Sport magazine 336

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Radar

p06 – adidas ensures the NBA wears its finest attire for Christmas Day

p08 – Eddie Izzard explains why watching Crystal Palace isn’t funny

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2013 in tweets 77-year wait for a British men’s singles champion at Wimbledon, beating Novak Djokovic in three sets. @andy_murray: “Can’t believe what’s just happened!!!!!!!”

3. Brazil 2-2 England, June 2

Strangely high on the list, given it was a friendly.

The draw was the first game in the new Maracana. @Metro_sport: “Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s dad admits he missed his son’s goal for england in Brazil - because he’d fallen asleep.”

6. England 3-2 Scotland, August 14

Rickie Lambert scores the winner with his first touch in an England shirt – a thumping header. @Joey7Barton “Made up for Rickie Lambert. what a header that is. About time he had a call up. thats what happens when you pick form players and not names!”

7. Bayern Munich 4-0 Barcelona, April 23

The Germans eviscerate Barcelona – arguably the greatest team in club history.

1. Manchester United 1-2 Real Madrid, March 5

4. Real Madrid 2-0 Borussia Dortmund, April 30

@RyanKeaney: “Bayern Munich - 33.3% possession - 100% of the goals.”

The Spaniards knock United out of the Champions League after Nani’s controversial red card.

Madrid go out 4-3 on aggregate despite beating the Germans, with a late goal creating a frantic finish.

8. England qualify for the World Cup, October 15

@DietmarHamann: “Bad decision by the ref to send nani off, a free kick yes but wasn’t even a booking for me. United were well in control and on way to 1/4final.”

@BVB “JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! #UCLfinal”

2. Andy Murray wins Wimbledon, July 13

Everyone was watching as the Scot redeemed his final defeat from the previous summer and ended a

5. Wigan win the FA Cup, May 11

The soon-to-be relegated Latics upset big-spending Man City with a late headed goal from Ben Watson. @BBCsporf: “COMPARisOn: wigan Athletic starting Xi cost: £11m. Gareth Barry cost Man City: £12m”

A 2-0 win over Poland sealed England’s place in Brazil. The Prime Minister shared his thoughts, although not without a typical Twitter backlash. @David_Cameron: “Proud to see england qualify for the world Cup in Brazil.”

Reply: @piss_wizard: “@David_Cameron i’m going to qualify you into a woodchipper” | December 20 2013 | 05

All pictures Getty Images

W

here does Paul Scholes rank more highly than the Pope? Well, on Twitter of course – the midfield miracle worker was fourth among the people who trended most frequently in the UK in 2013, a couple of places behind Luis Suarez and three ahead of His Holiness, who could probably add something to Manchester United’s midfield. In fact, eight of the top 10 Twitter moments, measured in terms of tweets-per-second in the UK, were from sporting events. From the top, then:

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Turning points

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PA/EMPICS Sport, Ross Kinnaird /Allsport, Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images, Ben Radford/Allsport

t’s 15 years ago this week since Manchester United slipped to defeat against Middlesbrough in their treble-winning season. It was the last time they lost in a remarkable campaign, and a major turning point in a season about which journalist Daniel Harris has written a gripping account: The Promised Land. We asked him to pick out five key moments that tell the story of the greatest 10 months in Manchester United’s history.

1. Man Utd 2-3 MiddlesbroUgh Premier League, December 19 1998 Old Trafford

2. Man Utd 2-1 liverpool FA Cup fourth round, January 24 1999 Old Trafford

3. Man Utd 2-1 arsenal FA Cup semi final replay, April 14 1999 Villa Park

4. JUventUs 2-3 Man Utd Champions League semi final, April 21 1999 Stadio delle Alpi

5. Man Utd 2-1 bayern MUnich Champions League final, May 24 1999 Nou Camp

Manchester United’s defending was so bad that something simply had to be done. This game also featured the first maniacal pursuit of a lost cause, and Andy Cole nearly rescued it for them. It would not be long until the second.

The moment at which the players decided they were unbeatable.

Liverpool led for most of the game through a Michael Owen header.

Roy Keane hit the post, before the Red Devils practised scoring twice in the final minutes.

A spiralling, thumping orgasm of a football match, gushing and thrashing with every twist and turn one can possibly imagine when 22 men convene to boot a ball round a field. And Ryan Giggs scored the goal of the season.

Arguably Manchester United’s best performance in 135 years. They gave Juventus – until that point the generation’s finest side – a two-goal start on their own ground. Then, led by Roy Keane, annihilated them.

Two injury-time goals to win the European Cup and complete the treble.

One of the most astounding conclusions to a football match.

Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – as if you needed reminding – nailed it.

Dunk the halls W

hile you’re tucking into your christmas day feast, spare a thought for those poor millionaires hard at work in the NBA, dunking balls in baskets, instead of pigs in blankets into sauce. You can show your support with these uniforms designed by adidas for the Christmas fixtures, featuring bold logos for a unique take on your favourite franchises. £60 | nbastore.eu

06 | December 20 2013 |

The Promised Land, paperback (Arena Sport), out now, £12.99

Radar sapiens – and then we discovered cake and decided to sit down and eat cake. And I’m trying to fight against that.”

The last game I went to…

“Against Cardiff, when we won 2-0. I’m an associate director at Crystal Palace now, so I try and get to games. I was a fan when I was a teenager and then I stayed a supporter, but I became a very long-distance fan because I couldn’t take it. I’m just a bad loser.”

Eddie Izzard

Matt Cardy/Getty Images

My sporting life

The comedian on running marathons, supporting Crystal Palace and why football isn’t funny, even if you’re an Eagles fan

My first sporting memory…

“Winning the sack race when I was a kid.

I was six – my dad pointed out that the sack was huge and I was very small and I should just stick my legs in the corners and run instead of hopping up and down.”

Since doing the marathons…

“I’ve decided to change the way I look at things. We’re all wild animals a bit, and this fitness thing that professionals do is something we should all really be trying to do. We were this feral person – homo

J

Eddie Izzard Force Majeure Live is out now on Blu-ray and DVD

My favourite sporting moment…

“I remember the excitement, back in Malcolm Allison’s day in the 1970s of having this FA Cup run. We were in the Third Division and we had a run all the way up to the semi finals [in 1976]. That was just fantastic and exciting – we beat Chelsea on the way. I don’t think sport is a good vein for comedy. If you’re talking about people being idiots, that’s one thing. But if you’re talking about games, it’s more tragedy. Football has the potential to be tragedy. I don’t think there’s anything funny about football. It feels like life and death.

“Tony Pulis has come in. We played Premier League football last week, we were knocking it about. Although it sounds insane – we’ve got to aim high – my motto is if you shoot for the stars, you’ll reach the moon. And, if you aim for just above relegation, you’ll probably end up in relegation. I just want Palace to win every game from now until the end of time – that’s my only request.”

azz Flute

08 | December 20 2013 |

Radar Editor’s Letter Australia celebrate regaining the urn; England must prove they are not a team in decline www.sport-magazine.co.uk @sportmaguk facebook.com/sportmagazine

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A slice of humble pie I thought England would ease to victory in this latest Ashes series. Turns out I wasn’t quite right

Editor Tony Hodson @tonyhodson1

world where managers need to produce not just instant results, but also enduring success. The duo may soon be joined by Malky Mackay, whose relationship with an unorthodox Cardiff hierarchy seems to get worse with every passing week. I wouldn’t think any of the above will be out of work for very long, mind, so they should all enjoy the silence while it lasts.

Unlike the England cricket team and their management, who have plenty to think about over their mince pies this Yuletide. The Ashes battering they have taken down under wasn’t as unexpected by some as it was by yours truly – but it should say it all that, before the series, the bookies had an Australian 5-0 win at 66/1. That price is now 15/8, and I wouldn’t put anyone off taking that.

This has been a chastening experience for a group of cricketers that has become used to winning over the past four or five years. They now need to prove that they are not, as is being suggested, a great team in serious decline.

That task begins in Melbourne on Boxing Day. I’ll be watching in anticipation, albeit very possibly from behind the sofa.

Last week I had a crack at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year’s transformation from review of the year in sport to meaningless glitzy award evening. Last Sunday’s ceremony in Leeds did little to dissuade me of that view, but huge credit is due to the corporation for its poignant and beautifully judged tribute to the late Hillsborough justice campaigner Anne Williams, who died in April. The eulogy so wonderfully delivered by actress Sue Johnston captured perfectly the twin attributes of fight and hope that drove Anne on in her battle to have the inquest into her 15-year-old son Kevin’s death reopened. In accepting the Helen Rollason Award on her behalf, her family displayed both grace and courage – a lesson for all those who have behaved so appallingly in obstructing the course of justice since that tragic day in April 1989.

This is our last print issue of the year, but the fun goes on over the festive period, courtesy of our weekly iPad app.

Issues will be available on both December 27 (featuring our big quiz of the sporting year) and January 3, before we return to the streets on Friday January 10. In the meantime, have a very merry Christmas.

Reader comments of the week

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LAUNCH OF THE YEAR

2008

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#Personalitydefect good

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BBC coverage of live sport.

British women in minority

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10 | December 20 2013 |

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quiet Christmas awaits for Andre Villas-Boas and Steve Clarke – the latest casualties in a footballing

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Radar Opinion

It’s like this…

Bill Borrows

Flats on Friday

David Lyttleton

I

Christmas is the fans’ time

W

ell, it’s that time of year. And as usual they’ve all started piping up about too much football over the festive period. Not so much other halves as managers, strikers, midfielders and centre halves.

Demanding children, all of them. Apart from the other halves, obviously.

“I don’t want to look for excuses after a defeat like that, but it didn’t help,” Arsene Wenger told the Arsenal website after being embarrassed by Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium last Saturday. “I said before the game I will not use it as an excuse, and I don’t want to do it now,” he said before using it as an excuse. And then doing it again. “But it was not ideal, you could see that we were not as fresh as we should be for a big game.”

Whose fault is that? You’re paid enough, your players certainly are, you know the fixture list – get your team fitter or buy more players. You’ve got enough money. You’ve always had the money.

Pick another team if you’re that worried about it.

Wenger is, it should be said, by no means the only offender. “We play too much football in this country,” they wail, in unison. “We need a winter break if we’re ever going to win the World Cup.” Right, let’s nail this right now.

We are never going to win the World Cup again [for Scottish readers – it’s a trophy that the major footballing nations attempt to win every four years], so you can forget that excuse.

12 | December 20 2013 |

“We play too much football in this country.”

Really? Is that possible? Do you remember when you were a kid and you played from 7am in the morning until it was too dark to see the ball?

Didn’t moan then, did you?

Understand this: we are the reason you are not stacking shelves at Asda. We are the fans. You might go training for two or three hours every day.

Well done. Help yourself to a HobNob. Christmas is our time. This is when we get three or four games in a 10-day period. We might not pay your wages any more, but wait and see what your sugar daddies pay you when nobody turns up to watch.

If your little leggies are tired, we’re not bothered. But you’ve got to play on Boxing Day? Couldn’t care less. If you are too tired, there are plenty who will take your place. And they are younger and hungrier. Got it? Good. Now shut up and get it on. I’ll be next to the idiot with a sky blue Santa hat on. @billborrows

Plank of the week

Alastair Cook Just win the toss. Once. Just once. Forget the other more important stuff. Just win the toss.

Throw us a bone. Please.

imagine that many of you will have seen the movie Moneyball. If you haven’t, then you should, because it’s decent. It’s not in the same league as Predator, but in my book it beats Jeepers Creepers 2 hands down. It tells us the true story of a baseball coach who, with the help of a guy with glasses, begins to recruit players based purely on fact. No conjecture, no celebrity factor, just sign the players producing the best numbers in the right areas.

And actually, it’s an attractive theory. It worked out nicely for that team, too. However, while there are certain sports that these new-age criteria might suit, there are plenty that rely on far more than mere numbers.

In football it seems, to a point, that you can buy a level of success. I know that’s the sort of comment that annoys footie types, but Manchester City, Chelsea and Real Madrid seem like decent enough examples.

It doesn’t always work, of course, but I can’t think of any teams full of megastars that continue to lose games, both big and small.

I remember playing at Bath under head coach John Connolly. He was known as ‘Knuckles’ because of a firm, nonsense-free manner. We had an injury crisis on the wing and I called him to say I had a mate whose contract had just run out after a lengthy knee injury. He was an England international, granted, but it had been a while since he’d really dominated on the Premiership scene.

“I could get him to send you some highlights clips,” I offered. “Don’t bother with all that, mate,” he replied.

“I just want to know if he’s physically okay and what sort of bloke he is. Meet me for a chat and we’ll talk about character.”

Paul Sampson was my mate’s name – and, after two or three of us vouched for him and assured Knuckles that he had sufficient ticker, he got the call and there was a deal waiting for him when he pulled into the training ground. Simple as that. Sammo went straight into the team, and indeed played his part in a lastminute, against-the-odds victory. We then travelled to Gloucester – then the toughest place for a Bath side to play, bar none – and we beat them in the hardest game of rugby I think I ever played. Sammo barely touched the ball, but he smashed everything that moved and dug in when we needed him. His character stood up, and he cemented himself as one of us.

Rugby is a sport in which I truly believe you cannot buy success. Racing Metro 92 have broken the bank for superstar players, but often look beaten before they even play. Over the last two Heineken Cup weekends, they’ve been a shambles. Toulon, you might argue, have spent the wedge and won the Heineken Cup as a result, but I would counter that. Look at their players’ Twitter feeds, read their interviews. Toulon clearly put a huge emphasis on creating a team. They spend a lot of time together, and they have fun. They’re building a special culture, and it’s not all about the money.

@davidflatman

Frozen in time

14 | December 20 2013 |

And then, almost as soon as it began, the Ashes series was over. We’d have offered long odds on it all being over before Christmas, but England were dominated by those pesky Aussies from start to, er, midway through the series.

The man who did the damage – here taking Jimmy Anderson’s wicket to seal victory – was Mitchell Johnson. He no longer bowls to the left or the right. That Mitchell Johnson, he bowls alright.

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Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

Nothing to see here

2013: THE YEAR IN JANUARY Issue 288 | January 11 2013

ThirTeen QuesTions

The burning issues of 2013

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the Champions League, it would prove the English league’s supremacy. They didn’t.

Will England qualify for the 2014 World Cup?

Yes. And with the 22 points that we predicted, although it was Ukraine who were the closest challengers and not Poland, as we thought.

Will the Usain Bolt Show still top the ratings?

Yes. Yohan Blake was hot on his training partner’s heels, but he missed the World Athletics Championships through injury, Bolt collected another three gold medals.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

We posed some questions at the start of 2013. Here are the answers:

Can Chris Froome capture Bradley Wiggins’ crown?

After a century’s wait for a British Tour winner, Froome made it two in two years.

Wiggo’s still king of the Mods, though.

Can the Premier League prove it really is the best in the world?

No. We suggested that if Arsenal and Manchester United could get past

Which British athletes will excel at the World Championships?

Mo Farah proved us wrong by collecting two more golds, while Jess Ennis and Holly Bleasdale missed out entirely through injury. Dai Greene failed to make the final of the 400m hurdles.

How can Paralympics GB build a legacy?

Increased access, grassroots growth and screen time, according to former GB wheelchair star Ade Adepitan.

fAN fRENzy

Issue 289 | January 18 2013

Issue 288 | January 11 2013

africa cup of nations

Drogba

16 | December 20 2013 |

unfinisheD business

Issue 290 | January 25 2013

The burning issues of 2013

Sport has a peep inside the joe hart show

africa cup of nations

Still, we won’t know the real answer to this for a few years yet.

What next for Team GB boxing stars?

Anthony Joshua, Luke Campbell and Anthony Ogogo have all turned pro, going a combined 11-0 since London 2012. Nicola Adams is focused on the Rio Games, winning gold at the EU Amateur Champs in Hungary in July.

Will Andy Murray rule the world?

Yes. The most important bit of the tennis world, anyway: SW19. He also reached the final of the Australian Open, but the second half of his year was hit by injury.

Can Rory win the McIlslam?

Emphatically not. Finished 25th at the Masters in Augusta, 41st and 14 over par at the US Open. He missed the cut at our own Open, before recovering to come eighth at the US PGA in August.

Home sweet new home for Lewis?

Lewis Hamilton said 2013 would be about finding his feet, so fourth in the Formula 1 championship isn’t bad – with just the one win, in Hungary.

Issue 290 | January 25 2013

Drogba

unfinisheD business

What now for horse racing’s favourite son?

Frankie Dettori began the year in the Big Brother house, returned from his drugs ban in May, rode a Group 1 winner in September but then broke his ankle in October, ruling him out of a winning ride on superfilly Treve in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. Not a vintage year.

Which Ashes captain will rule the roost?

Alastair Cook oversaw a 3-0 victory in the summer, but Michael Clarke has led an all-out Australian assault in this series that sees the Ashes return down under. Statistically, Clarke also comes out on top. Cook scored 431 runs in 16 Test innings against Australia in 2013, for an average of 26.93. Clarke on the other hand scored 712 runs in 16 innings, for an average of 50.85.

Who lines up for the British Lions against Australia?

Our star columnist David Flatman picked the 15 names he thought would take on Australia. He got nine of them right – with Cian Healey, Joe Launchbury, Stephen Ferris, Chris Robshaw, Nick Easter and Danny Care not making it from his selection.

fAUx pAS

In Sport’s own words: “Joe Hart gives off an aura different to that of many England footballers.

Explained in the most simple terms: Joe Hart is a winner.”

Didier Drogba gave us an insight into the pressure put on his Ivory Coast side ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations:

“Let me explain something to you: when I missed that penalty in the final, my parents told me that someone had a heart attack and died from watching it. Can you imagine being told that?”

Issue 289 | January 18 2013

ThirTeen QuesTions

Sport has a peep inside the joe hart show

CHIN Up, JOE

The now benched Man City keeper on projecting a confident image:

“That’s how you’ve got to be in this game. If you give any idea of what’s going on inside, then people from the outside or in a game are maybe going to jump on it.”

SPOrT

The good, The bad and The c o m i c a l ly i n a c c u r a T e f r o m 1 2 monThs wiThin These very pages

feb r u ary

Issue 291 | February 1 2013

Issue 292 | February 8 2013

Issue 293 | February 15 2013

a life in limbo David Haye and the fight that may never happen

The trouble with José

THE SIX NATIONS 2013 Warburton, Farrell and the loWdoWn on every team

2013 Six Nations Sam Warburton

Head boy James Anderson on leading England’s attack in a double Ashes year

David Haye

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston

“It was the carrot of the Klitschko fight that got me back in the ring against Chisora,” says Haye. “Boente said: ‘If David fights Dereck, Vitali will fight the winner.’ So I thought: ‘Okay, I can beat Chisora. About two minutes after that, we had that mad scuffle and it went viral – CNN, NBC, Fox News. I got more coverage for beating someone up in a press conference than for any of the fights I’ve ever had.

“I never thought I’d fight someone like Chisora for a non-world title fight. I’m a world-title fighter – I have been for many years now. But this was one of those one-off occasions when it wasn’t about the title.

It was big news, and news means interest. Interest means ticket sales, and ticket sales mean money.

All of that makes for a high-profile fight, and I’m only in the game for high-profile fights.”

Grand desiGns

The waiTing game

sure the team‘s prepared, but I won‘t go out of my comfort zone to pretend I‘m someone I‘m not.”

