The Sport Review: “Monte Carlo Masters: A fourth Federer and Nadal final?” plus 6 more

Monday, April 11, 2011

The Sport Review: “Monte Carlo Masters: A fourth Federer and Nadal final?” plus 6 more

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Monte Carlo Masters: A fourth Federer and Nadal final?

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 01:17 PM PDT

rafael nadal

A new colour, and with it a new mood, is spreading across the tennis calendar.

Between now and the end of May, the longest, unbroken tennis season on a single surface settles onto the terracotta dust that will be the home for the men's tour for eight unbroken weeks. From here on, it is a clear run to the French Open.

Yet while the players enjoy fewer time zones to cross and the regular sleep patterns that come from this constancy, it is a season where much can be gained but much may be lost.

It is the only season that features three Masters in the space of a month, so the points available to the form players are huge.

This glorious season opens in Casablanca, then circles the Riviera to some of Europe's loveliest locations. The first, the self-styled "Gem Of the Mediterranean", is the Monte Carlo Masters, a venue that revels in more than a 100 years of history.

It is played out amongst burnt-orange terraces surrounded by palm trees, and enjoys unparalleled vistas to golden fringes of sand and the inky blue depths of the Med as it stretches towards the horizon.

There is probably no more stunning location on the tennis circuit, and not surprisingly, it is a favoured home for many of the tour's top players: Novak Djokovic, Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, Marin Cilic and Caroline Wozniacki.

The clay brings with it the chance for a fresh set of names to make their mark amongst the top seeds, men who have grown up on the red stuff and learned their craft on the sliding grit. So while this is the only non-mandatory Masters of the year, it has attracted a field of players well worthy of the tournament's history and kudos.

Only seven men in the top 40 are missing—most of them Americans who have opted for the USA's single clay court event in Houston—and only two are missing from the top 10. Djokovic was a last-minute withdrawal with a knee problem and Soderling, who developed a foot injury in Miami, has chosen to head straight to Barcelona next week.

Quarter 1: Nadal

At the top of the draw is the man who stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to clay, and when it comes to Monte Carlo in particular. At 18, Nadal won his first title here, but few predicted that, by the age of 23, he would still have a clean sheet at this illustrious event, becoming the first man to win six consecutive titles at a single tournament. And it's hard to see anyone in his quarter—indeed anyone in the entire draw—preventing a seventh.

He is aiming to continue the unbeaten run on clay that began here last year and continued through all four of his 2010 clay events, and with final finishes in both of the recent hard-court Masters, he seems to be in prime condition as he takes to his favourite surface.

His first challengers are likely to be the improving Richard Gasquet followed by either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or, more likely, Tomas Berdych, who took a set from Nadal in the quarters of Miami. The Czech had a good run at Roland Garros last year as well, so he does have some form on clay, but Nadal should have no problem making the semis.

Quarter 2: Murray

After Andy Murray lost in the opening match of his third successive tournament in Miami last week, he took a late wild card entry to Monte Carlo. He has since been practising on that rare thing, a clay court in London. He has also dropped his part-time consultant, Alex Corretja, and tied up temporarily with Darren Cahill and Sven Groeneveld for the clay Masters events.

Murray has enjoyed only modest success on this surface. Last year, he managed just three wins in the three Masters, and he has never reached the final of a clay event. And just when he could do with some good fortune, he faces one of the strongest draws in Monte Carlo.

Murray's opener could hand him Marcos Baghdatis, ranked 26 in the world and capable—on a good day—of upsetting the very best.

Next could be one of a set of clay experts, including Albert Montanes, a semi-finalist in Casablanca this week, or Gilles Simon, a former No6 who is reasserting his fine credentials on the tour. If Murray overcomes those hurdles, his next opponent could be Gael Monfils–who beat him when they last met in Paris—or Mikhail Youzhny. His ultimate reward would be Nadal in the semi-finals, and for Murray, on clay, that has to be a step too far.

Quarter 3: Ferrer

On paper, the only challenger to the Spanish stranglehold in this quarter may come from the fascinating match-up between the power and speed of new wunderkind, Milos Raonic—who blew hot and cold in his 6-3, 0-6, 6-0 defeat of Michael Llodra—or the huge but unfulfilled talent of Ernests Gulbis, who scored a confidence-boosting win over one of the players of the moment, Alexandr Dolgopolov.

