win that day,” he said. “But I don’t feel the expectation so much here.“
When the subject of Britain’s long wait for a grand-slam champion was raised by an Australian reporter, Murray said: “I don’t read the newspapers here, I haven’t been on TV that much so I can just kind of avoid it, I guess.
“I would love to do it. It’s not the only reason [breaking the 74-year duck]. I want to win for the people I work with, for my parents who did so much for me when I was growing up, then doing it for British tennis and British sport would be excellent as well. The pressure that I feel doesn’t come from the people around me. They are happy with anything I do. I want to win for them first of all.
“I would rather be in the position of having to wait for the final than what happened to me at the US Open in 2008 when I had to play on three consecutive days. In a slam, that hardly ever happens, so physically I’m going to be in good shape. This is the best I have played in a slam. I’m old enough and experienced enough to be able to deal with everything I need to.
“I love the atmosphere on the centre court here. When I played Nadal in 2006, it was the most amazing thing I had ever experienced. This is right up there as one of the best places in the world to play.”
Source:The Times
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