BaNishiNg The ghosTs

Warburton‘s style of leadership certainly worked in last year‘s Six Nations. A late victory over Ireland was followed up by wins over Scotland and England – the latter by the narrowest of narrow margins after an almost unbearably tense ending, with England‘s David Strettle coming within a whisker of grounding the ball for a try in the game‘s final act. The Grand Slam was on, however much he and his team tried to ignore it.

“We didn‘t like to talk about a Grand Slam,“ he says. “No one will ever admit it, but of course we knew after the England win that we were two victories away from achieving it.

After beating Italy, we just had the French at home... and that was the weirdest build-up to a game I‘ve experienced. The guys were so nervy in training, and it was so quiet around the hotel. We didn‘t know what French team was going to turn up, but thankfully we managed to play our game and hold on to win.”

Importantly, that victory enabled the captain to finally start banishing the ghosts of that World Cup dismissal.

“Every time Wales played France, I knew I was going to get a lot of questions about the red card,“ he explains. “Now that we had beaten them to win a Grand Slam, it was kind of nice to make it old news. Not that it was just the Grand Slam that helped me move on.

After the World Cup, the red card crossed my mind most days for the next six months or so, including after that victory over France. >

F

ormer world heavyweight champion David Haye has a fitness DVD to sell.

He’s making a good job of it, too.

But he throws punches better. The question is: which will he be doing more of this year? Sport spoke to Haye – as well as some of the biggest names in boxing – and found a man in limbo. Haye is neither here nor there, but somewhere in between.

No longer retired, but pinning his hopes of a return to the ring on the decision of a 41-year-old to fight a man almost 10 years his junior, Haye has backed himself into a corner. He has fought his way out of corners before, of course. Only, this time, there’s no indication of when the bell for the next round might ring.

The 41-year-old in question is Vitali Volodymyrovych Klitschko, reigning WBC heavyweight champion and one half of the worldruling heavyweight combo that is the Klitschko brotherhood. He is the older sibling of Wladimir, who beat Haye so conclusively in the heavyweight unification fight for the WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO and The Ring heavyweight titles in Hamburg in July 2011.

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16 | February 1 2013 |

quiet LeADeR

Future Lions captain Sam Warburton gave us an insight into his pre-match routine:

It was a defeat that looked set to be Haye’s last when he retired a few months later, on the very day he turned 31. Issuing a lengthy statement announcing the end of his career as a professional boxer, the Hayemaker explained that it had been his intention to retire on that date ever since he “first laced up a pair of gloves as a skinny 10-year-old at the Fitzroy Lodge Amateur Boxing Club in Lambeth”.

A glittering career was thus concluded. But coming as it did, amid an onslaught of broken-toe jokes and bottle-job allegations, it was an ending that was always going to require a sequel. This is where Haye’s story takes an unexpected twist. Having previously decided Vitali was the only man who could bring him redemption in the ring, a press conference brawl with former British heavyweight champion Dereck Chisora tempted Haye down a different path – one strewn with smashed glass, steel cages and the kind of violence even a boxing ring can’t contain.

Selling iT

When Sport meets Haye, seven months have passed since he emerged triumphant from another

venomous battle with Chisora – this one taking place inside the square circle and without the added weaponry. In the intervening period, he’s eaten bugs in the jungle for reality TV show I’m a Celebrity... and released a fitness DVD encouraging viewers to ‘Box & Tone’ along with him.

He’s had to do some equally heavyweight promotional work around said DVD in recent weeks, which ostensibly is the reason we’re in the whitewashed offices of television shopping channel QVC to talk to him. He’s here to film three live slots plugging ‘The Ultimate Fighting Fit Workout’ that will be screened in between clips of the latest magic carpet cleaners and ladies’ high-end fashions. It’s a far cry from his natural habitat – and ours, too.

But how far away from the ring is he really?

Physically, Haye says he’s in relatively decent shape.

“I’ve been doing bits and pieces in the gym, staying healthy so that, when the fight does get agreed, I’m not a million miles away from where I need to be,” he explains. Ah yes, the fight. The one Haye says he was promised by Vitali and his manager Bernd Boente before that press conference ‘altercation’ took place between him and Chisora.

“BOente said: ‘if david fights dereck, vitali will fight the winner.’ twO minutes after that, we had that mad scuffle. i gOt mOre cOverage fOr Beating sOmeOne up in a press cOnference than fOr any Of the fights i’ve ever had”

Haye lands one on Chisora in the latter’s post-Klitschko press conference in Munich

Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand | 17

ALLOw MySeLF tO iNtRODuce MySeLF

We quizzed David Haye about his public perception. He took it as an invitation to refer to himself in the third person. A lot:

The first person to make a solo non-stop circumnavigation of the globe by boat, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston went on to co-found the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. We caught up with him before the event’s ninth edition to talk solitude, satellite phones and sailing >

| February 15 2013 | 31

LeAVe Me ALONe!

We asked globetrotter Robin Knox-Johnston if modern technology gets on his nerves.

Turns out it does…

Hulk Hogan

g

oing anywHere witH Hulk Hogan is a slow Process. Not because many years in the wrestling business has put some serious hurt on his body – more on that later – but because wherever he goes, giddy adults stop him to ask for a photo, an autograph or simply to exclaim “you‘re Hulk Hogan!” It‘s a fact we suspect he‘s already fully aware of.

When coming face to face with a celebrity or sportsperson, many of us step away slightly disappointed at how much smaller and slighter they are in real life. This is very much not the experience you get with Hulk Hogan. He may turn 60 this summer, but Hogan still towers well above six foot in height. His pythonic arms bulge with muscles, the blonde moustache endures, the bandana is in place... and his skin is still the colour of rich mahogany.

He‘s in the UK for a run of live shows with TNA Wrestling, for whom Hogan acts as the general manager. However, when he‘s finally been guided past a starstruck public and into our interview room, Hulk is only too happy to spill the beans on everything he‘s experienced in more than three decades in the incredible world of professional wrestling. Brother, it‘s been intense.

Can you pinpoint a moment, back in the 1980s, that really launched Hulkamania?

“On January 23 1984, I wrestled the Iron Sheik. At the time, the US was in a political conflict with Iran, and the Iron Sheik had been a bodyguard for the Shah of Iran – he was the real thing! That night was like a perfect storm where it all came together, because when I won it was like a rocket launcher that has kept me afloat, even until today. I don‘t mean this egotistically, but the name got so big that even if I died or went away, the name would live on.”

Paul Kane/Getty Images

Sounds accurate. We can‘t name many people who don‘t know the name Hulk Hogan.

“Yeah, for good or for bad, right? But it didn‘t happen overnight. I‘d had three years of learning how to become Hulk Hogan, to do the ear [to the crowd], to rip the shirt. You can do it and look like an idiot, believe me.”

So did you have any wardrobe malfunctions when the T-shirt tear went wrong?

“I was in a steel cage match with Big John Studd in St Louis. I got ready to go to the ring and realised I didn‘t have a T-shirt.

I said: ‘Somebody go out there and get me a shirt! Tell the fan I‘ll pay them for it, I‘ll meet them and take them out for dinner – I need a Hulkamania shirt.‘ But the person came back with a Hulkamania sweatshirt. So, I climbed into the steel cage and, as I pulled it, my arms went as wide as they could go, but the sweatshirt didn‘t really rip – it just kept on stretching. All of a sudden, I see Big John Studd coming after me. I drop the sweatshirt to try to get away and it wrapped around my feet and I tripped and stumbled.

I couldn‘t get it off my feet. It wrapped around my legs like I was in a cartoon.” >

A Knight's sAil

| February 8 2013 | 37

FAKeS AND PAiNS

The legend that is Hulk Hogan told us why the term ‘fake’ irritates him:

“When they say ‘fake’, they’re almost right: the matches are pre-determined; it’s an exhibition.

From there, they drift into: ‘Oh, it’s all fake.’ These are great athletes – they get hurt all the time. After a couple of knee replacements, a couple of hip replacements and eight back surgeries, I wish it was all fake!”

“The problem with sailing today is people expect to hear from you, and that puts pressure on. When I went around the world again in 2007, I’d snarl if my satellite phone went off twice a day. By the time I’d got below to answer it, the person would be gone, and they’d have interrupted me when I might be doing a sail change or something. Then I’d start again and the phone would go off again. To hell with it. I couldn’t be bothered!”

“People love the Hayemaker or they hate the Hayemaker. One way or another, they feel passionate about the Hayemaker. And, for me, that’s good. What I don’t want is for people to think: ‘Oh, he’s a nice guy. I couldn’t care if he fights or not, though. And I couldn’t care watching him.’

I’m not interested in being that guy. I’m interested in getting people to feel one way or another.”

yOu cAN’t wiN ’eM ALL

The best and worst of our Six Nations predictions: BEST England 22-16 France (23-13) Italy 12-26 Wales (9-26) Scotland 19-17 Ireland (12-8) Scotland 12-18 Wales (18-28)

WORST France 23-17 Wales (6-16) Wales 14-19 England (30-3) Italy 14-24 Ireland (22-15)

SeRiOuS JOuRNALiSM

James Anderson

With two Ashes series in one year, we asked Jimmy Anderson the important question: which teammate would he most like to be stuck in a lift with?

Split personality England’s Jimmy Anderson tells Sport why it’s time to leave the nice guy at home

You join up with England for the one-day games against New Zealand. How much of you is looking forward to the cricket, and how much of you finds it hard to tear yourself away from your family?

“It’s a tricky balance. I’m looking forward to playing cricket, but it is difficult to leave behind a young family. My wife and I have got used to it over the years and, unfortunately, the kids are going to have to get used to it too. It’s harder for them the older they get.

Especially my four-year-old, who’s now understanding that I do go away for chunks of time. She doesn’t like cricket at the minute.”

Your daughter hates cricket! Jimmy, this is no good…

“I know. But for me, I’ve got used to it, playing for almost 10 years now. It sounds horrible, but wherever I am, when I get out on the pitch, I just switch off from what goes on at home and concentrate on the job.”

In your autobiography, you talk about the two different sides to you: James at home and Jimmy on the cricket pitch. Is that a deliberate divide?

“Yeah, over the last couple of years I’ve been working with the team psychologist to try and differentiate between the two. If a bit of the person I am at home creeps into my cricket, I’m a bit too nice on the field, whereas you want to be aggressive and really have that hunger to win. So it’s tuned into a bit of a skill, trying to separate the two. I try and work on it, like I would on any part of my bowling.”

So when does James disappear and Jimmy take over?

“It’s a gradual thing. Once I get on the plane it starts and, then, when I meet up with Credit

Hulk Hogan on wardrobe malfunctions, brutal injuries and How rowdy roddy PiPer was just too crazy to work witH

Matt Cardy/Getty Images

“I’ll just walk in and sit on my own in silence for 45 minutes. I don‘t get psyched up until I do my pre-match speech, and even then I’m more of a tactician than a shouter. I don‘t believe in those Braveheart-style heroic speeches. Players need a bit of motivation, obviously, but it’s the tactical side you need switched on once the game starts.”

Wrestling With ith the truth

One-man shOw

And yet, Haye is not in the game at all right now.

Having repeatedly insisted that Vitali is the only opponent motivating enough to coax him back into the ring, Haye has not only left the ball in the Ukrainian’s court; he has effectively given him permission to clear off and do as he damn well pleases with it.

But ask Haye now what he thinks the chances are of Vitali taking him on, and he says it’s not as distant a dream as some believe it to be. “There’s not much to sort,” he says. “We just need a date and a venue.

We agreed the financial terms and contractual terms months ago, but then all of a sudden he fought a guy called Manuel Charr last September who no one had ever heard of.

“I’d said I was willing to fight on that date and he said: ‘No, you fought Dereck instead.’ But Vitali said to fight Dereck! He used that as an excuse not to fight me. But it’s up to him – he does what he wants to do.

If he doesn’t want to do it, then he doesn’t want to do it. He said he does, though. So hopefully he’s a man of his word.”

Boxers are used to periods of inactivity between fights. They relish the time to recover and repair their bruised and battered bodies. But Haye is well beyond that point now. If he still considers himself >

16 | February 22 2013 |

18 | February 15 2013 |

the guys, I kind of switch into cricket mode.

That’s when the changes start, I guess – and then throughout practice I’ll get more and more settled into it. Hopefully I’ll be raring to go once the first game comes around.”

Sunday New ZealaNd v eNglaNd: First ONe-day iNterNatiONal | HamiltON | sky spOrts 1 1am

Are you a very different character to the one who came into the team a decade ago, would you say?

“I’m more sure of what I’m doing. I’m louder in the dressing room now and I voice my opinions, whereas in the past I’d be a bit too shy and maybe not speak up when I felt something needed to be said. I’ve changed a little bit, but not a huge amount.”

Last year had plenty of ups and downs for the England team. Were there any lessons you learned from it?

“As a team, we’ve come out of it quite positively, because we now know that we can actually get through a year like that. The year we had was a real one-off, we won’t have anything like it again – or at least I hope we won’t. The stuff that went on in the summer [with Kevin Pietersen] wasn’t great, but we’ve moved on from that. Going to India in the winter, a lot of people – probably even ourselves – weren’t sure how we were going to get on. I think to win that >

“Last year was a real one-off, we won't have anything like it again – at least I hope we won't” | 19

Neil Gavin

The quieT maN

The funny thing is, in a team full of big personalities, Warburton isn‘t the one you might immediately pick out as captain. That‘s not to take away from his ability, leadership or attitude – it‘s more a comment on the quiet nature of the man, and something he readily admits to when we talk about life off the field.

“I like to have a few quiet nights in every week, where I just turn my phone off,“ he says. “And even my fiancée knows I just need a couple of hours to myself to daydream and totally chill out. Beyond that, I like to visit my

parents, go see my sister‘s new baby, hang out with my friends. In fact, that‘s how I‘d describe my life outside rugby – friends, family and food. That‘s it, really.”

Warburton readily admits that accepting the captaincy, when it was offered to him by coach Warren Gatland back in 2011, wasn‘t something he took lightly.

“If I was asked to be captain for the first time now, I‘d say yes,“ he reflects. “I have two more years of experience and I am no longer one of the youngest in the squad.

Back then, though, I really wrestled with the idea. I had to speak to friends, family and my psychologist Andy McCann [with whom he talks before every game].

“I just thought it might be difficult to captain older players like Martyn [Williams] and Shane [yes, Williams again], and I didn‘t want to patronise them. Luckily, I‘ve learned over the years that it‘s not about one man.

You lean on quite a few guys to take leadership roles and call the shots. I bit the bullet when it was offered to me, eventually, and it‘s the best decision I‘ve made.”

He may have worried about taking the captaincy, but Warburton never wavered over his approach to the game. “When we turn up on match days, a lot of players walk around the pitch and chuck a ball around,“ he reveals.

“I‘ll just walk in and sit on my own in silence for 45 minutes. I don‘t get psyched up until I do my pre-match speech, and even then I‘m more of a tactician than a shouter. I don‘t believe in those Braveheart-style heroic speeches. Players need a bit of motivation, obviously, but it‘s the tactical side you need switched on once the game starts. You make

Stu Forster/Getty Images

hen we sit down with sam Warburton ahead of the big six Nations kick-off this weekend, the heat is very much on the Welsh captain. Not from us, mind – our questions haven‘t even begun yet. No, the air-con unit directly above Warburton is pumping hot air out at a rate of knots.

But then, isn‘t that what he‘s used to?

At the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand, where he led his country at the age of just 22, Warburton made headlines for the 18thminute tackle on Vincent Clerc that saw him sent off against France in a semi final his team still could and possibly should have won.

On returning home, Warburton then led Wales to their third Grand Slam in seven years, before the tables turned again; they ended the year on a run of seven consecutive defeats, dropping into the third tier of international rankings ahead of the World Cup draw in December. Is it any surprise, then, that he is used to having the heat turned up?

Action Images/Andrew Couldridge/Livepic

Just as they did 12 months ago, Wales and sam Warburton arrive at the six nations on the back of recent disappointments. but, as We kick off our eight-page tournament previeW, the Welsh captain tells us a repeat grand slam is possible for his side...

W

Issue 294 | February 22 2013

“I wouldn’t really want to be stuck in a lift with any of them. I’m trying to think of someone who’s sort of like a handyman who could actually get us out. No, I can’t think.

[Relents] Probably Swanny. He’ll know what buttons to push or which screws to unscrew. I hope.” k | 17

march

Issue 295 | March 1 2013

Issue 296 | March 8 2013

Issue 297 | March 15 2013

Issue 298 | March 22 2013

Follow My lead

British invasion

The rise of Chris Robshaw

Wild at heart Gareth Bale tells Sport why he’s loving the freedom to roam

All gunned out?

Arsenal: in terminal decline or the Premier League’s best-run club?

As Formula 1 races into action, we profile the four Brits out to make their mark in 2013

Cheltenham Gold Cup

Issue 297 | March 15 2013

ChanGinG of A

s mentioned in last week’s issue of Sport, this year’s Cheltenham Gold Cup will carry with it an unavoidable sense of absence.

Kauto Star, one of the great steeplechasers of all time, the only horse to regain the trophy and the darling of the fans, will not line up in the big race for the first time in seven long years. His retirement in the autumn marked the end of an era in which he and his next door neighbour at the yard of trainer Paul Nicholls, the mighty Denman, had dominated the staying chasers division – but all good things must come to an end, and this year’s Gold Cup resounds to the beat of a new generation.

Not that the men training these exciting new beasts are new. Since the Cheltenham Festival extended from three to four days in 2005, only three men have ended the week as its leading trainer: the aforementioned Nicholls; Nicky Henderson, who last year set a festival record with seven winners; and the Irishman Willie Mullins, the only one of the three never to have won the festival’s most prestigious race.

It’s no surprise, then, that the three horses at the top of the market, the new generation of which we speak, are spread

across these three powerhouse stables.

Nicholls brings the talented Silviniaco Conti to the race, in the hope that he can become the heir to Kauto and Denman; Henderson saddles the long-time antepost favourite Bobs Worth, who has never lost at Cheltenham; while Mullins’ hopes lie with the improving Sir Des Champs (pictured), who has a 100 per cent record from two previous visits to the festival.

Something has to give between these three beasts of huge potential, then, and there is yet the possibility that all will be beaten. Former winner Long Run, also trained by Henderson, is back for another crack after finishing third last year – as is The Giant Bolster, who defied his outsider status to finish second 12 months ago.

But these two admirable animals are the only ones who have run in the race before, and look up against it when faced with the new breed.

If you need any help in finding your selection for the big race, then read on for expert advice from the excellent Paul Kealy of the Racing Post, and then on a little further still for our own not-soexpert musings on each and every runner set to line up at 3.20pm today. And the very best of luck, obviously...

thE Guard

First lieutenant

Gold Cup: ExpErt viEw with paul KEaly of thE raCinG post If there is a horse with the right profile to take home chasing’s Blue Riband event, it is surely Paul Nicholls’ Silviniaco Conti, who is unbeaten for the past year and has been very impressive this term.

He landed his Grade 1 when beating former Gold Cup hero Long Run in the Betfair Chase at Haydock in November, and then cemented his claims when giving weight and an easy beating to last season’s Cheltenham runner-up The Giant Bolster at Newbury last month.

Favourite Bobs Worth is already a dual Cheltenham Festival winner and will be a tough nut to crack. He’s unbeaten at Cheltenham in four starts and has never been passed once he has hit

the front. He did miss his intended prep, though, and horses rarely take the big prizes without a smooth build-up.