It was this time last year that Gulbis had a golden run through Barcelona, Rome—beating Federer in the second round—and Madrid. But this quarter holds the much-improved Viktor Troicki, as well as Tommy Robredo, Feliciano Lopez and last year's runner-up, Fernando Verdasco.

However, the favourite for the quarter is David Ferrer—already a winner in Acapulco and with a clay record last year bettered only by Nadal.

Quarter 4: Federer

Federer faces a challenging opener against old friend Philipp Kohlschreiber, who showed some real form against Soderling and Juan Martin Del Potro in Indian Wells and Miami and scored a gritty three-set win over Andrey Golubev in his first match in Monte Carlo.

The next obstacle is Marin Cilic but it is Federer's quarter-final opponent who could pose the biggest danger.

Nicolas Almagro has the classic Spanish clay pedigree that could beat Jurgen Melzer to take a place in the quarters. He has won titles this year in Brazil and Argentina, and had a tight three-set loss to Ferrer in the final of Acapulco.

Almagro is close to his best-ever ranking and a formidable foe on the dirt. Although he hasn't beaten Federer in five outings, they haven't met since 2007, and there is certainly the chance of an upset here. Federer, though, has looked in good form this year and should win through.

The final

With Djokovic's absence, Federer as No2 seed will expect to face his clay-court bête noir in their fourth Monte Carlo final. Nadal won all the previous three, 2006 to 2008, and will surely win again to take an unprecedented seventh consecutive title.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso penalised for collision

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 08:28 AM PDT

lewis hamilton

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have been handed 20-second penalties following their collision on lap 46 of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The former McLaren team-mates and rivals were penalised after coming together towards the end of the race.

The penalties mean that Hamilton drops from seventh to eighth place, but Alonso retains sixth.

Hamilton’s penalty was for making more than one change of direction while defending in the build-up to the clash, while Alonso’s was for causing a collision.

The McLaren driver accepted his penalty, but hinted that he feels the rule is inappropriate and questioned whether Alonso's 20-second penalty was a sufficient punishment for the Spaniard.

"I knew I was going to get a penalty, I'm not surprised," Hamilton told Autosport. "I was in with the stewards, so I anticipated it.

“I always try to assume the worst-case scenario. It's only one spot, and it's not really made me feel any worse than how the weekend has gone anyway."

Asked if the penalty was fair, Hamilton replied: "It's racing. I'm not going to argue or disagree with the penalty. From my side I'm not allowed to move more than once. Do I class it as dangerous? No, but that's the rule.

"Twenty seconds is not such a bad penalty for it. As for Fernando, he hit me, he got a 20-second penalty, but it didn't really do anything to him. It doesn't exactly work out as a penalty, but again, that’s racing."

The Ferrari driver was penalised for causing a collision on lap 46 as he suffered understeer when pulling out of the slipstream to make a move on Hamilton into Turn 4, clipping the rear of Englishman's car.

"It doesn't change positions, so there is no a big drama," Alonso said. "I finished sixth in the race anyway, and it was a race incident.

“I tried to overtake, we touched each other and unfortunately I broke the front wing and had to pit again, and I lost the podium possibility. But in the next race I will try again."

Alonso refused to be drawn on who was to blame for the collision, adding: "It is one of those things. You try and race and we touched each other. The stewards called us to see our opinions and the decision is this.

"We are not the ones that decide, or have anything to say about the decision. We try to race, to try to enjoy the race in the cockpit and hopefully next time we finish both with no problems."

Earlier, Hamilton was expectantly downbeat after missing out on a podium finish despite starting from second on the grid.

"Today was just one of those days," Hamilton said. "It's never satisfying to start second and finish seventh, but that's racing. We just have to take it on the chin and move on from it.

"Today wasn’t the greatest of days, but I'm going to China aiming to win; I'm only looking forwards."

Blackpool 1 Arsenal 3: We’re still in it, insists Van Persie

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 08:09 AM PDT

Robin van Persie has declared that Arsenal can prove their doubters wrong and overturn a seven-point deficit to win the Premier League title after the Gunners overcame Blackpool on Sunday.

Arsène Wenger’s men narrowed the gap on leaders Manchester United with their first league win in three games in an enthralling top flight encounter at Bloomfield Road.

