Category Archives: Sport

Can Roger Federer Get Back To Winning Ways?

It would appear that Roger Federer is trying to get his mojo back after slipping to number three in the rankings this summer.

And Paul Annacone is that man the sixteen time Grand Slam champion hopes will help him find his winning ways after going a little off the boil.

Now it’s not been the best of summer for poor old Fed as he was unable to defend both his French Open and Wimbledon titles as well as having to surrender the world number one spot to Rafael Nadal, slipping to number three; his lowest ranking in seven years.

Federer has been without a permanent coach for many years and, it has to be said, enjoyed a rather large amount of success in doing so.

So what can Annacone really bring to the table that could improve Federer’s game at this later stage of his career?

Of course Annacone is very successful, he did coach a chap called Pete Sampras you may have heard of him!

Is Federer just having a bit of a slump period, it happens to everyone Nadal at the end of last season, Murray for most of this season, or is he on the decline?

After his surprise loss to Tomas Berdych at Wimbledon this year many jumped on the Federer Is On The Way Out bandwagon.

But what appears to have happened to the Swiss number one is his intensity has dropped and perhaps his desire has deminished a little and maybe a coach is exactly what is required to re-light that fire.

And while I think that he may struggle to compete with a 100% fit Rafa Nadal, who is without a shadow of a doubt the best player in the world at the moment, Federer can still bring a lot to the ATP.

With the U.S. Open just weeks away can Federer win another Grand Slam title? And will he every return to the top of the world rankings?

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What Do You Think About Team Orders?

Now I don’t know about you but when I switch on the TV on a Sunday to watch the latest Grand Prix race that is exactly what I hope to see… yes a race!

So you can imagine my disappointment when Felipe Massa moved out of the way to let Fernando Alonso lead the German Grand Prix.

I don’t think that anyone can argue that Massa received blatant team orders that favoured Alonso and influenced the result of the race, something which is frowned upon in F1.

If Alonso wanted the lead then he should have raced and battled Massa for it, a fight I think that everyone watching would have found exciting.

While the pace of the Ferrari cars were far superior to anyone else on the track on Sunday it’s a shame that what could have been a fine one-two win for Alonso and Massa has been sullied in such a way.

Now Ferrari has been fined 100,000 euros for the breach of the rules, something that they are not going to contest.

But does this ruling go far enough? Should Alonso and Massa be disqualified? Or are team orders all part and parcel of F1?

For me personally I don’t like to see this practice in an F1 race I want to see the best drivers go head to head and battle it out for positions and points, surely that’s what the sport is all about?

Plus I don’t like to see one driver put over another Massa had every right to try and win that race and to have victory snatched from his in such an unfair way I thought was totally insulting.

If I could have my way then I would love to have seen Massa totally disregard the ‘order’ that he was given because to see the pair of them together on the podium and in the press conference was excruciating as Massa looked crushed and Alonso just looked embarrassed.

But 2010 has been a season that has been dogged with problems between drivers on the same team, Webber and Vettel being a great example.

But of course there are two sides to every argument so how about the team order rule being thrown out of the window and use the two drivers to benefit the team, which is exactly what happened on Sunday?

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Who Else Is Excited For The 2010 Grand Prix?

Well, this Sunday sees the start of my favourite annual sporting event, the Grand Prix. Well actually that’s a bit of exaggeration, as it’s the ONLY sporting event I watch, but still I’m excited.

Trust the first race to fall on Mothers Day weekend though where mine and my flatmate’s mum have both decided to come down to Cheshire for the weekend and interrupt qualifying by insisting we spend the day in Chester.

What’s more, my mother wants to go out for a nice ‘pub lunch’ on Sunday, which of course is at the same time as the flipping race… could it get any more annoying? She’s either going to have to go hungry until it’s over, or knock herself a Pot Noodle up, as I still live like a student two years on.

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So, mum-related rant over, my friend Ed and I will be settling down with sweets and brews (or maybe even a cheeky beer – it is the first race after all) and cheering on the hunky Sebastian Vettel.

Not quite sure who Ed wants to win, probably someone like Schumacher or Hamilton, but they’ve won before, it’s time to let the new kids take over… and Vettel, being the man of my dreams – not last night‘s dream though, that was about dinner ladies – is the obvious choice.

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So, whilst I try to find somewhere where I can get the BBC’s title music to the F1 as my ringtone I’ll let you guys discuss who you think is going to come out tops this season!

Ruth.x

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French Football Clubs, Andy Murray,

The tapping up of young players row rumbles on, Manchester United have been accused by French club Le Havre of offering the parents of 16-year-old Pogba £170,000 in cash and a house to move to Old Trafford and now a complaint from Italian side Fiorentina about losing 16-year-old Italian defender Michele Fornasier to Old Trafford.

United’s legal team and now manager Sir Alex Ferguson have all come out stating that they behaved correctly with young players and their parents Sir Alex stating there has never been a case, ever, that we have paid parents.

So who is right and who is wrong perhaps football should look at its own rule book after all Sir Alex has had recent cause to feel aggrieved following the lose of his star player to Real Madrid and their dubious methods of buying players.

But then again can the French take the moral high ground have they not trawled Africa for years to sign up the best talent from Senegal, Ghana, the Ivory Coast, Congo and Cameroon? Are we sure the clubs did not turn the heads of young players to get them to move to France, or take up French citizenship, via the medium of cold, hard cash?

French can claim the title when it comes to blending players born outside France into their national team.

But the reality is young, French-speaking African footballers given the chance to move to a French club is a dream come true. Their wages will transform their lives and those of their families,

Surely the same surely applies to a young, French player given the chance to move to England – the standard of football is better and so is the money.

It is purely small fish – bigger fish – big fish, why did Kaka, Ronaldo, and Benzema head to Spain and Real Madrid this summer, quite simply money cold hard cash.

South American clubs, Italian clubs, French Clubs English clubs may all moan but until FIFA puts out a rule change then its going to be part of the beautiful game, Then again who says its wrong after all survival of the fittest… isn’t that the ethos of sport.

Talking about fittest Andy Murray slid out of the U.S. Open with a whimper once again hundreds of excuses and quotes like I will come back stronger…. No basically he is just not good enough.

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