The big hope from Ireland is Sir Des Champs, who is another dual festival winner, but his season hasn’t quite gone to plan. Though a perfectly plausible winner, he’s shorter in the betting than his form this campaign entitles him to be.

Long Run will have his chance again, but so too will Captain Chris, who was second to him in the King George on soft ground that he hates. A former Racing Post Arkle winner, if he gets the good ground that he likes and can put in a round without serious error (far from guaranteed), he could be the surprise package.

(168) Second to Bobs Worth in the RSA Chase 12 months ago, and third behind the same horse in the Hennessy in December, this horse is another that would bring very solid form to the race.

At the time of writing, looks a more likely starter in Thursday’s Ryanair Chase over a slightly shorter trip.

If he was to line up here, though, he would definitely have an each-way chance.

sunnyhillBOy

(152) A winner over three miles at the festival last year, before running a heartbreaking second behind Neptune Collonges in the Grand National. The 10-year-old stays all day and is representing last year’s victorious connections, but he lacks the class of Synchronised and is unlikely to be close enough over the last to use his significant stamina.

BOBs wOrth

BOg warriOr

(Official rating 171) Has been favourite for this race ever since winning the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury in December. He has won races at each of the past two festivals, is unbeaten in four runs at Cheltenham and his form is absolutely bombproof, all of which makes him a worthy favourite – but a 104-day absence since his last run leaves a question-mark over how race-fit he will be come the big day.

(153) An intended runner in Thursday’s World Hurdle, so very unlikely that this particular Irish raider will line up in the final field.

If he does, he won’t be good enough to seriously worry the principals.

lOng run

mOnBeg dude

(172) The former winner is still only eight and showed great courage to see off Captain Chris in the King George at Kempton, but was beaten by Silviniaco Conti at Haydock and only Kauto Star has successfully regained the Gold Cup crown. Won’t be far away, but can throw in the odd dodgy jump and tends to race lazily these days – the suspicion is that there is definitely something in this field to beat him.

(138) Won a competitive soft-ground handicap at Cheltenham back in November, then followed up with a dramatic Welsh National victory under a superb ride from Paul Carberry. The same jockey is likely to be on board here, but the horse’s rating of 138 puts him way short of his rivals, and his jumping can be erratic. Will still be going at the end, but long after some of the others have finished.

the giant

wayward

BOlster (164) A heroic second at 50/1 last year, when we confidently predicted he would not be sighted come the finish – but 12 months on we are going to even more confidently predict exactly the same.

Not without ability, but has been well beaten by Silviniaco Conti twice this season and there’s no reason to expect any different third time round.

Will give his all, but don’t expect a repeat of last year.

prinCe (147) Placed in the RSA Chase as a novice two years ago, but has won only once from eight starts since and was pulled up behind Cape Tribulation at Cheltenham back in January.

Rated higher only than Monbeg Dude in this line-up, and would appear to have little or no serious chance in a race as hot as this.

Cape triBulatiOn

(165) Disappointed in his first career as a chaser two seasons ago, but won over hurdles at the festival last year and has looked a different beast altogether over fences this time round.

One of the few in the race who is proven on really soft ground, winning the Argento Chase at Cheltenham on heavy ground back in January, and could be a lively outsider if the going remains testing.

silviniaCO COnti

(175) The highest-rated horse in the race, unbeaten for more than a year, trained by multiple Gold Cup winner Paul Nicholls and ridden by the festival’s most successful jockey in Ruby Walsh... but neither Nicholls nor Walsh have had a chase winner at the festival since 2009, and this horse has never run at the festival before. Question marks, then, but not particularly strong ones.

Won’t be far away.

Captain Chris

(169) Has looked as good as ever this season, narrowly losing out to Long Run in the King George and looking likely to beat Cue Card at Ascot before making a mess of the second-last fence. Won the Racing Post Arkle here in 2011 and was fourth in last season’s Ryanair Chase, but has a tendency to jump right-handed – if he does that over three-plus miles of a left-handed track like Cheltenham, he’d need to be Pegasus to win.

sir des

Champs (162) Much like Bobs Worth, the Willie Mullins-trained seven-yearold is two from two at the festival. Has won only one from three races this season, but his whole campaign has been geared around peaking for this one race. You’d need a leap of faith to back a horse some way short of his main rivals on official ratings, but his trainer is openly confident about his chances and we are prepared to believe him.

verdiCt

The Gold Cup has gone to a horse in the first three of the betting in each of the past 12 seasons, and we don’t see that trend being bucked. That leaves Bobs Worth, Silviniaco Conti and Sir Des Champs (right). Our slight preference is for Willie Mullins’ Irish raider, who loves the Cheltenham hill and has been primed for this. Should anything go awry with any of those three, the revitalised Cape Tribulation could sneak a place.

Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

Our guide tO every runner in tOday’s Cheltenham shOwpieCe

Issue 295 | March 1 2013

WE PREDICT THE GOLD CUP

Pretty flamin’ accurately, it has to be said.

Here’s what we said about the trio that came home first:

1. BOBS WORTH (11-4 fav)

Wild at heart BLUNTING BALE

Then Tottenham player Gareth Bale explained why he hated PE at school:

Spend five minutes in the company of Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee and it’s easy to forget how extraordinarily good the brothers are at their sport of choice. Both quick to pounce on any chance to make a joke at his brothers’ expense, the pair sitting in front of Sport on a bitterly cold day in the north are perfectly normal 22 and 24-year-olds.

They just happen to excel at swimming, cycling and running – particularly when those three things are required to be done in swift succession and without any breaks for food/drink/comfort.

Last year, they became the first British brothers in more than a century to stand side by side on an Olympic podium when Alistair won gold and Jonathan bronze in the triathlon at London 2012. It was all change a couple of months later, though, when Jonathan was crowned world champion in New Zealand while Alistair was in recovery mode after a bout of appendicitis meant he had his appendix removed.

“It could have quite easily happened a few months earlier” he says.

“And that would have been it, there and then: no Olympics. It was mega painful, too.”

“He’s lighter now, though,” comes the smirking response from his younger brother.

TEAM TACTICS

While the brothers admit they work together during races to gain an advantage over their competitors, there is inevitably an element of competitiveness between them. So it’s interesting that, with the gap between them narrowing, Alistair is looking further afield for challenges – starting his season at the Abu Dhabi Triathlon on Saturday.

“You’d need a leap of faith to back a horse rated some way short of his main rivals... [but] his trainer is openly confident about his chances and we are prepared to believe him.”

As Formula 1 races into action, we profile the four Brits out to make their mark in 2013

3. LONG RUN (7-2)

“Won’t be far away… [but] the suspicion is that there is definitely something in this field to beat him.”

THE RIGHT FORMULA

Formula 1 experts David Croft and Ted Kravitz talked us through the teams on the grid. Turns out they know their stuff:

The Brownlees

Between them they hold the titles of Olympic champion and world champion, leaving the rest of the triathlon world wondering just what they have to do to beat the brothers Brownlee. Getting the boys into a gym would be a good start...

2. SIR DES CHAMPS (4-1)

“I’m world champion, but I want to be Olympic champion, too, like Mr Done-It-All over there” “It’s something very different – different distances and a different kind of race,” he explains. “I just fancied a change of focus and a different goal for this early part of the season. I’ve never done a race that distance before, though, so I’ll just see how it goes.”

While Alistair is used to the standard 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run of an Olympic distance triathlon, the Abu Dhabi race includes a longer 100km bike section. It’s also a non-drafting race, meaning riders aren’t allowed to stay in the slipstream of another cyclist and benefit from the reduced air pressure in their wake – thus making it more like an individual time trial.

“It’s a big change, but I’ve spent years doing the International Triathlon Union circuit, so I’m looking forward to a new challenge,” says Alistair, who is also still planning to compete in the 2013 ITU World Series, which gets under way next month. The series will see the brothers go head to head for the honour of being crowned world champion at the grand final, held in London’s Hyde Park this September. But Alistair admits that his motivation for the slog of another season was initially lacking: “Just after the Olympics last year, I wasn’t as motivated for it,” he says. “But now I want to do as well as I can. I’m that kind of person – whatever I do I want to do the best I can at it. I’m massively competitive, so I can always get the best out of myself in competition because I never want to be beaten.”

“Not at anything” adds Jonathan. “Monopoly, badminton... javelin.”

FINDING YOUR LIMIT

Anyone who watched the one-off Christmas special edition of Superstars that featured the Brownlees, among other Olympians, will recall how Alistair’s attempts at the javelin proved even Olympic champions have their limits. “His is the first javelin I’ve ever see do a full 360,” laughs Jonathan. “I thought it was impossible.

“I’ve never had so much fun in my life as I did doing that programme.

But I did learn that we’re not very good at lots of things. It challenged me in ways I’ve never been challenged before. Some people couldn’t understand why we can’t do dips and things, but I’d never done a dip in my life before that. Our training is about going outside, riding our bikes and running – not doing gym. It’s no use to us and I don’t enjoy it.”

One of the most competitive events in the programme was an 800m race, in which the Brownlees were light years ahead of the rest. They were locked shoulder-to-shoulder until the home straight, where Alistair kicked hard for the finish line – his victory was a narrow one, but the race whetted appetites for the possibility of seeing them compete on the track in future. “I’d love to do a 10km,” admits Alistair, who says the Commonwealth Games in 2014 could even be a possibility – if he can qualify. “That’s the difficult bit, so we’ll see.”

Jonathan has no interest in moving away from triathlon yet. “I’ve not achieved what I want to in the sport,” he says. “I’m world champion, but I want to be Olympic champion, too. So I don’t feel like I need a change yet. Ask me in a few years, when I’m like Mr Done-It-All over there...”

Alistair raises his eyebrows and a offers a small grin in recognition of his brother’s backhanded compliment. They may no longer share a house – with Jonathan having moved to one about 500m away just after the Olympics – but they remain a fearsome partnership. The best battles of 2013, though, are likely to be those that are fought between themselves. Perhaps separate houses was a good idea...

Sarah Shephard @sarahsportmag

On Red Bull – TK: “They seem to be in front at the moment. I’d be amazed if they don’t take the Constructors’ Championship.”

(Finished 1st) On McLaren – DC: “It’s not looking great. They’re off the pace at the moment.” (Finished 5th, 474 points behind Red Bull) On Lotus – TK: “Their target is third, but they have been unreliable.”

(Finished 4th) Marussia – TK: “They are looking more like scoring a point than Caterham.” (Finished 10th, a place above Caterham – both pointless)

Alistair and Jon Brownlee were talking at the launch of their new sponsorship agreement with wet suit company Huub. For more details, go to www.huubdesign.com

32 | March 1 2013 |

I

f Joe Root’s selection for the crucial final Test on England’s tour of India this winter was a minor shock to many cricket observers, it was equally unexpected by the then 21-year-old himself.

“It was quite surprising to be perfectly honest, I really didn’t expect it,” Root told us from New Zealand, where he continues on tour with the England squad. “I found out the day before the game. Cooky [Alastair Cook] came to my room and said: ‘I think we’re going to go with you instead of Samit [Patel], so make sure you’re ready to go if that is the case.’ I was over the moon, but I was told to try and keep it quiet, so told only my immediate family. I was just so excited that I found it hard to come down off that buzz for a few hours.”

If Root was overpowered with joy, he didn’t show it in his first innings. Playing on a surface so turgid that several England batsmen seemed to chuck their wickets away purely so their will to play cricket wasn’t sucked out of the soles of their feet by the yawning tedium beneath, Root set about compiling an innings-saving 73.

As well as posting the highest score on the England card (alongside Kevin Pietersen, who reached the same total), the 229 balls

Cheltenham 2013 The Festival

Alistair: “Just after the Olympics last year, I wasn’t as motivated…

But now I want to do as well as I can.

Whatever I do, I want to do the best I can at it. I’m massively competitive, so I can always get the best out of myself in competition because I never want to be beaten.”

J: “Not at anything. Monopoly, badminton… javelin. His is the first javelin [the brothers competed in 2012’s Christmas special of Superstars] I’ve ever seen do a full 360. I thought it was impossible!”

18 | December 20 2013 |

the green-And-golden touch the most fAmous jumps jockey of them All mAy not ride As mAny winners As BArry gerAghty or ruBy wAlsh At this yeAr’s cheltenhAm festivAl, But Ap mccoy hAs A joB he wouldn’t swAp for Anything

T

hink of AP McCoy, the greatest National Hunt jockey of all time, and it is hard to picture him in anything other than the green and gold hoops of the legendary owner JP McManus. It is a professional relationship that goes back the best part of a decade, and one that won its place in racing history when the pair combined with the great jockey-turnedtrainer Jonjo O’Neill to win the 2010 Grand National with Don’t Push It. It was an ironic name for a horse ridden by McCoy, a man whose reputation has been built on an ability to push his mounts to the absolute limit of their powers, but there is no doubt how much winning such a huge race for his chief employer meant to him.

“I’m very lucky to ride for a huge supporter of jumps racing in JP, and feel privileged to be wearing those colours every time I go out,” he told Sport in an exclusive interview ahead of this year’s Cheltenham Festival.

“Barry [Geraghty] and Ruby [Walsh] are obviously fortunate to ride for powerful stables, and both will have exceptionally good rides through the week, but in the past three years I’ve been lucky enough to win the Grand National, the Champion Hurdle and the Gold Cup in those colours. That has probably given me as much satisfaction as anything in my entire riding career.”

A sport for wArriors

Anyone who watched McCoy’s victorious ride on Synchronised in last year’s Gold Cup, a masterclass of patience and persistence aboard a horse not obviously built for jumping, will appreciate the satisfaction of which he speaks. The 38-year-old is not prone to retrospection or nostalgia, more interested always in where his next winner is coming from, but he nods when we recall a similar festival ride – on Wichita Lineman in the 2009 William Hill Trophy Handicap Chase.

“Those two in particular would be huge favourites because of their attitude and their will to win,” he says.

“They were both great warriors. No matter how many winners you ride or how good a jockey people think you are, you can’t win races without the horse. I can’t take a donkey to the Gold Cup and make it win. Once you’ve got

the right horse, all you can do is point it in the right direction and try to make it go faster than the others.”

There is an element of poignancy as McCoy remembers these great warriors, for both Synchronised and Wichita Lineman were to lose their lives on the racecourse – the former in front of millions of TV viewers in last year’s Grand National. More recently, McCoy was on board the hugely talented Darlan, a Champion Hurdle contender also owned by McManus, when the horse suffered a fatal fall at Doncaster.

“It’s the most difficult part of the sport, obviously,” he admits. “I’ve unfortunately had not just horses, but also good friends, who have been fatally injured. We wish these things never happened, of course, and you always wish you could turn back the clock and stop them from ever happening again... but unfortunately it just isn’t that easy. When you’re taking part in a competitive and sometimes dangerous sport, accidents can happen.”

second coming?

Five days after the tragic death of Darlan, McCoy was back in the famous green and gold to ride My Tent Or Yours in the prestigious Betfair Hurdle at Newbury.

With fate seemingly smiling on the McCoy-McManus axis, the six-year-old duly destroyed a top-class field en route to establishing himself as a strong favourite for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle. Twelve months on from the champion jockey having to wait until the final day of the festival to ride his first winner, McCoy is well placed to get off the mark in the very first race.

“On official ratings he’s pretty good,” he smiles.

“He was impressive at Newbury, and will probably go to the Supreme Novices’ as one of the highest-rated horses ever to run in it. I hope the handicapper is right, and that he is that good – because if he is then he’s going to win.

“I wouldn’t want to be picking another horse to finish in front of him, if that’s what you’re asking me – and certainly wouldn’t be swapping him for any other horse at Cheltenham. Yes, there are short-priced favourites like Sprinter Sacre and Simonsig, but I wouldn’t swap My Tent Or Yours for anything else.”

Tony Hodson @tonyhodson1

Best of the rest Champion jockey AP McCoy gives us the lowdown on some of his other big rides at this year’s festival

Binocular

Champion hurdle, Tuesday “Binocular was never right last year; he had a long time off after the Champion Hurdle [in which he finished fourth], and ran okay in Ireland in January. Heavy ground wouldn’t have been ideal for him then, but Hurricane Fly still beat him on the bridle. He’ll improve for quicker ground, but he’s going to need to.”

alBertas run

ryanair Chase, Thursday “A great horse who has won three times for me at the festival, and he only just got pipped last year. He’s 12 now, and it would be fantastic if he could win a third Ryanair, but it’s not going to be easy. He’s a lovely horse and is in good shape, but he does need nice ground.”

at fishers cross

alberT barTleTT noviCes’ hurdle, Friday “He’s been a good, tough, genuine horse all season, beating The New One at Cheltenham last time. He seems to prefer soft ground, but hopefully he’ll go okay if the ground does dry up. He might not be the best racehorse we’ve ever seen, but he knows how to dig it out – whatever beats him will know they’ve had a proper race.”

Root faced were the most by an Englishman on debut since 1977.

“If you accepted that you weren’t going to score freely, then it wasn’t so bad,” says Root, recalling his first England knock at full international level. “You just had to be really patient, graft and work hard for your runs.

If you’re prepared to do that, then it felt like the bowlers weren’t going to get you out – you were only going to get yourself out.

It was more a challenge against yourself than anything else.”

Ice man

The innings showcased the quality Root is most consistently complimented on: an icy temperament that belies his schoolboy phizog. While batting away the abundant praise he’s received with a classic forward defensive – “It’s nice when past players say good things about you, but I try not to get sucked into it” – Root admits that his short career has actually helped him when it comes to keeping cool.

“I’ve only been playing first-class cricket for two years,” he says. “When I came into the side at Yorkshire, I was playing for my spot, so I had that pressure throughout the season to keep my place in the team. > | March 22 2013 | 31

alderwood

Grand annual Chase, Friday “It’s quite tough in those big-field handicaps at Cheltenham, and you want your horse to have plenty of experience going into it. He doesn’t really have that yet [having had only four runs over fences], but he ran okay in his first handicap in Ireland last month and could definitely be one to watch.”

27

numBer of cheltenham festival winners ridden By aP mccoy. that Puts him second on the all-time list, seven Behind ruBy walsh

HORSE PLAY

Before riding his 4,000th winner later in the year, AP McCoy revealed that this jockey malarkey is all pretty easy:

“I can’t take a donkey to the Gold Cup and make it win. Once you have the right horse, all you can do is point it in the right direction and try to make it go faster than the others.”

Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images

BROTHERS AT WAR

“It’s slIghtly weIrd, to be honest wIth you...”

England’s young batting sensation Joe Root talks to Sport about his rapid ascension

| 33

Alistair Brownlee told us his competitiveness drives him on. And Jonathan agreed:

Joe Root

THE NEW BOY

England’s Joe Root told us he was a little bit starstruck upon his international arrival:

“Players such as Kevin Pietersen, James Anderson and Ian Bell…

These are players I’ve grown up modelling myself on, idolising and supporting, so to be in the same dressing room as them is surreal.” k

Gareth Copley/Getty Images

“I was made to play football at school entirely right-footed [to make it fair]. I tried to sneak a few lefts when nobody was looking. It was a bit annoying. I hated Games after that! It was no fun any more.”

WE RUN THE WORLD

“Unbeaten in four runs at Cheltenham and his form is bombproof, all of which makes him a worthy favourite.”