With a game in hand on Sir Alex Ferguson’s men and with United yet to travel to the Emirates, Van Persie insists Arsenal can still snatch the title from United’s grasp.

“We have seven games to play for and it’s up to us now,” said Van Persie. “We have it in ourselves [to win our remaining seven games], we just have to prove it now. We are a great team so it’s up to us.”

Abou Diaby put the visitors in front after 18 minutes when he stroked home Van Persie’s low pass across goal after breaking free of the Blackpool rearguard.

Emmanuel Eboue then doubled the lead three minutes later with a rasping left-footed strike after he was fed by Jack Wilshere as the Gunners ran riot in front of the Blackpool goal.

But Gary Taylor-Fletcher hauled Ian Holloway’s side back into the match on 52 minutes when he slotted home a loose ball after Jens Lehmann, who started the game after Manuel Almunia injured his knee in the warm-up, had brought down DJ Campbell.

A pulsating encounter was then put to bed 15 minutes from time when substitute Theo Walcott darted down the right wing and slid a pass across goal for Van Persie to tap in.

“We needed this,” said Van Persie afterwards. “We’re very pleased. Everyone had a really good performance and we worked hard together so it was a deserved win.”

Lehmann admitted he was not expecting to feature in Wenger’s first team after making his shock return to north London.

“Sometimes life is about surprises and that happened to me, and you never know what’s coming in the upcoming weeks,” he said. “We’re back now and let’s see how far we can go.”

And Lehmann insists he is not bothered if he doesn’t play again this term. “I don’t care,” he added. “If that was my final game ever I am pleased because we have won. So let’s wait and see what’s happens.”

Malaysian Grand Prix 2011: Vettel maintains perfect start

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 06:34 AM PDT

sebastian vettel

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel maintained his perfect start to 2011 as he cruised to victory in a thrilling Malaysian Grand Prix.

The world champion was imperious as he led McLaren's Jenson Button and Renault's Nick Heidfeld across the line, despite a problem with KERS.

"We could control it, but it was never easy,” Vettel said afterwards. “When Jenson was behind me I could control the gap. KERS was a little bit on-off during the race. Two weeks ago we never raced it at all.

"Today if I didn’t have it at the start the race would never have unfolded as it did. Then we had a problem and had to turn it off, but it came back on again."

The forecasted heavy rain failed to materialise but the race offered plenty of overtaking, with several drivers making the most of the new Drag Reduction System (DRS) and KERS down the long straights.

Renault were the best team off the line as both Heidfeld and Vitaly Petrov moved up the order with daring runs up the outside into Turn 1, where Heidfeld move from sixth to second and Petrov moved from eighth to fourth.

Mark Webber took fourth place for Red Bull ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa despite a poor start leaving him helpless as the lights went out and both Ferrari and Renault cars got a jump on him.

Vettel's championship defence was further boosted as rivals Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton could only finish sixth and seventh after Alonso brushed the back of the McLaren while chasing third forcing Alonso to pit.

Hamilton also had to pit for new tyres before the end of the race, leaving Vettel 24 points ahead of Button in the championship standings.

The McLaren driver, starting second on the grid, lost out to Heidfeld at the start but was able to jump the German at the first stop. After his second stop, however, he fell back as he switched to the option tyres.

Vettel added: "I think first of all, we can be happy today and enjoy and try to keep that momentum, take it into next race. Two races, two out of two. Perfect.

"It could not be any better, but there is a long, long way to go. Lots of points still to get, so we have to keep our feet on the ground.

"Things are looking good and if that is the reward then it's no problem putting harder work in. Tomorrow China starts and we'll see how we get on there."

Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi took eighth for the Swiss team, two weeks after being thrown out for a technical infringement in Melbourne.

Mercedes GP's Michael Schumacher finished ninth ahead of Scot Paul di Resta who also had success as he moved up from 14th on the grid to finish tenth to secure his second world championship point in his debut season with Force India.

Schumacher benefited from an error of judgement by Petrov which ended his race in dramatic fashion in the closing stages as his steering column came loose after running wide.

"I am quite happy I must say,” Di Resta said. “The team did a good job with the strategy. I just could not hold off Michael at the end, he had fresher tyres and we had to stop a bit earlier for my third stop than predicted.