British invasion

Gareth Bale tells Sport why he’s loving the freedom to roam

april

Issue 299 | April 5 2013

brian O’Driscoll wants one last shot at success with the Lions

Unfinished BUsiness Ahead of a UK homecoming fight next weekend, Amir Khan tells us that he’s learned from his mistakes

The advantages are openly acknowledged in sports like football, but can fighting at home have an impact on boxers?

“Being backed by home fans can make a massive difference – especially because, when you’re in the ring, you’re on you’re own.

So to have people cheering for you and supporting you can give you that extra edge in tough rounds. Also, my fans have followed me everywhere from day one; they’ve spent a lot of money to travel and see me fight in Vegas and all over, so I thought I’d show a

bit of loyalty and come back home to put a fight on.”

You’re fighting in the hometown of your rival Kell Brook. Is there an element of one-upmanship here?

“Well, it’s partly that I’ve never fought in Sheffield before, and it’s a big boxing city.

They had Naz [Prince Naseem Hamed] there, and it’s not too far for boxing fans to travel from London or Bolton or Manchester. But I did speak to the people who run the venue [the Motorpoint Arena] and they said the most Kell Brook has ever sold is probably 8,000 tickets. He’s never really had the place sold out fully, and they were impressed that we’re on course to sell a lot more.

Kell Brook is more than welcome to come by and experience a show that will be 100 per cent full.”

Tell us about your opponent on the night, Julio Diaz. What does he bring to the ring?

“Julio Diaz is a tough guy. He fought [unbeaten US prospect] Shawn Porter in his last fight, and I thought he might have won – but it was declared a draw. He’s a former world champion and it was very difficult to get any opponent in the 140lb division. We offered it to [Vyacheslav] Senchenko, who beat Ricky Hatton, and he refused it. We offered the fight to so many names and they just didn’t take it. So I had to negotiate with guys who are at the weight above me. Diaz is coming down from 147lb and I’m going up to 143-144lb.”

“Something like a Kit-Kat or a Twix. Or I might spoil myself and go for a posh one like a Ferrero Rocher or something. But there’s often not any left because the [friends and family’s] kids tend to choose that one before I can get to it.”

Is that also because you’re struggling to make 140lb now?

“It’s never easy to make 140lb, but I’m a dedicated and disciplined fighter. So if I >

Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand

30 | April 19 2013 |

Issue 301 | April 19 2013

Theo Walcott was cheerily honest about the awe he felt as an Arsenal youngster:

“When I first walked into the Arsenal dressing room, I was cacking myself.

But, like my Dad always told me, you have to enjoy it. You don’t want to have too much pressure on you at that age... although when Sol Campbell cleaned me out in my very first training session, I definitely had a moment thinking: ‘What have I got myself into here?’”

“I had to work my way back to truly believing in myself. When you have had that sort of dip in form, it can leave scar tissue, and you have to work really hard to get over that.

Depth of confidence takes a long time to properly build up, and only in the last three or four years has that come about. That’s been the change – I now have that confidence.”

20 | December 20 2013 |

A tearful first-round exit in the 2012 Olympics wasn’t what -60kg judoka Ashley McKenzie had in mind. But things have rarely gone to plan for the 23-year-old from Queen’s Park, who starred in BBC Three documentary Bad Boy Olympian before the Games and has since appeared in Channel 5’s Celebrity Big Brother. As McKenzie prepares to fight in next week’s European Judo Championships in Hungary, he tells us how different his life could have been were it not for a run in with an estate bully at the age of 11...

off me and I was like: ’Mate, you need to give me that back.’ He didn’t want to give it back and he threw me, and so I went to hit him and he threw me again.

“I went home and asked my mum to type ‘throwing’ into the internet, and judo came up. So I went to my nearest judo club and there was the guy who had my Pokémon card. So I got my card back, and after that I made a success out of judo and went to the Olympics.”

20 | April 5 2013 |

Justin Rose told us how he’d overcome missing his first 21 cuts in pro competition. Two months later, he won his first Major at the US Open:

“I never loved the media Tuesdays in international week, doing all the TV stuff, because it just became a bit Groundhog Day by the end – and I used to get nervous about public speaking and having to address people on behalf of the team. It’s the small things. I won’t miss having to ask a grown guy why he’s not wearing the right T-shirt at a certain time, or tell him what time we’re meeting for a bus and all that stuff.

You just come across as Mr Bad Guy.”

How the Olympics (and Pokémon) saved my life

tournaments – a run that would have been the end of many players.

When Sport asks whether he’s pleased, in hindsight, that he had a tough apprenticeship on tour, one that he can look back on with pride, the answer is unequivocal. “No way,” says Rose in a flash. “I’d trade it, say, for Rory’s start to his career any day.

“I would say it made it much harder for me.

I had to work my way back to truly believing in myself. When you have had that sort of dip in form, it can leave some scar tissue, and you have to work really hard to get over that.

Depth of confidence takes a long time to properly build up, and I’d say that only in the last three or four years has that come about.

That’s been the change – I now have that confidence. Had I not gone through that tough time, I may have had it a lot sooner.”

That said, those formative experiences help Rose keep his success in perspective.

“It has made me appreciate the game, it’s kept me humble and it’s kept me working hard at it,” he explains. “It’s meant I’ve never taken success for granted – and I learned that talent has to be coupled with hard work in order to pay off. It possibly made me a better person, so I don’t regret it. But if you look at it from a golf point of view, you’ve got to think I’d have got to this level sooner if I hadn’t had those setbacks.” >

Walking the Walk

Captain no more

Brian O’Driscoll is fearless on the pitch, but public speaking makes him nervous – that’s one part of being Ireland captain he doesn’t miss:

on the ball

Seven-time world snooker champion Stephen Hendry gets his prediction for Ronnie O’Sullivan’s Crucible comeback spot on:

“I think snooker means a lot to Ronnie. He still loves playing, and I think he still needs the thrill of winning, of making 147s, of playing at the Crucible and feeling that special buzz of the crowd. He’s had a good few months practising, and I actually don’t think it will be that much of a shock if he comes back and wins the World Championship again. John Higgins was banned for six months [in 2011], came back and won his first two events.

Higgins is one of the best players in the world, of course, but Ronnie’s better.”

If only someone had taken our Pokémon cards, we might have made it to the Olympics, too...

[Laughs] “Honestly, I was a lucky one. I wasn’t the best in school, and judo helped balance that out. I was getting excluded from school and my mum wasn’t the happiest with me, but every time I got another judo medal she was actually pleased with me.”

You have ADHD – did that make it difficult to concentrate?

“Yeah it was hard at times – I just wanted to get everything done, and school was quite a long process. I’d want to walk out of class and I just couldn’t concentrate for that long. I take Equasym, which helps. I was also on Ritalin – but that wasn’t allowed once I started judo.”

You’ve had other problems, too?

“Yes, I’ve been banned [from competing] a few times – once for one month, once for three months and once for six months, thanks to me just going out and doing what I want, really. I didn’t really go according to what they wanted me to do. When I was younger, I was just a rebel.”

What was the turning point?

“When I was 16, the Olympics in London were announced.

Believing in myself wasn’t my strongest thing, but someone said to me: ‘You could go to the Olympics if you put your mind to it’. From then, I just went for it.”

It must have been devastating to go out in the first round?

“For me it was always going to be about my first experience.

I was always looking forward to Rio – I think London was always going to be a learning curve.”

Do you think you can come back from Hungary with a medal?

“I like to think I can. I’m in the top 10 in Europe at the moment, so I don’t see why not.”

Why did you decide to go on Celebrity Big Brother?

“They asked me to do it, and I thought: ‘Why shouldn’t I?’ It was like living in a cave and everyone telling you what to do 24/7. It’s a big game, but I wasn’t really playing the game, so I kind of enjoyed the experience.”

Where would you be without judo, do you think?

“Probably in jail, if I’m being honest with you. I wasn’t going to be working in McDonald’s or nothing like that, cause I can’t hack a job like that. So yeah, probably in jail.”

Amit Katwala @amitkatwala

Ashley is supporting the BHF’s campaign Fight for Every Heartbeat.

Text FIGHT to 70123 and give £3, or donate by visiting bhf.org.uk

johnangersonarchive.com

Howard Boylan

ROLLERCOASTER CAREER

All the tAlk might be of retirement, but briAn o’Driscoll is focuseD on the here AnD now.. AnD getting on the lions tour is next on his AgenDA

20 | April 12 2013 |

Why did you get into judo?

“Basically, I used to play on the street as a young kid, and I used to play with Pokémon cards.

One day I was trading my cards, and one of the guys on the estate took it off me. It was a nice little shiny one. He took it

JuSTin ROSE hAS bECOmE OnE Of ThE bEST gOLfERS On ThE pLAnET, buT iT’S bEEn A LOng, hARd ROAd – CAn hE puT ThE iCing On ThE CAkE AT AuguSTA nATiOnAL nExT wEEk?

But it was not always so. While Rose enjoyed a stellar amateur career as a youngster – he was the 1995 English Boys Stroke Play Champion, and his last tournament before joining the paid ranks was a fourth place in the 1998 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale – he found life as a pro tough.

Indeed, he missed the cut in his first 21

Ireland’s call

Whether he calls it a day or not, the manner in which Ireland finished the Six Nations must, we venture, leave an underlying sense of regret. O’Driscoll readily admits to not being sure where it all went so wrong.

“If you’d called it after the first half in Cardiff that Wales were going to win the competition, and that we’d finish second last and be very lucky not to pick up the Wooden Spoon, people would have laughed at you,” he says. “But that’s the way it goes, and credit to Wales for turning it round the way they did. I think we deserved a bit more than we got in this Six Nations. We should have beaten Scotland and we should have beaten France. The other two results... well, England deserved their win, and we didn’t get too much lady luck against Italy. We probably should have finished third, maybe. And that might have been more favourable towards how I felt. I don’t think it was as catastrophic as people suggested, though.”

This is a man who should know. The tournament’s all-time leading try-scorer (with 26), O’Driscoll has also started a record number of matches (60) and has led Ireland to three Triple Crowns and a Grand Slam during his 14-year career. In fact, this year’s fifth place was Ireland’s worst Six Nations finish. For their iconic centre, though, there was another strange factor underlining this year’s championship. Having captained Ireland in every match since the 2003 World Cup, leadership duties were handed to Jamie Heaslip, leaving O’Driscoll as simply one of the boys. Does he think that had an effect? >

Judo Ashley McKenzie

REAdY TO bLOOmM Many of the finest players in the game never got to put on the Green Jacket.

The Masters provides a unique test in golf – only a handful have ever got to grips with it.

One player who feels he can join that select band is Justin Rose. The world number three is yet to win a Major, but it is now accepted in the game that it is merely a matter of time before he does. His record at Augusta is impressive; he has never missed a cut in seven trips down Magnolia Lane – and while his wardrobe is missing a jacket, he still feels at home in the deep south.

“I guess you can look at it like this: winning the tournament makes you part of the club,” says Rose. “But every time I turn up on tour, I feel like I belong, and that includes the Majors.

“There is no reason at all why I can’t put together four good rounds there and contend. Last year I shot 72-72-72 and then had a good final round [68, on his way to an eighth-place finish]. I like the golf course – it exudes good feelings for me. I’ve putted well at Augusta for the most part. And, if I feel

Sport has made it only as far as the taxi outside Dublin airport, and the Lions chat has started already. While Chris Robshaw and Sam Warburton continue to battle it out for the captaincy in Lions sides being selected in pubs and clubhouses up and down Great Britain, there’s only one man on the lips of those in the Emerald Isle: Brian O’Driscoll.

“Why would you not pick him?” continues our cabbie, seemingly unaware that we’re not actually selecting the team. But he has a point. O’Driscoll, a veteran of 131 international caps, is the only player to have started Test matches in all three of the previous Lions tours, even leading them into the intimidating cauldron that is New Zealand in 2005. With age catching up with him, though, the man they call BOD has readily admitted that thoughts of retirement are creeping into that genius of a rugby brain.

His wife Amy gave birth to their first child as recently as February, so he’d be forgiven for wanting to hang up the boots one last time.

Does the Lions hold enough appeal to keep him going, though? You bet.

“Of course I’d love to go, but I wouldn’t want to go and not win the series,” says O’Driscoll in our exclusive interview. “I’ve done a few of those tours now; they’re great fun and all, but I’m done with the fun thing.

I just want to be successful, play some good rugby and be part of something special that people will remember. For those reasons, I’d love to go on another one.”

We’re sitting with the face of Irish rugby to talk all things Lions, Ireland and Brian.

An HSBC ambassador, O’Driscoll has been doing some filming with a local chef. When we finally sit down, the smile remains firmly set in place, a twinkle in the eye. First things first, though: how’s the body?

“Pretty good, actually,” he smiles. “I have had a self-imposed sabbatical for the last couple of weeks, so I’ve had a chance to rest up, get to the gym a bit and just get off my feet. It’s been like a mini pre-season, but without doing too much of a workload and understanding how much is in the tank already at this stage of the season.”

So that’s 100 per cent fit, then? O’Driscoll laughs: “I haven’t been there for a very, very

long time. Probably the first day ever I went out playing, and thereafter there’s been… nah, maybe seven or eight years ago, but yeah – there’s definitely been lots of knocks.

There’s always something: some stiffness or some tight muscle or a collision that hasn’t quite healed. That’s just part and parcel of playing the game for so long. That’s okay, though. I’ve learned to deal with being ‘fit’ at 85 or 90 per cent. Sometimes it’s even as high as 96 or 97.”

After watching him leave the pitch to a standing ovation in Ireland’s final home game of this year’s Six Nations against France, only to re-emerge moments later and retake the field for the dying minutes, we have to ask: where on the fitness scale was he?

“Not at 96 or 97 per cent, that’s for sure,” he says. “With the French game, I wasn’t sure whether that was going to be my last game at home, and I wanted that end to be on my terms. We’ll have to wait and see as to whether that’s the case or not.”

Olympic judoka and reformed ‘bad boy’ Ashley McKenzie spoke to Sport ahead of the European Championships next Thursday

Justin Rose

like I’ve got my touch on the greens, I can score low. I always have the sense that with my iron play, I can really attack the flags.”

This is not spoken with any sense of bravado. The softly spoken Rose answers questions thoughtfully and with no sense of self-aggrandisement. But he has reason for his confidence. In 2012, he led both the PGA Tour and the European Tour in greens in regulation: nobody in the world struck a golf ball more consistently than him. Not only that, but his game is improving all the time.

As the strength in depth of golf gets ever greater, his current run of form – he has finished in the top 25 in his previous 13 tournaments – is remarkable. Last year also saw his first World Golf Championship victory [the WGC-Cadillac Championship].

A Major tournament success is the logical progression.

the lion king

Brian O’Driscoll

“I’d defInItely take hIm on the tour, and as captaIn. he’s a legend.”

Tim Bret-Day on behalf of HSBC

Amir Khan

hose natty green jackets they hand over in that rather awkward ceremony at the Masters every year don’t just symbolise victory.

They signify life membership to Augusta National Golf Club: the most prestigious golf club in the world.

life of

Justin Rose heads to the Masters ready to break his Major duck

His diet is strict, but sometimes Amir Khan spoils himself with his favourite chocolate:

T

Issue 301 | April 19 2013

THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING

the ambassador’s reCeption

CaCking one’s self

Issue 300 | April 12 2013

| April 19 2013 | 35

gotta throW ’em all

Olympic judoka and reformed ‘bad boy’ Ashley McKenzie on how having a Pokémon card stolen from him as a child led him to judo:

“One day I was trading my cards, and one of the guys on the estate took it off me. I was like: ‘Mate, you need to give me that back.’ He threw me... I went home and asked my mum to type ‘throwing’ into the internet, and judo came up.” k

Honestly I don’t want to carry two devices.

HP Split x2

That’s why I went with this Windows 2 in 1. It does all the fun stuff a tablet does, but it’s also a laptop with the Desktop and Start button I’m used to. And with a touch screen, it makes everything better.

Windows.com

Internet connection required. Microsoft Office sold separately. Microsoft Account required for SkyDrive, terms apply.

may

Issue 303 | May 3 2013

Issue 304 | May 10 2013

Issue 305 | May 17 2013

Issue 306 | May 24 2013

Issue 307 | May 31 2013

Rooney Talks exclusively to Sport

Fergie’s Final challenge

Giro hero?

e C i n o e n g Champa

The future of Manchester United rests on whether their greatest manager can keep his nose out

1mm

Sir Bradley Wiggins on his tilt at being the first Brit to win the Giro d’Italia

Lewis Hamilton

prix ona h Grand BarCel SpaniS Sundayde Catalunya, 1pm one CirCuit F1 & BBC Sky SportS

Issue 305 | May 17 2013

ys eyes on me sporT la nded The firsTmTiilTon, he’s surrunoug women. lewis ha beauTiful yo by a Trio of A typical situation for a Formula 1 star, you might assume – but not one of them is paying even the slightest attention to Hamilton. Rather, their focus is entirely on his bulldog Roscoe, the handsome pup who makes a welcome addition to the party as we sit down to talk to his owner at his management’s offices in London.

In Hamilton’s case, appearances can often be deceptive. For example, despite the pedigree chum, famous girlfriend and

megawatt smile, he is anything but your standard F1 driver. “The toughest challenge I’ve overcome? Well there’s been so many,” he tells us, but the 28-year-old isn’t referring to a blown engine or an untimely spin-off. “The fact that I came from a family that had no money – that was a challenge.

The fact that I was quick! That was an issue.

And since I’ve been in Formula 1, it’s understanding the media. That’s been my real challenge, trying to understand the game.

Because the driving side of it, I can do. I can do that all day, all night, no problem. Dealing with the media, dealing with 800 different people in a team, understanding how each of them works within the team – that can be a challenge.”

Reverse for a moment there, Lewis.

Exactly how can being quick ever have been a problem for a young, aspiring racer?

“People hate on you because you’re fast and you’re competitive,” he says, without a shred of annoyance. “People don’t like being overtaken. I don’t like being overtaken, so I can imagine that other people didn’t like being overtaken by me. Then when I got to Formula 1, immediately I was at the top [driving for McLaren]. Other people had >

Paul Gilham/Getty Images

and Imed hIs one gry sInce he cla aIns hun fIve years hamIlton rem sport of hIs It Is almost tItle, but lewIs Iew, he tellsh mercedes only wo, Inrldan exclusIve Intofervthe podIum wIt – and ch the top desIre to rea

Issue 303 | May 3 2013

| 17

16 | May 10 2013 |

making it at mercedes

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton told us about his desire to reach the top with his new team:

ThE paIN aNd ThE Glory Rafael Nadal

Ahead of his bid to win an eighth title at Roland Garros this year, Sport spoke to the reigning champion Rafael Nadal about his tumultuous year on the sidelines

Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images

T

he first time Rafael Nadal stepped foot inside Roland Garros, he was not happy. It was 2004, and the

season after the ruling body of men’s tennis, the ATP, had named him “Newcomer of the Year”– an award earned on the back of a rapid ascent up the rankings, which had seen him rise from 199 to 109 in the space of four months.

That year, Nadal says, he was “a teenager in a hurry, madly hyperactive, operating at a thousand revolutions a minute in training as in competition”. But the month before he was due to launch his first assault on the French Open, his body cried enough. A tiny crack in a bone of his left foot meant there was to be no Roland Garros for another year yet.

Nadal’s agent, Carlos Costa, decreed that the future champ should go to Paris anyway, to familiarise himself with a setting that it was hoped would one day bring him much success. A nice idea, in theory – but it only served to ramp up the frustration Nadal was already feeling. “I hated not playing,” he explains. “I felt almost ill watching games

involving people who I knew I had it in me to beat. Carlos remembers me telling him: ‘Next year, this one’s mine.’”

He wasn’t wrong. Sunday June 5 2005 heralded the beginning of the Nadal reign at Roland Garros. It has been a period of domination that has seen him lift the trophy a record seven times – and lose just once in 53 matches – on the brick-dust covered courts, and firmly establish himself as the finest clay-court player of all time.

TESTING TIMES

This year, though, when Nadal arrives in Paris, it won’t be with the unerring belief that one would expect from a player with his formidable record. Instead, it will be with the inevitable self-doubt of a player who hasn’t competed at a Grand Slam for almost a year, thanks to the troublesome knee joints that have so often been the chink in his otherwise sturdy armour.

So when Sport travels to a sun-drenched Mediterranean locale to meet the Spaniard

ahead of a tournament that will reveal so much about his mental fortitude as well as his clay-court prowess, it is with a suitcase full of curiosity about what the coming weeks on the courts of Roland Garros might bring.

If results since his comeback in February are anything to go by, Nadal’s lengthy lay-off has done him little harm. He’s reached eight consecutive finals, winning six of them, including his first hard-court tournament in a year at Indian Wells in March. Winning aside, the 26-year-old who greets Sport with the famed Colgate grin and warm graciousness with which he affords everyone who crosses his path is simply elated to be back in the game.

“For the past seven months, the only sport I was really able to practise was golf,” he says, his words carrying an undertone of incredulity. “I enjoy playing golf, but I love to play movement sports – to move my body.

And I didn’t have the chance to do that, except for in the gym. And in the gym is very boring a lot of times, no?” >

Giro hero?

grand tour ambitions

Bradley Wiggins on his tilt at the Giro d’Italia and defending his Maillot Jaune in the same year...

On Vincenzo Nibali, the favourite for the Giro:

“I won the Tour last year, and I beat Nibali by six minutes and 19 seconds. So I could have stopped for a coffee, and still won.”

“I was willing to lose Olympic gold for the chance of trying to win the Tour [in 2012]. But I felt that I could win both – that’s the same way I feel about the Giro and the Tour this year.”

Sunday > French open | roland Garros, paris | British eurosport hd 9.30am & itV 11.30am | 19

positive return

We spoke to Rafael Nadal about his bid to win an eighth title at Roland Garros after seven months out with injury – it must surely have been a painful experience in career purgatory?

“No, nothing is negative.

In everything in life – or almost everything – you can find something positive. If I am ready to keep competing at 100 per cent after the injury – and that hopefully will happen – we can analyse that this break in my career will be good for me. That it will allow me to come back fresher and to try to have a longer career. These things are always positive for my future.”

22 | December 20 2013 |

“i want my F**king revenge” Sport talkS cream cakeS, kidS and vengeance with carl Froch ahead oF hiS big rematch in london thiS Saturday SATURDAY BOXING | Carl FrOCh v MIkkel kessler | O2 areNa, lONdON | sky BOX OFFICe 8PM TO BOOk, Call 08442 410 888, Or vIsIT skysPOrTs.COM/FrOCh

Fergie’s Final challenge The future of Manchester United rests on whether their greatest manager can keep his nose out

Fergie’s Farewell

On the Tour de France:

Carl Froch

18 | May 24 2013 |

Sir Bradley Wiggins on his tilt at being the first Brit to win the Giro d’Italia

Artist Peter Strain produced a print of Sir Alex Ferguson exclusively for Sport after the manager announced his retirement; we looked at Fergie’s new role at Manchester United and asked former players how his actions could shape the club’s future, including former Red Devils striker Dwight Yorke:

“It will be difficult for him to walk away… If David Moyes wants it [advice], then he’ll give it. But Sir Alex wouldn’t want anyone to interfere with him, and I think he will give Moyes the same treatment.”

T

his stuff will make you a goddamn sexual tyrannosaurus, just like me,” Carl Froch announces to the world, tearing open a packet of antioxidant powder after he finishes a training session. Moments earlier, Nottingham’s ‘Cobra’ had been flicking out jabs with the alacrity with which he’s now firing out quotes from Predator.

Froch’s trainer Rob McCracken is the man responsible for holding the pads as his charge fires off crisp four and five-punch combinations. “Feet, shape, movement,” McCracken intones calmly as they move around the ring.

“Relax. When you force things is when you f**k them up… that’s better!” The pattern is three minutes’ work, a minute of rest, then they go again. Then they repeat the treatment on the heavy bag, Froch smacking non-stop blows into the dense bulk held in place by his trainer.

Afterwards, speaking to Sport, Froch has a sheen of sweat but his breathing is regular. He rarely goes far above his fighting weight and, now, with a world title fight on the immediate horizon, the 35-year-old looks in terrific condition – his body chiselled and his punches sharp. That’s probably for the best, because this weekend Froch fights Mikkel Kessler, a man he openly calls “a warrior, a gladiator”.

The Dane is also the man who inflicted Froch’s first professional defeat back in April 2010.

Wayne Rooney

MINd GAMEs

“It still plays on my mind – of course it does,” says Froch of their first contest in April 2010. “It wasn’t a nice time when I lost my world title to Mikkel in Denmark. So it’s going through my head, especially in the build-up to the rematch, because I can’t think of anything worse than losing twice to the same guy. You’re not going to get a third chance.”

Their first contest was the type of bout from which the stature of both fighters emerges enhanced. A battle of will and skill, the pair traded ferocious punches for 12 rounds, before Kessler was announced a points winner. Despite the result, Froch has warm memories of the tear-up. “I enjoy fights like that,” he admits. “There’s moments when you get hit with a couple of shots and think: ‘Bloody hell, this could be the end of the fight here.’ But then you turn it round and land some good shots yourself and the crowd changes. The bell goes, you sit back in your corner and you think: ‘What a great round that was!’”

His appetite for destruction can be counter-productive, however. With a granite jaw and thudding power, Britain’s super-middleweight king has at times in the past neglected his boxing in favour of a scrap. McCracken calls his last performance against Kessler “sloppy”, and Froch concurs.

“Tactically, I’ve got to do things differently,” he explains. “I’ve got to move to my right, I’ve got to throw more punches and I’ve got to be defensively more aware of the shots he’s throwing – particularly the body shots.”

Having rewatched the first fight numerous times, Froch is convinced he’s seen things he can exploit in his opponent: “He’s not very good on his back foot. If you throw a few punches, he can deal with that, but when you double up your attack – put him on his back foot, then attack him again – he goes back in straight lines and he falls apart. He gets hit with the last two or three shots. He stands and shoots from the hip, opens himself up, and he’s there to be hit when you’re standing in front of him, having a bit of a fight.”

That last line could also be said of Froch, reinforcing the idea that these are two fighters cut from the same cloth.

Fortunately for Froch, he has a strong bond with the man charged with keeping his overly aggressive instincts in check.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Rob as a coach and as a man,” he says of the trainer also responsible for Britain’s Olympic boxers. “We don’t clash. He is very much the boss. >

34 | May 24 2013 |

| 35

Schoolboy international

sexy t-rex

Cream cakes, kids and vengeance. Carl Froch had much to consider ahead of his rematch with Mikkel Kessler. And he quoted Predator: On opening a packet of anti-oxidant powder:

“This stuff will make you a goddamn sexual tyrannosaurus, just like me.”

“I want to beat Mikkel Kessler because he beat me in the first fight – I’m a warrior and I want my f**king revenge. It’s as simple as that.”

He might have clocked up a decade of playing for his country, but Wayne Rooney’s passion for England remains undimmed. In an exclusive interview, he tells Sport of his excitement at the current team’s ideal mix of youth and experience >

Nike

“I definitely have a different outlook to a lot of drivers. That’s probably why I’m successful... I’ve had to really work. Not that they haven’t, but it’s different. For example, I remember one driver saying to me: ‘I’m going to make it to Formula 1 anyway.’ If I finished badly in one race, I’d be thinking: ‘Oh shit, I don’t know what’s going to happen.

I might lose my sponsorship with McLaren.’ I was constantly thinking about that pressure, knowing I had to perform.”

1mm

“People hate on you because you’re fast and you’re competitive.”

18 | May 31 2013 |

| 19

generation game

Having clocked up a decade playing for his country, Wayne Rooney decided it was a good time to have a natter about the progress of the national team.

“We have to look at ourselves over the last 10 years and say we haven’t been good enough – and that hopefully we can be successful in the future.” k

Honestly I can work where I want.

Surface 2

My Windows tablet includes OfďŹ ce, lets me do two things at once, and with SkyDrive I can access my stuff everywhere I go.

Windows.com

Internet connection required. Microsoft Account required for SkyDrive, terms apply.

Surface 2 comes with Microsoft OfďŹ ce Home and Student 2013 RT.

june

Issue 308 | June 7 2013

Issue 309 | June 14 2013

Issue 310 | June 21 2013

Phase two Andy Murray talks exclusively to Sport about the next chapter in his Grand Slam-winning career

Jenson Button and his fight against obscurity

We Can Be Heroes

Issue 311 | June 28 2013

Lions Captain sam WarBurton is ready to make History

Leading out Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish speak exclusively to Sport about their push for Tour de France glory

Andy Murray

“I just wAnted to wIn A grAnd slAm. I dIdn’t cAre whIch one It wAs. I just wAnted to wIn one”

Issue 308 | June 7 2013

Issue 310 | June 21 2013

Ahead of his return to Wimbledon, Andy Murray speaks exclusively to Sport about his momentous year, injuries, and why it always pays to keep your eye on the ball

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

A

ndy Murray is reflecting on the first phase of his career as a professional tennis player – the phase that came to an end at 2.05am on September 10 2012, when an overhit Novak Djokovic return handed the Scot the maiden Grand Slam title he’d spent more than a decade working towards. Sinking to his haunches, Murray’s hands covered his mouth as he struggled to absorb the enormity of what he had achieved.

That momentous New York night feels like it was longer than nine months ago when Sport sits down with Murray beside the centre court at Queen’s Club – an arena that has brought him the only grass-court titles of his career so far (his Olympic gold aside).

The US Open champion has just emerged from the players’ lounge, where he’s been glued to the final set of Rafael Nadal’s French Open semi-final win over Djokovic. The tournament is the first Slam Murray has missed in six years (he sat out Wimbledon in 2007 with a wrist injury), but the gruelling nature of the four-hour, 37-minute battle he’s just witnessed has proved his difficult decision to sit out the tournament was the right one.

“That sort of match is the reason why I wasn’t playing, because I wouldn’t have been able to compete at the level I’d want to compete at,” he explains. “My back just wasn’t good enough.”

The injury was so bad that it forced Murray to retire from his second-round match at the Rome Masters in May, and he admits to fearing the worst as he departed the Italian capital. “My back had been bad the week before, in Madrid, but I just hoped that with a few days’ rest before Rome it would be okay,” he says. “After I pulled out, I was going to see back specialists, having scans and just getting a lot of different opinions from a lot of people. In your head, you do prepare yourself for really bad news.”

Murray suffered from back spasms at a similar stage of last season, leading some to conclude the problem is aggravated by the switch in surfaces at the beginning of the clay-court campaign – thus something the 26-year-old might therefore have to manage for the remainder of his career.

“All players have things they need to manage,” he continues. “Roger’s had back issues for a while and Rafa’s had problems with his knees. The game is so physical now that it’s almost impossible not to have > | 19

18 | June 14 2013 |

grand recovery

Before making history at SW19 this summer, Andy Murray told us what it felt like to win a Grand Slam in New York, and how he dealt with losing his first final at Wimbledon:

“I just wanted to win a Grand Slam.

I didn’t care which one it was. I just wanted to win one.”

Jenson Button and his fight against obscurity

Jenson unbuttoned

Jenson Button on his relationship with teammate Sergio Perez and being an old hand on the Formula 1 grid:

“I’ve never been that close to a teammate before, and I’m not now. When we’re at the circuit, we work together, we share every bit of information and I think he learns a lot. Away from the circuit, I have my own friends – and I’m sure he has as well.”

“The first few days were not much fun for me, and probably not for everyone around me, too. But the nice thing was that everyone was very supportive after Wimbledon.

When I’d lost big matches before, there had sometimes been a negative feeling. But I didn’t really get that after the Wimbledon match, and it helped me to get over it.”

Chris Froome

Froome with a view

Last year’s Tour de France runner-up talks exclusively to Sport about leading Team Sky and how he’s set his sights on making the Maillot Jaune his own

We Can Be Heroes

Lions Captain sam WarBurton is ready to make History

saM’s war

Sam Warburton posed down, then discussed Wales’ Six Nations win and leading the Lions:

“You probably couldn’t have had a more pressurised situation than that Six Nations showdown between us and England. That was the closest you could get to a Lions tour.”

“We know we have the makings to beat Australia. We came so close last time around with Wales, but we just came up short because of minor lapses in concentration. We came close enough to know we can win.”

Illustration by David Sparshott

“I’m happy as the experienced driver. It’s my 14th year in F1, but I still feel like a kid every time I drive.”

E

verything is falling into place for Chris

Froome. The man who was Team Sky’s plan B as domestique to eventual winner Sir Bradley Wiggins in last year’s Tour will tomorrow begin his own assault on winning the 100th edition of cycling’s toughest and most prestigious stage race as his team’s undisputed number one rider.

Not only that, but he will do so as the favourite to be standing on the podium wearing the Yellow Jersey when the race finishes on the Champs Elysee in three weeks’ time. And all without the will-they-won’t-they sideshow of the battle for team supremacy with the reigning champion – absent with the most convenient of injuries.

If Wiggins – the man for whom Froome loyally buried himself in the mountains last year – is an instantly-recognisable, heart-on-sleeve maverick, Froome is something of a cypher, quietly riding himself into the sort of form that has seen him win four out of the five races he has entered this season.

That’s the Tour of Oman, Criterium International, Tour de Romandie and, at the beginning of this month, the Criterium du Dauphine. The only man to have beaten him, in fact, is Giro D’Italia winner Vincenzo Nibali – at the Tirreno-Adriatico in March, when the Italian crossed the line 23 seconds ahead of the Brit.

When we speak to Froome, he is “a little bit knackered, but doing fine, thanks” a few days after his Dauphine win, having spent the day doing his Tour homework – reconnaissance on Stages 16 (a mountainous 168km from Vaison-la-Romanie

to Gap) and 17 (a 32km time trial from Embrun to Chorges). Given his most recent win, and his performances so far this season, we suggest he is coming into his prime at just the right time.

“Definitely,” he agrees. “The Dauphine is a hugely important race in its own right, but to me it was just another tester for the TdF – and the most important test so far this season, being only three weeks out from the Tour.”

Does he see himself as favourite for the Tour, having finished 58 seconds ahead of teammate Ritchie Porte (Froome’s first lieutenant, domestique and favourite to join him on the podium in Paris) in the week-long stage race?

“I don’t like to think of myself as the favourite,” he explains. “A lot of people have said that I am now because I’ve won the races building up to the Tour and I’ve beaten most of my big contenders each time, but it’s certainly not a position in which I like to think of myself. And not a position I relish going into the TdF. I’d like to be kept on my toes, and I’m very mindful of the fact that I am going to have to fight for every second. They’re not going to come easy.”

Staying out of trouble

Froome has been publicly vocal about his desire to tackle the Tour as Sky’s main man since January, and – if all goes well – of targeting the race “for the next six to seven years”. Despite all that, the 28-year-old insists: “I do see myself as the underdog. I’ve never won a Grand Tour before. It’s something I’d like to take on this year but, as it stands, I’ve not won one.”

“Last year I was in an extremely privileged position – to be at the head of the race without having to deal with the pressure”

ICC Champions Trophy

Where, then, will the race be won and lost?

“I wouldn’t say there’s one area. Take Corsica, where we start off – the first three stages. The race won’t be won there, but it can definitely be lost, just because of the nature of the first week of the Tour.

It’s very nervous and very stressful in the peloton.

There’s typically a lot of crashes on the windy, narrow roads of Corsica, so it’s only going to add to that. It’s going to be mainly about staying out of trouble in those first few days.

“But once we reach the mountains and the race settles down, naturally it is going to be decided on those mountain passes. Having said that, there are still two individual time trials of 30-odd kilometres [Stage 11, between Avranches to Mont-Saint-Michel, and the aforementioned Stage 17] where any of those pure climbers are going to have to hold their own.”

Froome – an all-rounder who also happens to be a strong climber – has already proven he can hold his own in that particular discipline, bagging an Olympic bronze last August and coming second in both the long time trials in last year’s Tour.

The winner of those two stages was, unsurprisingly, Wiggins. Froome finished three minutes and 21 seconds behind his compatriot in the General Classification, but spent much of the race closer to him than anyone. It was, we suggest, a dry run for his role as team leader this year – does he see it that way?

“Totally. One hundred per cent. Last year I was in an extremely privileged position to be right at the head of the race in second position, right there with Bradley in the mountains and actually with him on the finish line in the mountain stages.

“So I was at the front of the race, but I wasn’t having to deal with the new pressures [of leading the peloton] and the added pressures of being the [team] leader, the face of the team, going every day to press conferences and getting to the hotel an hour after the rest of your teammates, getting to dinner later, >

18 | June 28 2013 |

va va frooMe

Chris Gayle

Chris Froome talked about making the Yellow Jersey his own at the Tour de France, his relationship with Sir Bradley Wiggins and the persistent questions over drugs in cycling:

gayle-force win

“It is disappointing that Brad isn’t doing the Tour this year... From the media perspective, it does take a bit of pressure off me that the question is not going to be continually asked, probably all the way through the race: ‘Who’s the leader?’”

“That was a very special win. Number one.

Who partied longest? Umm… me. It was non-stop.

I didn’t go to sleep for two days afterwards.”

“The sport’s definitely gone through a lot recently, especially with the revelations from Lance last year. I feel a statement needs to be made.

Riders do need to be more vocal.”

The West Indies opener tells us we wouldn’t like him when he’s cranky

Ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy, West Indies thrasher Chris Gayle recalls winning the World Twenty20 in 2012:

24 | December 20 2013 |

Mark Cavendish

Back in business He was part of a history-making team at last year’s Tour de France, but this year Mark Cavendish is riding for a new team with a new aim. And he couldn’t be happier about that...

Illustration by David Sparshott

M

ark Cavendish can’t wait to get this year’s

Tour de France started. The Manxman – whose preparation for the Tour included his winning the National Road Race Championship in Glasgow last Sunday – might say the same thing every time the start line of the biggest bike race in the world comes into view, but this year the fire in his belly burns fiercer than ever.

To understand why, cast a glance back to 2012, when Cavendish played his part in a momentous occasion for British cycling. “It was incredible to be part of a team that was going for the Yellow Jersey, with a British rider and sponsor and to actually do it,” he says proudly when Sport meets him at the London offices of his management company. But he knows – and we know – that’s only half the story.

In the 2010 and 2011 Tours, while riding for HTC-Highroad, Cavendish racked up five stage wins in each, finishing second and first respectively in the points classification. Last year, as a Team Sky rider, he won three stages and finished fourth in the race for the Green Jersey. “It was a different year for me.

Was it frustrating? Not at all. I knew if we were going for the Yellow Jersey there’d be stages we’d have to sacrifice. The only frustrating part – and it’s nothing to do with the riders, Bradley [Wiggins], the management or sponsors – was to do with one sports director: Sean Yates.”