"But I also did not want to risk the championship point as well. I think the DRS showed some good racing today, so maybe we can be confident that in China our race pace may even be a little bit better.

“We were battling with cars that were a little bit quicker than us today, so overall I think we had a great race."

Formula 1 heads to Shanghai next week for the Chinese Grand Prix with Vettel looking to take his sixth win in seven races and become the first driver to win three consecutive races in the same season since Jenson Button's four-race winning streak from Bahrain to Turkey in 2009.

Inter Milan 2 Chievo 0: Cambiasso relieved after win

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 05:04 AM PDT

cambiasso

Internazionale ended their two-game losing streak with a 2-0 victory over Chievo at the San Siro on Saturday.

Esteban Cambiasso and Maicon stuck second-half goals to help the Italian champions seal a vital win in the Serie A title race following a turbulent week in which Inter’s defence had leaked eight goals.

Midfielder Cambiasso admits his side were desperate for a win following a humiliating 3-0 derby defeat by AC Milan last Sunday and a 5-2 shock loss to Schalke in the Champions League in midweek.

“Today we really needed some calm, after the two defeats and most of all for what had been created more outside than inside the club,” he said.

“Our fans have always believed in our possibilities. We did very well to move forward.”

The Argentina international broke the deadlock after 65 minutes when his effort was deflected into the net before Maicon secured the victory six minutes from time with a simple finish.

The win temporarily pushes Leonardo’s Inter back into second place ahead of Napoli and just two points behind leaders Milan.

Cambiasso says Inter must remain composed during the run-in. He added: “In December this situation was really unthinkable, so we can’t lose our heads over two defeats, because 45 years had passed without winning the Champions League, and this team did it.”

Serie A table snapshot

I tried to sign Rio Ferdinand, reveals Harry Redknapp

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 04:36 AM PDT

harry redknapp

Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp has revealed he made an unsuccessful attempt to sign Rio Ferdinand last summer.

Redknapp is a keen admirer of the 32-year-old Manchester United centre-half, and the Spurs boss tried to bring the experienced England international to White Hart Lane last year.

However, following that unsuccessful attempt, the 64-year-old manager now believes Ferdinand will stay at Old Trafford.

“I can’t ever see us getting Rio now. I was interested. Last year, I tried. I tried at the start of the season,” Redknapp told The Observer.

“When he was on the team-sheet against Chelsea in the Champions League, I thought Man United had got a much, much better chance of getting a result and it proved that way.”

Redknapp admits he is keeping an eye out for "big characters" to add to his squad as he begins to look towards strengthening his side in the summer.

“I’ve said many times to the chairman, it’s not always about the best players, it’s about getting characters in your football club,” he said.

“Chelsea have had it over the years, whether it’s John Terry or Frank [Lampard], and Man United have had it with [Ryan] Giggs, Ferdinand and [Nemanja] Vidic.

“William [Gallas] has come in and given us experience and we’ve got Michael [Dawson] at the back but in the long term I still feel that you need to find another one or two if you’re going to keep progressing, that type of real character, who has opinions and that will to win around the dressing room – a few leaders.

“You can’t have too many at your club. That’s why I tried to take Phil Neville from Everton in January.”

Louis van Gaal sacked as Bayern Munich manager

Posted: 10 Apr 2011 04:11 AM PDT

louis van gaal

Bayern Munich have sacked manager Louis van Gaal with immediate effect, the Bundesliga club have confirmed.

The 59-year-old was set to step down at the end of the season, but with the club in fourth place and struggling to ensure qualification for next season’s Champions League, his departure has been brought forward.

Van Gaal led the club to the Bundesliga title and Champions League final last season, but Bayern have struggled domestically this term and currently trail third-placed Hannover by a point.

A club statement read: “The board, director of sport and president of FC Bayern took this decision together.

“After the 1-1 draw in Nurnberg yesterday and the renewed slide to fourth in the table, and with the threat of missing out on the minimum aim of a place in the Champions League next season, this decision was taken in FC Bayern’s best interests.

“Louis van Gaal’s assistants Frans Hoek, Jos van Dijk and Max Reckers have also been relieved of their duties.”

Van Gaal’s former assistant Andries Jonker will take the reigns until the end of the season before Jupp Heynckes becomes club’s new permanent manager.

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