Yates is no longer with Team Sky, having retired last October for health reasons, but the decisions the team’s lead sports director made during the Tour have clearly left their mark. “There were stages that wouldn’t affect the fatigue of the riders or the outcome of the Yellow Jersey – like the day before the rest day and the day before the team time trial – when he said we couldn’t go for the sprint,” recalls Cavendish. “It took Bradley to say otherwise on the second-last stage [discounting the customary finish

on the Champs-Élysées], which I won. So that was the only frustrating thing. Apart from that, I knew the situation before we went in - if I’d wanted a team fully built around me, I wouldn’t have gone to Sky in the first place. I wanted to just go and dominate with this British team. I think everyone wanted that except Sean Yates, you know?”

Fitting in

The Manx Missile’s departure from Sky, when he signed for Belgium team Omega Pharma-Quick Step in October, surprised few people, then. But he doesn’t align any particular emotion with his exit, simply saying: “There was no looking back at what team I’d just left, only looking forward to what I was going into – and that was building something that was going to be successful.”

Cavendish’s passion for his new team is evident when he describes his reasons for choosing them – when he presumably could have taken his pick of who to sign for. “They’re the most historical team in pro-cycling right now. In its current guise, the team is 10 years old, but it was going for many years before that. They’re one of the teams that, as a young rider, you dream of riding for – especially if you want to be a classics rider. It’s the team that’s had the majority of big stars in cycling over the past 20 years.

“And, while I specialise in winning Grand Tour stages, they were the most successful team in every other area of cycling except the Grand Tours, so there was a big slot there for me to fill without any conflict of interest, you know?”

A new start

Cavendish does, however, admit to being anxious about the language barrier between himself and his new teammates: “All the teams I’ve been in – except for T-Mobile, which was a German team the first year

“I don’t want to win 11 more stages of the Tour. I want to win 50 more. But if I’m good enough only to win five more, then that’s it”

I was there – have been English speaking. So I thought it was going to be a massive culture shock.

And some things are different, but I’m so happy there and so relaxed. It did feel like a completely new start, though – not even Bernie [Eisel] was with me.”

Eisel played a key role in the lead-out trains that have brought Cavendish so many stage wins throughout his career. So one of Cavendish’s most crucial tasks since leaving Sky has been to build a train that can be successful even without his trusted wingman. “I’ve had to educate them a little bit,” he admits of his new teammates. “But they really want to listen – it’s incredible. They really want to absorb what I have to say. The Belgians are fond of sprinters and they really want to be part of a famous train. So it wasn’t as difficult as it could have been. The biggest factor of building a train is commitment, and I have more than 100 per cent commitment from the riders.

So that’s the biggest hurdle easily overcome.

Then it’s just a case of practising, you know?”

Cavendish’s success at the Giro d’Italia in May, when he won five stages of a brutal race to become only the fifth rider in Grand Tour history to bring home the points jersey in all three marquee events, suggests the practice is paying off. The sprinters’ field will be deeper at the Tour, but he’s convinced the team is strong enough to deliver him more stage wins to add to his tally of 23 and move him closer to Eddy Merckx’s record of 34 – not that he’s bothered about the numbers, apparently.

“The record is something the papers like to write about, but it’s not something I’m focused on. There shouldn’t be a target that, once you’ve reached it, you relax. Ideally, I don’t want to win 11 more stages of the Tour. I want to win 50 more stages of the Tour.

But if I’m good enough only to win five more, then that’s it – you know? I don’t want to go for a target, reach it and then there’s nothing left. I want to keep progressing. There should be no limit to what you can do, because that’s when you start to go backwards.”

He might be right. Then again, if there’s one man who could win races going backwards, it’s probably Mark Cavendish.

Sarah Shephard @sarahsportmag

Follow Mark Cavendish on Twitter @MarkCavendish | June 28 2013 | 33

Manx Missile on targets

Mark Cavendish on attacking the Tour de France’s Green Jersey with Omega PharmaQuick Step, his new team:

“I don’t want to win 11 more stages of the Tour. I want to win 50 more. But if I’m good enough only to win five more, then that’s it – you know? I don’t want to go for a target, reach it and then there’s nothing left. I want to keep progressing. There should be no limit to what you can do.” k

Ju ly

Issue 314 | July 19 2013 Issue 313 | July 12 2013

Ten Tests. Seven months. Two teams.

Lighting the fuse on a historic cricket year

36 KITESURFING

E ng la nd ’ s rock

Issue 35: June 22 2007

Sport’s first ever Murray cover feature comes at a time when the 20-year-old is struggling with a wrist injury that’s threatening his Wimbledon participation.* But he puts on a brave face to tell us what separates the good players from the great ones.

32

42

FOOTBALL

50

RUGBY UNION EXTREME

Man Utd’s rock, Nemanja Vidic

Heineken Cup starts here!

Bull riding – it’s quite astonishing

Issue 52: November 9 2007 The Murray brothers speak to Sport

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

THE MURRAY BROTHERS

Which of you was the naughty one when you were kids?

Jamie: “Andy.”

Andy: “I liked getting into trouble at school, although I never got suspended or anything. I just used to knock on

HATS, GIRLS AND LIFE ON TOUR TOGETHER

Issue # 52 November 9 2007

24

30

RUGBY UNION FORMULA 1 Brian O’Driscoll Lions interview

At his eighth attempt, Andy Murray made his Wimbledon dream come true. Join Sport as we delve into our Murray archives to recall exactly how he made it to that momentous moment at 5.25pm on Sunday July 7, 2013...

Silverstone’s final race

36 ATHLETICS

David Gower looks European Team back at 1985 Championships

WIN

MURRAY SIGNED

27 38 A day in the life of Jorge Lorenzo

FOOTBALL

A tough weekend ahead for some...

46 PROFILE

The delightful Nives Celzijus

With Murray having just become the first British winner of Queen’s in 71 years – and doing so without dropping a single set – hopes are high that this could be his year at SW19, too.

“I’ve thought about winning Wimbledon and other Grand Slams, but it’s almost

33 CHOKERS!

The 10 biggest bottlers in sport

36

39

MOTOCROSS

FOOTBALL

Freestyle whizz Chris Birch

Big talents, big hair

Andy and Jamie Murray are fast becoming Britain’s favourite sporting siblings, yet we know but little of their boyhood days.

Sport was summoned to a school meeting to find out more...

It’s back to the playground for Sport today, as we are sent scurrying off to a Surrey primary school where the Murray brothers are causing trouble, just like the old days. It’s not so different to the Sport office, really. The people may be slightly smaller and less hairy but, aside from that, there are balls whizzing about and girlish yelps to be heard for miles.

The headmistress has promised to restrain the overexcited little scamps when the Scottish siblings appear, but there have clearly been one too many turkey twizzlers gobbled up for lunch – the energy these kids possess is seemingly boundless.

As it turns out, in fact, they are simply eager to get their clammy little hands on the pile of goodies that is strategically positioned on the wooden bench opposite Sport’s instructed waiting place.

What goodies, you ask? Balls. Piles of them.

All waiting to be signed by Andy and Jamie before being dished out to these feverish kids, and presumably some form of pay-off for not trampling over the headmistress in a crazed attempt to reach their tennis idols.

And yet, when the six-foot-plus brothers finally emerge, side by side, from one of the mobile classrooms stationed in the playground, the children are strangely silent – no clapping or cheering, just wide eyes and open mouths.

Marvellous, peace and quiet – except for Andy and Jamie Murray that is, who are enjoying each other’s company so much that they break off from conversation just long enough to shake Sport’s own clammy little hand. And then, of course, there is that pile of balls to be dealt with...

ANDY & JAMIE MURRAY

BROTHERS GRIM?

Ahem! Sorry to interrupt, gents. You obviously get on well now, but what about when you were kids?

Andy “We used to argue a lot over computer games – what was it?”

Jamie “Nintendo.”

AM “It was normally a football game like Pro Evo, and around that age we’d also argue about tennis a little bit – you know, over who was better. I don’t think we were that terrible, though. We were quite bad when we were younger, but when we got to about 13 we stopped arguing as much. We were travelling a lot by then, and not seeing each other so often. When we did, it was like...”

JM “Precious time... oh God, don’t put that though!”

Sorry Jamie, Sport tells all. So you argued about tennis, but are you competitive off the court, too?

JM “For sure, I don’t like to lose to him at golf – not that it ever happens.” [Smiles smugly] AM “Who won the last time we played?”

JM “Well I play off three, so it would be a bit difficult.”

AM “I never play golf, but if I did play a lot I would beat him. I have a better swing than him, for a start.”

JM “He’s good, he is, don’t get me wrong. But he’s just not that good – not at my level, anyway.”

Tell us something about the other one we don’t already know – something only a brother could or would know...

AM [Without hesitation] “He owns a frilby hat.”

JM “You mean a trilby hat?”

AM “Right, yeah, a trilby – with a purple shirt and a purple waistcoat.”

WEBLINKS www.andymurray.com, www.rbssport.com

NOVEMBER 9 2007

NOVEMBER 9 2007

Murray heads to the US Open without a coach (having split with Miles Maclagan weeks earlier), so Sport asks what any potential new coach could expect when they take on the British number one:

Team-by-team transfer guide

WITH WIMBLEDON LOOMING ON THE NATION’S SPORTING HORIZON, THE EXPERTS TELL US WHY HE IS STILL TO WIN A GRAND SLAM

June 17 2011 Issue 212

Everyone’s been waiting so long for a British winner... I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like if I won.”

16

It’s something that you need in an individual sport, and I think all coaches in tennis understand that. But the most important thing is to have a strong work ethic – then it’s up to the coach to get the best out of you, to make sure you’re in the right atmosphere to train hard and practise properly.”

17

INTERVIEW TENNIS

The ex files: Murray and coach Miles Maclagan (right) split after a two-and-a-half year partnership

JULIAN FINNEY/GETTY IMAGES. HOWARD BINGHAM

29 CYCLING

WHAT IS STOPPING ANDY MURRAY?

like the closer you get to a tournament, the less you think about winning it. It’s when you’re training that you sometimes use those thoughts as motivation, but once the tournament gets close I start to focus on the first match rather than looking too far ahead. Is it an exciting thought? Sure, it would be huge news.

Issue 174: August 27 2010

“I think top players in any sport can be quite stubborn, and I’m no different.

The gritty tale of David Millar

23

The brothers playing together in the doubles at the Masters Series event at Monte Carlo

Issue 116: June 19 2009

34 CRICKET

GRAND SLAM TENNIS

24 RUGBY LEAGUE MOTOGP It’s Challenge Cup final weekend

22 INTERVIEW TENNIS

people’s doors and run away – that sort of stuff.”

JM: “And throw eggs at Halloween, although everyone does that, right?

AM: “I don’t knock on people’s doors any more; Jamie still does, though...”

JM: “Only on your door, for a room for the night!”

AUGUST 27 2010

So, with just days to go until the start of the tennis season’s final Grand Slam – the US Open – the world number four and Britain’s numberone tennis player is without a coach. Andy Murray is flying solo on a wing and a prayer, with no leader, no guide and, well, perhaps no need for one. The Scot won his first title of the season earlier this month, beating Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer en route, so perhaps this coach-free existence is the way forward; a free and easy route to the Grand Slam glory Murray is yet to experience?

“Being without a coach is nice in some ways,” Murray admits when Sport collars him for a pre-US Open chat in Cincinnati.

“But I wouldn’t like to go for a whole year without one.” Even so, the 23-year-old is in no hurry to appoint a successor to Miles Maclagan, his now former coach and ‘master tactician’ of the past two and a half years.

Murray will arrive in New York this weekend with his own game plan, then.

But no coach is no problem, he insists, even at one of the most important tournaments of the year...

Andy, how big an issue is it to not have a coach beside you – especially going into a Grand Slam?

“It’s different and in some ways it’s nice, because when you’ve been working with someone for a long time it’s good to have a little bit more freedom and be a bit more relaxed. Sometimes it’s what you need, a bit of time on your own. But I wouldn’t like to be without a coach permanently, or go for a whole year without one, so I will need somebody to come in again.”

So what happens if, at the US Open, you start to struggle with your game?

How will you handle that?

“It’ll be the same as always because, whether you have a coach or not, when you’re on the court you’re responsible.

Tennis is probably the most individual sport there is because no one can help you. You can’t get your coach on for advice or have someone radioing you to tell you what you should and shouldn’t do. You’re out there alone and you have to make the decisions yourself – coach or no coach.”

Issue 212: June 17 2011 Murray’s Grand Slam final record reads: played three; won not one set. Sport asks the experts how he can take the final, toughest step to Grand Slam glory...

Boris Becker: “He has the talent and the quality to be a Grand Slam champion, but maybe at the moment he’s lacking a little

bit of maturity. It wouldn’t hurt Murray to be involved with someone that is a bit more experienced than any of his team... just having somebody around who has won Grand Slams before.”

Roberto Forzoni (sports psychologist, formerly to Murray and the LTA):

“I don’t think Murray appreciates how much he needs to work on the mental side of his game. Because Murray was so talented as a junior, he didn’t have to compete on the mental side when he was growing up. And because of that lack of competition, there’s a lack of mental strength development.”

Issue 253: April 27 2012

Issue 253 | April 27 2012

LET’S GO TO WORK

Ahead of the biggest summer of his career, Murray ponders how an Olympic gold medal would measure up to a Grand Slam title...

Andy Murray sets his sights on a summer of glory and gold

“Now, honestly, I think it’s up there.

All the players I’ve spoken to are really pumped about it. Even at the last Issue 309 | June 14 2013

Phase two Andy Murray talks exclusively to Sport about the next chapter in his Grand Slam-winning career

Olympics, the guys who lost in the semis but won bronze medals in Beijing were ecstatic. You could see from the celebrations they had, it was huge...If I reach a Slam final this year and lose, a lot of people will say to me: ‘Oh, that’s no good, you need to win it.’ But if I win a silver medal at the Olympics, then

Issue 309: June 14 2013 Now a Grand Slam winner (at the 2012 US Open) and Olympic champion, Murray talks about entering the second chapter of his career...

“Now I’ve done it, I can move on. Ivan [Lendl, Murray’s coach] has helped with keeping me focused and not letting my

everyone will celebrate that. So that’s where there’s a bit of inconsistency, because a silver medal at the Games is hugely celebrated – I think – whereas the final of a Slam is sort of viewed as not quite being good enough.”

Andy Murray

mind drift and think that [winning the US Open] is what I was here to do. It’s important to reset your goals.

Before, I just wanted to win a Grand Slam, I didn’t care which one it was... now it’s easier to start prioritising individual tournaments.” >

“I just wAnted to wIn A grAnd slAm. I dIdn’t cAre whIch one It wAs. I just wAnted to wIn one” Ahead of his return to Wimbledon, Andy Murray speaks exclusively to Sport about his momentous year, injuries, and why it always pays to keep your eye on the ball

A

ndy Murray is reflecting on the first phase of his career as a professional tennis player – the phase that came to an end at 2.05am on September 10 2012, when an overhit Novak Djokovic return handed the Scot the maiden Grand Slam title he’d spent more than a decade working towards. Sinking to his haunches, Murray’s hands covered his mouth as he struggled to absorb the enormity of what he had achieved.

That momentous New York night feels like it was longer than nine months ago when Sport sits down with Murray beside the centre court at Queen’s Club – an arena that has brought him the only grass-court titles of his career so far (his Olympic gold aside).

The US Open champion has just emerged from the players’ lounge, where he’s been glued to the final set of Rafael Nadal’s French Open semi-final win over Djokovic. The tournament is the first Slam Murray has missed in six years (he sat out Wimbledon in 2007 with a wrist injury), but the gruelling nature of the four-hour, 37-minute battle he’s just witnessed has proved his difficult decision to sit out the tournament was the right one.

“That sort of match is the reason why I wasn’t playing, because I wouldn’t have been able to compete at the level I’d want to compete at,” he explains. “My back just wasn’t good enough.”

The injury was so bad that it forced Murray to retire from his second-round match at the Rome Masters in May, and he admits to fearing the worst as he departed the Italian capital. “My back had been bad the week before, in Madrid, but I just hoped that with a few days’ rest before Rome it would be okay,” he says. “After I pulled out, I was going to see back specialists, having scans and just getting a lot of different opinions from a lot of people. In your head, you do prepare yourself for really bad news.”

Murray suffered from back spasms at a similar stage of last season, leading some to conclude the problem is aggravated by the switch in surfaces at the beginning of the clay-court campaign – thus something the 26-year-old might therefore have to manage for the remainder of his career.

“All players have things they need to manage,” he continues. “Roger’s had back issues for a while and Rafa’s had problems with his knees. The game is so physical now that it’s almost impossible not to have >

| 17

16 | July 12 2013 |

It was the day after the most momentous 24 hours in his life, and Andy Murray couldn’t wait to tell us all about it. Sort of.

“I won Wimbledon yesterday.”

“It’s going to take a few days to get my head around it and understand the magnitude of what happened.

At the moment it’s just a bit surreal.

I mean, I know I won Wimbledon, but it’s much bigger than just that, I think.”

Issue 315 | July 26 2013

ECB

WIMBLEDON WONDER

rom the calm, calculating run-scorers at the top of the order to the lofty, dreamboat fast-bowlers at the other end, the England Test cricket team is a well-balanced unit. Mercurial spark is provided by the devious off-spin of Graeme Swann or the pyrotechnic batting of Kevin Pietersen. But the backbone of the side, the glue that holds it all together, is the man behind the stumps.

Matt Prior is the reigning England Cricketer of the Year and the Test team’s vice-captain; a man who offers aggressive batting lower down the order and is the team’s Mr Motivator in the field. However, it so nearly didn’t happen.

At the end of 2008, when he was dropped from the England squad aged 26, he was on verge of giving up the gloves.

“Knocking ‘keeping on the head was a very serious consideration,” he says now. “At that point, I knew I wanted to play for England again and I knew I could bat successfully at international level. The thing that was holding me back was my keeping. So I just thought: ‘Right, I’ll focus solely on my batting and get into the team that way.’”

Prior, now 31, changed his mind only after a chat with the former England wicketkeeper Alex Stewart, who convinced him to take a year to really work on improving his wicketkeeping. Being dropped also meant people Prior assumed were his pals suddenly went AWOL. “It hurt, to be honest,” he says. “Everyone is there while things are going great and they’re all your best mates. Then it all goes horribly wrong and the first thing that happened was some people loved telling me about Bob Willis nailing me on the telly, or whatever. They’d say: ‘Oh, did you see what this person said [about you]?’ And I thought: ‘Hold on a minute, you’re supposed to be my mate. Why are you telling me this?’

One by one, you see those people disappear. The great thing is it left the people who I now know I can rely on through thick and thin. That was a good lesson for me to learn.”

There’s very little reason for Bob Willis or anyone else to criticise Prior since his recall in 2009 (just in time to play a key role in England’s Ashes victory that summer).

His intensive, ongoing work with specialist gloveman Bruce French has led to vast improvement in his keeping skills and

– although he’s not the type to take it for granted – Prior’s place in the team looks secure ahead of 10 Ashes Tests over the next seven months. Not that everything is 100 per cent plain sailing behind the scenes. The memories of his feisty past still cause Prior a bit of grief.

Edvald [Boasson Hagen] when he fractured his shoulder [in a crash on Stage 12] and it was impossible for him to carry on. In a way, I was lucky that I can continue. And on Twitter, when people are saying they’re in the gym or on their bike, and if I’m riding the Tour with this then they can definitely do whatever they’re doing – it’s nice to hear.“

R

How was climbing Mont Ventoux? You took on the most famous climb in Tour history in 30 degreeheat, after 230km of racing, with thousands of fans lining the route – and all on Bastille Day… “It was unbelievable. The amount of Welsh and British flags was incredible as well. It’s strange – there’s so much noise but you can always pick out the Welsh or British accents. For sure it was a tough day, but it definitely spurs you on with all those fans, that tunnel of noise, all those nationalities and on such a famous climb. You do the last 15km on a bit of a high, really.“

iding the toughest bike race in the world is

Every sinew must have been screaming at you to stop.

“Yeah, but the mental side is definitely the hardest bit.

I’ve gradually improved over the Tours I’ve done, and I’ve done a lot of work this year on my climbing and being there on the final climbs for Froomey and Ritchie [Porte]. Then all of a sudden, overnight, it’s back to square one again - where I was in 2007, when I rode the Tour for the first time, just struggling round. It’s been almost like survival mode, really.“

“It’s a hIdeous nIckname. I WIll state For the record that It’s ‘the cheese’ not ‘the bIg cheese’” | July 5 2013 | 17

Has it occurred to you that you will go down in Tour history for – hopefully – finishing the race?

“Yeah, but I think in a way I was fortunate that I could carry on with the fracture, because obviously we lost

PRIOR TO A LONG WINTER

Ahead of the first Ashes Test of the summer, Matt Prior, England’s newly named cricketer of the year, revealed himself to be a fan of the Aussie approach to the game:

This was, however, a Prior yet to suffer the scars of an Ashes defeat. Those beers might not be quiet so enjoyable come the end of the current series…

hero or villain?

Woman of steel

Stuart Broad’s will to win has landed him in controversy.

As the second Test continues, the England bowler tells us how the Ashes have sharpened his competitive edge k

. w goals on 2012, me, ne New naar on from Londrns One ye Ennis-Hill retu ica ss Je

“My first day on the bike after crashing was unbelievable. I couldn’t get out of the saddle”

How do you cope with the constant speculation that Froome and Team Sky must be doping because you’re winning? It must take infinite patience.

“Yeah, to be honest, for me – I don’t care [about the speculation]. Chris is the one taking the brunt of that.

It’s just funny how, on Stage 8, when Froomey won [and Porte finished second], all of a sudden we’re all cheating. Then after Stage 9, when Chris was isolated [after attacks from Movistar and Saxo-Tinkoff left Froome exposed in the front group], we’re all crap.

When you’re at the top, everyone wants to have a dig at you. If it wasn’t us winning and it was somebody else, I’m sure it’d be the same for them. We’re paying for the history of the sport and what’s gone on before, which isn’t nice, and it’s not fair. But that’s the way it is. At the end of the day, we know what we’re doing’s right, and people can say what they want.“ Apparently you were effing and blinding at the rest of the team to egg them on in the Team Time Trial?

“Yeah, I was just pumped after the first couple of kilometres to still be there and be able to give a few turns. I was just getting up them and trying to get the most out of everyone. Collectively, as a team, it was good for us to pull together and get through.“ What’s been your lowest point?

“The second day, for sure. The first time I was on the bike after crashing was unbelievable: I couldn’t get out of the saddle or even really pedal with my left leg.

The first 10km, I was at the back of the group already – it was tough going and I thought I’d struggle to finish in the time limit that day, but I managed to get through, just keep going. And here we are.“

Graham Willgoss @grahamwillgoss

Geraint Thomas is working with gourmet yoghurt brand The Collective, makers of mind-blowing yoghurt

30 | July 19 2013 |

THE PELVIC CRUSH

Team Sky’s Geraint Thomas fractured his pelvis on the opening stage of the Tour de France, but three weeks later was still putting a shift in. On the Tour’s second rest day, Sport caught up with the hardy Welshman:

“The first time I was on the bike after crashing was unbelievable: I couldn’t get out of the saddle or even really pedal with my left leg.

The first 10km, I was at the back of the group already – it was tough going, but I managed to get through, just keep going. And here we are.”

Shane Warne

Matt Prior

“Do you miss me?”

The first England v Australia Test of 2013 is under way, but the greatest bowler of them all is sat in the Sky Sports commentary box.

We talk highs, lows and comeback daydreams as Shane Warne shares his Ashes memories

It was 20 years ago this summer that you bowled ’the Ball of the Century’ with your first delivery in an Ashes Test. You’ve called it a fluke since – isn’t that rank false modesty?

“Nah mate, it was a fluke. I mean, I rock up at just 23 years old and I’m bowling to the best player of spin bowling in England, who was Mike Gatting. I had Graham Gooch staring me down at the non-striker’s end, so it was quite nerve-wracking and intimidating, really. When you start your spell as a leg spinner, you try and get into a bit of rhythm, try to land a few leg breaks and get the ball turning. So to bowl, I suppose, the perfect leg break was pretty amazing. Every time I came on to bowl after that, I tried to do it first ball and it never worked. That’s why I call it a fluke.”

195

socialise outside of cricket, we’d play golf together, drinks in the changing rooms after a day’s play.

There was no English player I disliked, that’s for sure.”

as take wickets was pretty satisfying from a personal point of view. But I enjoyed a lot of the other eight Ashes series I played in a lot more, because we won.”

Skipping on from your debut to 2005...

“Oh, that’d be right. You’ve missed out a few series there, haven’t you mate? [Laughs] How about we skip straight to 2007, when we won 5-0?”

It was your first Ashes after your 12-month ban [for using a diuretic in 2003]. Were you determined to make a point?

“My enforced layoff in 2003, I call it. I actually think it just gave my body – after a good 13 or 14 years of playing so much cricket and travelling – a rest.

I trained twice a day for three or four months with a professional trainer. My body was strong and for two or three years after that, I don’t know the exact numbers, but I think my record was pretty good.

I was so up for it, I was super fit, I was pretty fresh in my mind and I really enjoyed my cricket.”

We’ll come to that. But while 2005 was a loss for Australia, it was an incredible, competitive series.

Do you have any fond memories of it in that respect?

“It’s pretty hard to enjoy a series when you lose, but when you look back eight years on, you can always say it was a wonderful series. I thought the cricket skills on display, the sportsmanship and camaraderie between both teams, is why it really captured the imagination of everyone. It had drama, it had emotion and it went right down to the wire in every match.”

Warne has taken more Ashes wickets than any other bowler, at an average of 23.25 You mention Gatt, but who was the best England player you came up against in all of your many Ashes battles?

“Gooch. He was a fantastic player; put a high price on his wicket and it was always tough bowling to him.

I’m not sure how many times I knocked him over, but it wasn’t many [six times in Ashes Tests] – and he got a few big hundreds against us. When I came on, he was generally on 30 or 40 already after the quick bowlers, so it was always tough bowling to him.”

Was there any England opponent who really got under your skin?

“No. Honestly, since I started playing first-class cricket in 1990, I can only really think of one or two players who sort of... not got under my skin, but who I didn’t really enjoy playing against. I thought they played against the spirit of the game. But the England and Australia teams always got along well. We would

But is it true you’d have quit international cricket in 2005 if Australia would have won?

“Yeah, I probably would have. Although, looking back, I’m glad I kept playing. Some people still say I retired too early, but it’s always nice to get out on top and people say: ’Why are you?’ Rather than: ’Why don’t you [quit]?’ So I think I got out at the right time, in 2007. It doesn’t mean I don’t miss the game. I often daydream about making a comeback. I’ve always loved the game of cricket, and I always will. I’m very passionate about it and I’m a bit of a fighter, so I enjoy the competitiveness. It’s hard to replace that in your life, you know?”

“I often daydream about making a comeback” You also took 40 wickets: your highest total in any series. Was that a source of personal pride?

“Yeah, a lot of people think that that 2005 Ashes series is one of the best cricket series ever, so it was good to perform well – even as a batsman.

I remember coming coming in at about 100-6 a lot with the team in trouble because there were so many wonderful quick bowlers in that series – whether it was Simon Jones or Steve Harmison or Andrew Flintoff. There was no respite from quality swing bowling and sheer pace, so to get runs [249] as well

We definitely know. So, this being a double Ashes year – something even you never had before – don’t you wish you were still out there playing?

“Why, do you miss me? [Laughs] Well, I was lucky enough that I played for a long time. But I’m at a stage in my life now with my family where we’re all getting along super well. My children are getting older – 16, 14 and 12 this year – so we hang out all the time and it’s great. I’m happy in my personal life with Elizabeth [Hurley] – we’re going great. I’m combining working in >

Portraits by James Lincoln

| July 19 2013 | 17

Look, it wasn’t our fault. We cannot be held responsible for the fact that just five days after we labeled her both a “Woman of Steel” and a “Wonder Woman”, Jessica Ennis-Hill withdrew from the World Athletics Championships in Moscow with an achilles injury, and hasn’t competed since. As we said: not our fault. Sorry though, Jess.

The two-time Olympic track champion on protecting the Maillot Jaune, dealing with doping accusations and taking on the Tour with a fractured pelvis

How are you coping with the pelvis? It must be agony...

“It feels a lot better now than it did. That first week was the hardest I’ve had on the bike, but it’s nice to feel like I’m improving. And it’s nice to finally get stuck into the race and do a job for Froomey and the boys.“

“You play hard on the pitch and you never take a backward step. It’s competitive and that’s how it should be. I don’t know if that’s the Aussie way or whatever, but I like that way of playing sport...

Then, when all’s said and done, you’re able to have a beer with those same opposition players that you’ve hated for seven weeks. I get a huge amount of pleasure from that.”

new goals. n 2012, Londo New name, on from One yearEnnis-Hill returns Jessica

Racing through the pain barrier one thing. Riding it for the team protecting the Yellow Jersey is tougher still. Riding it with a fractured pelvis, however, is nigh-on unthinkable.

But that is exactly what Geraint Thomas, having crashed in a chaotic opening stage in Corsica nearly three weeks ago, is doing for Team Sky and the current leader of the General Classification, Chris Froome. And yet, when Sport catches up with the 27-year-old on the Tour’s second rest day, he insists he’s getting stronger with every kilometre.

Watermelons and cheese

“It’s a hideous nickname!” says Prior with a grin when asked about his moniker within the England team. “I will state for the record that it’s ‘The Cheese’ not ‘The Big Cheese’, but it came about in my younger years. I had a diamond stud and — when I had hair — I had blond highlights. Everyone thought I walked around like I was ‘the big cheese’, so that’s where it came from. I’ve lost the hair, I’ve got rid of the diamond stud, but the nickname seems to have stuck.”

He was also the recipient of another unwanted, albeit shortlived, nickname via a certain Shane Warne. As Prior recounts in his book, The Gloves are Off, he was given the full Warne treatment when they met in county cricket in 2005: “I walked out with my usual confidence. Some would call it a strut, of course. Warne certainly thought it was a strut... After I had got to the wicket, he stopped the whole game. And he mimicked my walk to the wicket by walking up and down the pitch, with his arms out as if he was carrying a watermelon under each arm. That was what he kept calling me: ‘Watermelons’.”

Prior chuckles about the story now, despite admitting it made him “feel about an inch tall” at the time. He’s matured >

Stuart Broad

CURSE OF THE COVER

Geraint Thomas

Matt Prior talks exclusively about almost giving up his wicketkeeping gloves, two dubious nicknames and why the Ashes feels different to any other series

F

W W W. S P O R T - M A G A Z I N E . C O . U K

Anja Niedringhaus/AFP/Getty Images

Mission accomplished

*Three days after Sport hits the streets, a dejected Murray announces: “The doctor has advised me not to play.” We admit no responsibility.

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

28 CRICKET

Monty Panesar interviewed

or 50 in the world, and you think: ‘But that second guy looks like a better player.’

The difference is in the mental strength.”

“My coach in Spain [Murray attended the Sánchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona at 15], told me tennis was 60 per cent mental, 20 per cent this [gently pounds his heart] and then the last 20 per cent in your legs. And it’s all just so true. You look at the guys at the top of their game, and then you look at someone ranked 40

Getty Images, Ben Radford/Allsport UK

30 BOXING

Hatton gears up to British three-time take US by storm world champion

MICHAEL STEELE / GETTY IMAGES. LIONEL CIRONNEAU / AP / PA PHOTOS

26 SAILING

Woman of steel

Stuart Broad on how the Ashes have sharpened his competitive edge

Matt Prior

24 TENNIS

Amelie Mauresmo: America’s Cup defending champ reaches a climax

WALK THE LINE

Game.

Set. Match.

History.

Andy Murray

June 22 2007

Issue 315 | July 26 2013

Bryn Lennon/Getty Images, Reuters/Action Images

Issue 312 | July 5 2013

PLAYING IT COOL

He was labeled a “dirty cheat” for not walking in the first Test at Trent Bridge in the summer. But, as the second Test unfolded, Stuart Broad told us he had been pre-conditioned to deal with whatever insults were hurled at him: Broad has been working on what he calls ‘warrior mode’ – the right level of controlled aggression to get results, without letting emotion overrun judgment. “It’s something I’ve worked very hard on in the past few years,” he tells us.

“You make sure you don’t get too emotional, just enough that you still have enough fire to let the batsman know you have a presence… all that matters is the four walls of the changing room. It doesn’t matter what’s written outside of that.”

WARNEY’S FAVOURITE

With the first England v Australia Test of 2013 under way, we asked the greatest bowler of them all to share his own Ashes highlights:

“Melbourne in 2007 was an amazing week in my life. It was the last time I was ever going to play at my beloved MCG, which was sort of my backyard.

So to come on and bowl when England were doing pretty well and take five for 30 on day one, including my 700th wicket, in front of 90,000 people, plus family and friends, all at Christmas time… it’s amazing how my scriptwriter worked.” k | December 20 2013 | 27

ards 2013 Aw

august

Issue 316 | August 2 2013

Issue 317 | August 9 2013

Issue 318 | August 16 2013

Issue 319 | August 23 2013

Issue 320 | August 30 2013

On e-m an s hOw Usain Bolt talks exclusively to Sport

Aguero The Man City hitman talks exclusively to Sport

Serena Williams

Tough at the top

Usain Bolt

The Real deal

Issue 317 | August 9 2013

The world’s fastest man talks to Sport about running out of competitors on the track, becoming a legend and those Swedish handball girls at London 2012

Tom Oldham

A

little over 24 hours before running his first competitive race in Britain since picking up three Olympic gold medals here last summer, Usain Bolt is ushered into the

beige surrounds of a conference room in an east London hotel. Around 100 journalists are waiting for the Jamaican, with dictaphones readied and pens poised to capture his every word.

He’s given a brief warm-up – three or four easy questions about how much he enjoys competing in London and even where he likes to holiday – before one journalist bites the bullet.

Ever since the news broke that Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell – two of the four fastest men in history – had failed drugs tests, one question could not be ignored: if they couldn’t do it legitimately, how can anyone be sure that Usain Bolt can?

“I’m pleased you asked me this,” he responds.

“Because I was planning to explain to people.

How long have you been following Usain Bolt?

Since 2007, 2008? Well, if you were following me since 2002, you’d know that I’ve been doing phenomenal things since I was 15. I was the youngest person to win the world juniors at 15; I ran the world junior record (for 200m) in 19.93s at 18; world youth record at 16. I’ve broken every record there is to break, so I’ve proven myself since I was 15. And, as my agent would say, I’m underperforming right now – so I need to step it up.

But I’ve shown throughout the years that I was always going to be great, so that’s all I have to say.”

It’s a monologue persuasive enough to satisfy the room, although the drugs-related questions persist in various other guises: do you trust the athletes you’re lining up against? How can you be sure you’re not taking anything that’s on the banned list, without knowing about it? Do you

use supplements? Bolt, however, stays cool, calm and collected – everything he’s always been.

Fast-forward to Friday night at 9.48pm, and 60,000 camera flashes illuminate the Olympic Stadium, as Bolt strolls to his lane for the final event of the Anniversary Games’ opening day – the 100m. Despite leaving his blocks with all the urgency of a final drop of congealed ketchup that’s reluctant to emerge from its glass bottle, he blitzes the final 50m to win in a season’s best time of 9.85s.

Did he purposely give the others a head start in order to test his speed ahead of the upcoming World Championships in Moscow? Bolt lets out a deep laugh before insisting: “It wasn’t planned...”

M I L L S AN D BO LT

It’s now Sunday afternoon, the day after Bolt completes a double-weekend win by anchoring a Jamaican Racers Track Club team (the club where Bolt trains with coach Glen Mills), to victory in the 4x100m sprint relay. The record-breaking Olympian is in another east London hotel for media duties, this time accompanied by his agent Ricky Simms and Nugent ‘NJ’ Walker, his closest friend of 20 years – and a man who Bolt hired as his executive manager in 2010.

The most famous athlete on the planet introduces himself to Sport with a strong handshake and the following byline: “Usain Bolt, track and field.” Just in case, you know? Then it’s back to the start – that start.

“It was awful,” he grimaces. “I didn’t slip or anything – it was just a bad start. I had an okay reaction time (recorded as 0.175s), but the rest of the transition was really bad. As soon as I saw my coach afterwards, he explained – but he said the good thing was that my last 50m was spectacular, and he liked how I executed. So all we need to do now is work on the first 50m, I guess.”

Coach Mills will, Bolt says, look over the tapes of his races from last weekend and use them to decide how his training regime needs to be adapted between now and the first heat of the 100m in Moscow on August 10. Theirs is a partnership that began towards the end of 2004, months after Bolt’s Olympic debut in Athens – where, hampered by injury, he failed to make it past the first heat of the 200m.

“He’s like my second dad now,” Bolt says softly.

“He’s my mentor and my friend. He’s a coach, so yeah – he can be quite strict when he tries to explain to me to stay on the positive side of things, you know? Not to go out, not to drink – he’s like a parent. But he’s extremely awesome, and 90 per cent of the time I’m around him, I’m laughing.

If you weren’t a part of the media, it would be nice meeting him. But he doesn’t really like the media that much.”

Coach Mills was one of many people who felt the younger Bolt was better suited to the longer sprint distance than the marquee 100m event, >

“h Ow LO NG h Av e y Ou Be eN f OL LOw I N G u S A I N B OLT ?

S I N c e 20 07 , 20 08 ? w eL L , I f y O u w er e f OL LOw I N G M e S I N c e 2 00 2, y Ou ’D k N Ow T h AT I ’v e B eeN D OI N G ph eN OM eN A L T h I N GS S I N ce I wA S 1 5 y eA r S O L D”

Pedro Armestre/AFP/Getty Images

LAS T MAN STAND ST ING

Zinedine Zidane

The finest player of his generation spoke to Sport about his own stellar career, his favourites for next year’s World Cup, and why Gareth Bale could be so important in the Spanish capital >

| August 2 2013 | 19

BOLT BEATEN. AT LAST

The world’s fastest man took on Sport’s ‘How British is Bolt?’ quiz. And, for once in his life, he was thoroughly beaten.

CALLING THE SHOTS

Ahead of the new season, our A-Z of the Premier League pondered what the next 10 months might bring…

| August 30 2013 | 29

Do you know who Pippa Middleton is?

Usain Bolt: (Silence) “No. who’s Pippa Middleton? Ricky [Simms, his manager] doesn’t even know.”

Ricky Simms: “You know, the woman who had a baby. Prince Harry’s brother, who married Kate Middleton. Remember the wedding? When Prince William got married?”

UB: “Prince William…?”

RS: “Yeah, she had a sister who was a bit hotter than her.”

UB: “Oh.” Score: 0

BACK TO BASICS

What does Zinedine Zidane miss most about playing football? C’est simple…

“The green rectangle – I’ll always miss it.”

Kick-off

You’re on the Tube and an attractive woman is making eyes at you. How do you react?

UB: “I would introduce myself. So we’d get chatting and exchange numbers before she gets off. Is that British? No? Seriously? If a girl smiled at you, you wouldn’t…? Gah!”

D was for dead man(agers) walking, in which we gave our thoughts on who was likely to cross the line first in the annual sack race.

Our runners and riders?

All About the gAme

Z was for Zaha

This is what we said: “He’s gone from potential loanee to the man tasked with providing the wide spark that a combined force of Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia failed to conjure last season. Welcome to the big league, Wilf.”

Er…

ALL KICKING OFF

Our pre-season, team-by-team guide to the Premier League got some things bang on.

Shame Bob let us down though, eh?

Arsenal

Keep an eye on…Olivier Giroud The Gunners have lacked a clinical front man since the departure of Robin van Persie – but if Giroud’s pre-season form continues, they might have finally found their man.

Sergio Aguero speaks exclusively to Sport about his new club manager, La Liga v the Premier League and Argentina’s World Cup hopes for Brazil 2014

Newcastle United 22 | August 30 2013 |

Three we missed: Ian Holloway, Steve Clarke and Andre Villas-Boas. That’s five before Christmas – happy days in the Premier League.

The new Premier League season, team by team

Tom Oldham Photography

Michael Laudrup: cruising along, with Swansea comfortably mid-table Paolo Di Canio: SACKED after five games of the season Martin Jol: SACKED after 13 games of the season Alan Pardew: going great guns at Newcastle

Sergio Aguero

In association with

| 23

TARGET MAN

Manchester City’s summer signings have impressed, but Sergio Aguero told Sport there’s one player he still wants to see play for the blue half of the city…

Playing for his country presents Aguero with a rare opportunity to play alongside Lionel Messi. Could that be a possibility at club level one day?

“Yes, he should come to Man City,” Aguero says with a smile. “Then we’ll definitely play together!

City should buy him!”

If they were an animal… Bull terrier Powerful and actually rather loveable – but often undone by an idiot owner sporting a balding head and a warm can of lager.

Tottenham

Keep an eye on… Roberto Soldado With Emmanuel Adebayor in what we’ll call ‘full-contract mode’ for most of last season, Spurs regularly lacked a focal point for their attacks. The man to provide that is £26m record signing, Roberto Soldado. The Spain striker is an ideal outlet for Andre Villas-Boas’ side: quick, mobile, alert and a lethal finisher. k | December 20 2013 | 29

september MagIc Man

Issue 321 | September 6 2013

Issue 322 | September 13 2013

Naked ambition

Giant,

“mE and sEb aRE jUsT pRoFEssional. WE go aboUT oUR jobs. WE don’T HavE mUcH oF a RElaTionsHip aT THE TRack – THaT’s no sEcRET. HE doEs His job, i do minE” Vettel gets a hard time from the fans and the press relative to his success – is he really that bad?

“Well, it’s interesting. Yeah... he’s been dominant, obviously, and very successful – he’s done a lot of winning. I suppose the general public have their views on how they like to see people be successful, I suppose. Look at Usain Bolt and Roger Federer – they’re not booing those guys, so it’s interesting to see how people have this perception of certain sportsmen and women. That’s unfortunately the perception they have of Seb at the moment.”

Has he brought that upon himself with his actions, like his controversial win in Malaysia this year?

[Exhales slowly] “Yeah, I think... yeah, in some scenarios he might not have helped himself.”

THE FUTURE

With seven races left in his final season, Webber has unfinished business before his move to Porsche.

He’s yet to secure his maiden win of the season, which would be his tenth in F1, but his powers have barely diminished with age – as demonstrated by a battling podium in Monza a fortnight ago.

Mark Webber retires froM forMula 1 at the end of the year. he tells sport about his final season at red bull, and his neW drive With porsche

| 39

SAnti deliverS

Giant,

“When I started playing football, it was hard because the players were all big and strong. Luckily, every year it has changed a bit – and now it’s more about technical skill rather than physicality. In Spain now, it’s more tactical, I think – more boring. For me, Barcelona and Madrid are so far ahead. But in England it’s more level, more competitive. For me, it’s better.”

killer But Nemanja Vidic shows Sport his softer side in an exclusive interview

Bumping into Sir Alex

David Haye reveals his reignited love for boxing

T

he finest line divides success from failure, and no one knows that better than British 400m runner Christine Ohuruogu.

She won gold at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow by just fourthousandths of a second last month, overhauling Botswana rival Amantle Montsho and pipping her to the line in a photo finish.

“I’ve never won by such a small margin,” she tells us. “It just shows you how races can be won and lost. It’s just literally milliseconds, millimetres... and that’s why you have to keep going right to the end.”

That’s a mantra that applies equally to Ohuruogu’s whole 2013 season – which comes to an end this weekend, and could have been considered mixed until the race in Moscow. She set out to break the longstanding British record, which was set

by Kathy Cook back in 1984, and had to wait until that gold-medal winning race in Russia to do it, in a time of 49.41 seconds.

“We were planning to break the record all season,” she explains. “It’s a fast record, but compared to what the other girls have run it’s not actually that fast. It was a bit surprising that I hadn’t at least come close, having won two Olympic medals and having won the world title before. It’s a little surprising that it was still standing, but it was nice to get it done at the championships – and also come away with the gold medal.”

We ask Ohuruogu whether, at 29, she has reached her athletic peak by breaking that British record – or if she will be able to keep bringing that time down in the years to come.

“I don’t know really,” she admits. “It all comes down to how healthy you are, whether you’ve got the right competition. Unfortunately I haven’t got a crystal ball, so I can’t answer those questions.” >

Your replacement at Red Bull is Daniel Ricciardo, another Aussie. What advice would you give him?

“He’ll be fine – he’s got nearly 50 Grands Prix under his belt [Ricciardo is currently on 43], so he’s getting the experience now. He’s in pretty much a perfect slot as a Red Bull junior driver. That’s what they’ve been pushing for quite hard for the past few years, to get one of those guys in there beside Seb. So he’s got every opportunity to blossom and get some phenomenal results.”

Was it important that the team promoted from within, instead of bringing in someone more experienced such as Kimi Räikkönen?

“It makes sense for lots of reasons. It’s good that there’s some talent coming through, and not just pay-drivers on the grid, which is getting completely out of control. We need to keep the talented guys coming through so that there’s a good high level. So it was good that Daniel stayed in the Red Bull system, and managed to prove himself to get a top seat.”

Will having a clear number two help take away some of the tension in the team?

[Carefully] “I think it will be easy for the team to handle Daniel...”

What do you make of the direction that Formula 1 is taking, with the new engine regulations?

“Well, we still need to keep it at the pinnacle of the sport, if we can. And the sport is about the drivers, ultimately. People turn it on to watch the drivers.

The cars are important as well – they’ve gotta be quick, they’ve gotta sound awesome – but people loved watching Senna, Mansell, Piquet, Prost, and Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso in this era. That’s what it’s got to be about. As long as the drivers are all strong characters and strong men racing, then the sport will be in good shape. Engine-wise, yes, they need to go with something that is going to be beneficial for mainstream production down the line. And, >

Easier than it was with you?

“Of course, yeah. We saw in 2010 that it was not exactly straightforward between Sebastian and myself, particularly in the years when I was more competitive. There were some good battles, and that does cause some interesting dynamics within the team. I think Daniel will be fast. He’ll be strong, but he needs to assert his authority on the team as well.”

Feeling the squeeze: Webber overtakes Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso at the Belgian Grand Prix in 2011 – a battle the pair revisited in Italy only a fortnight ago

How is the dynamic between you and Seb at the moment?

“We’re just professional. We go about our jobs.

We don’t have much of a relationship at the race tracks – but that’s no secret. He does his job, I do mine.” | 35

Hit giRl

Leaving it late New 400m world champion Christine Ohuruogu looks back on a successful season – one that culminated in the most nail-biting finale imaginable

“I’ve got my medals, I’m happy with those; my coach is brilliant and I really enjoy working with him. We don’t want a marching band or trumpets.”

Ronda Rousey

Ronda Rousey, the world’s number one female MMA fighter, on dislocating elbows and offering advice to the guys going fRom judo to mmA

“It got to the point where judo training didn’t make me happy. I was miserable with the lifestyle required to be among the best in the world in judo, and I just realised that I wasn’t willing to be unhappy every day for four years to possibly be happy one day at an Olympics. I won my medal [an Olympic bronze in 2008] and that was great, but it wears off and you return to real life. Now I treat every single MMA fight as if it was an Olympic match. That’s one edge I do have: I learned a lot of lessons and developed a lot of good habits from my first run at a career through judo. I know that I’m able to deal with real pressure.”

Acting, modelling, figHting

“People ask me if my other activities are a distraction — but I don’t know why everyone thinks that I had no distractions before! I was working three jobs and training full time for my first year. It’s not that I have more work now – I just have different, more glamorous work. When I’m training, I’m totally focused on that. Also, I like giving myself extra challenges and making people doubt me, because it makes a fight more interesting. If I just keep defending my title over and over and over, I feel like people will just get kinda bored of it. It’s more exciting for everyone if I keep putting that little bit of doubt in their minds.”

Christine Ohuruogu told us she doesn’t mind not getting the fanfare that some other British athletes get:

| September 13 2013 | 33

“I’d like to think he was putting on all that crazy crap a little bit, but he seems a bit too natural at it. I think he just genuinely is that much of a dick.

I know what he’s going to say before he says it. He’s just a clown… I just can’t wait for when all the talking stops and it comes down to fighting.

Because that’s what I do best.”

When did you actually make the decision?

“In December. I’m sitting there, down there next to the beach, thinking: ’Okay, yeah, I’ve got to go back again.’ Don’t get me wrong – I get bored if I’m three weeks at the beach, and still need to find stuff that’s gonna stimulate me. I’m still a young man, but the fire in the belly needs to be very strong at this level.

And, if you’re not completely driven and focused on it, you’ve gotta be honest with yourself and pull the pin.”

Will you go to any F1?

“Yeah, I think the odd race here and there. But you won’t see me at too many.”

“He’s been dominant – he’s done a lot of winning. I suppose the general public have their views on how they like to see people be successful.

Look at Usain Bolt and Roger Federer – they’re not booing those guys, so it’s interesting to see how people have this perception of certain sportsmen and women.

That’s unfortunately the perception they have of Seb at the moment…

In some scenarios, he might not have helped himself.”

Quietly BrilliAnt

“It doesn’t really enter my consciousness, to be honest. I tend to be a very quiet person, which maybe doesn’t really play well in my favour. But I’m really kind of content with what I’ve done and what I’ve achieved. Sometimes you can get dragged into... I call it a quagmire... but you can get sucked into opinions and deceptions and all this stuff.”

Ian Walton/Getty Images

David Haye talked the talk before his scheduled fight with Tyson Fury, but twice pulled out of doing what he apparently does best:

Why have you decided to retire now?

“I think the timing is perfect for me. The category has big changes coming next year – and I thought I’d do all those changes where my future is going to be, instead of taking another year in F1, where I do think I’m starting to run out of a little bit of puff. I want to stop while I’m still driving very well at the front, still hanging out with Fernando and Seb and those boys.”

Is there anything you’re looking forward to being able to do?

“Going to some other sporting events that have always clashed. There are lots of other events that I’d like to go and see and do, and I’ve got a bit more time on my hands now.”

mr unpopulAr

“Actually I saw him at Wimbledon – accidentally we had seats next to each other. We were supporting the different players [Murray and Djokovic] and it was fun, it was nice to see him there. I was not his player at the time. He looked relaxed and he was with his family.”

Christine Ohuruogu

Who’S cloWning Who?

claim victory. Webber was typically outspoken then, and didn’t disappoint when we caught up with him.

Will you have a bit more spare time?

“A little bit more, but it’s still a very professional and pretty busy programme. I’ll have a few more ’pit stops’ here and there. When you look at the F1 programme next year – 20 races, with four tests in a season – my programme will be more relaxed.”

We asked Mark Webber about his teammate Sebastian Vettel’s lack of popularity:

Nemanja Vidic on running into his old boss at the tennis.

Predictably, Sir Alex Ferguson was backing a winner:

Naked ambition

30 | December 20 2013 |

A

s the sun sets in Singapore this Sunday, and the drivers prepare for the city’s night race, Mark Webber will be readying himself for the twilight of his Formula 1 career. The 37-year-old announced back in June that this will be his final year in the sport, his imminent move to join Porsche’s new LMP1 sports car programme in the World Endurance Championship perhaps hastened by tensions with Sebastian Vettel, the triple world champion and Webber’s Red Bull teammate.

The Australian’s frustration at the preferential treatment enjoyed by the younger driver came to a head at the Malaysian Grand Prix in March, when Vettel ignored team orders and overtook his teammate to

The podium at Monza looked like it meant a lot?

“Yeah, it was good. It hasn’t been the easiest track for me over the years, so it was nice to get a good result there. It was a fighting second place, too – I was pushing Fernando. After the race, the first thing he said was: ’You really made me work for that.

I couldn’t make any mistakes, you were always there giving me a hard time.’ It was a good little battle.”

Tell us about your next move.

“There are a lot of categories out there, but I think LMP1 [Le Mans Prototype] is the closest category to Formula 1 in terms of lap times. With Porsche coming back in, it’s exciting for me to still drive very quick cars with a very famous brand. I enjoy the endurance element as well – I did it in the late 1990s. I enjoy driving when the sun’s coming up or going down – testing the car and testing the man in different conditions. You’re still pushing the car very hard, and you’re sharing a car with other drivers, which I don’t mind. It’s really good fun, and a good challenge.”

34 | September 20 2013 |

Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla says size no longer matters – and that the Premier League beats La Liga any day:

Issue 323 | September 20 2013

What are your aims for the rest of the season?

“To get as much silverware as I can before the year is out – obviously some wins would be nice, and there’s even a chance for me to move up the championship quite a bit. I’m fifth now, but I’ve got Kimi and Lewis within striking distance [they are four and 11 points ahead, respectively]. I think Lewis will be strong finishing the year, to be fair – the car is strong and the circuits might suit them. But it’ll be good to finish a bit higher in the championship.

And that comes with good, consistent results.”

new formula

“So for me it’s no problem whatever system we play. I speak with the coach and tell him I can play wherever you want. My preference is to start on the left but then [as the game unfolds] go to the middle.

“Wenger speaks with me before every game and he’ll say: ‘You play on the left, but only left when we don’t have the ball. When we have the ball, you can come in – you are free.’”

Chosen as Arsenal’s player of the season by the club’s fans after his first year in English football, Cazorla admits that “in the first season in a new team, and with a new language, it can be difficult”.

But, he says, his team are a good fit for him.

“Because Arsenal play in the same way as Malaga and Villarreal,” he explains. “And it suits my game.

Every coach is different, but the philosophy between Wenger, Pellegrini and Vicente del Bosque [manager of Spain’s national side] is similar. Pellegrini says control the ball. Wenger: control the ball. Del Bosque: control the ball. For me, it’s easier that they all value the same things.”

Able to control the ball – not to mention deliver a defence-splitting pass of the highest quality – effortlessly off both feet, Cazorla says his technical ability is his best quality on the pitch. He names Diego Forlan, a former teammate at Villarreal, as the only other player he has seen who >

38 | September 27 2013 |

Is the fire back in Liverpool’s eyes?

Mark Webber

Mark Thompson/Getty Images, Vladimir Rys/Getty Images

IMpact player

Cazorla has been itching to join new boy Mesut Ozil on the pitch, having seen the German fill the creative void left by his absence with apparent ease since arriving from Real Madrid. “He has so much quality on the pitch,” says Cazorla, admiringly. “That is why him coming to Arsenal was so important, because Ozil is a top player. And I think for the fans it’s more – I don’t know how to explain – more happy, no? Because such a good player coming to the club means it’s possible to win trophies.”

Was he surprised, then, that Ozil was deemed surplus to requirements at the Bernabeu?

“Yes, a little,” he replies. “It’s difficult to understand why Madrid let him come to Arsenal.

But for us it’s good.” He chuckles at the thought that Arsenal have received another ‘gift’ from La Liga, albeit a considerably more expensive one.

With comparisons already being made between Ozil and former Arsenal ‘Invincible’ Dennis Bergkamp, the Emirates is buzzing with discussion about how the team will play once Cazorla returns from injury. “I’m lucky because I can play on the left or on the right or as a second striker,” he says.

Old flame

Issue 322 | September 13 2013

tHe ultimAte figHteR

Ian Spanier/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Tom Oldham Photography

M

killer But Nemanja Vidic shows Sport his softer side in an exclusive interview

HIs second season In englIsH football MIgHt Have been Interrupted

by Injury, but arsenal MIdfIelder santI cazorla Is stIll sMIlIng. sport fInds out wHy He’s tHe HappIest Man In nortH london hoped and could be back on the pitch – in the right kind of boots – sooner than first expected.

Issue 324 | September 27 2013

David Haye reveals his reignited love for boxing

The England job just got real for Roy Hodgson

Santi Cazorla

ention Santi Cazorla to those who have managed and played alongside him, and their faces almost instantaneously light up.

“I don’t remember anyone else I have worked with who was as two-footed,” said Arsene Wenger with a joyous grin after the Arsenal midfielder put on a sparkling display against West Ham last season, while German giant Per Mertesacker describes him simply as “the perfect footballer”. Meanwhile Manuel Pellegrini, who was Malaga coach at the time of the Spaniard’s transfer to the Premier League, called Cazorla’s sale to Arsenal for £12m in August 2012 an “unthinkable gift” – though that was almost certainly uttered through gritted teeth, rather than with a smile.

The man himself is beaming from the minute he arrives for our interview, despite the presence of a protective boot weighing down his right foot.

He points to it and grimaces.

“Ankle ligaments,” he says by way of explanation, before that smile returns. “But boot is coming off on Monday.”

The 28-year-old has been missing from Arsenal’s line-up since a 1-0 win at the Emirates against Tottenham, with Wenger initially predicting he would be absent until after the next international break in October. But the man Arsenal fans have labelled the ‘Little Magician’ has healed quicker than first

Issue 323 | September 20 2013

“Filming the show [reality TV series The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs Team Tate] was a huge experience.

I was very happy developing the relationships that I did with the people on my team, but I don’t think you could pay me $10m to do it again. My gym is usually my safe place, where I’m able to me normal and be myself — and they kind of took it over and bastardised my safe haven! There were times they [the people making the show] tried to mess with me, and get reactions and drama out of me.”

mAle suppoRt

“Other fighters have been so, so respectful. I’ve got more acceptance from the men in MMA than I ever did when I was in judo. I never had a single guy in judo come up to me — a reputable fighter — and ask me how to do something. Whereas the first day I met Jon Jones, he was asking me for advice. These guys in MMA are real gentlemen, and the epitome of what a martial artist should be.”

totAl focus

“The only thing I worry about if I’m doing an arm bar on an opponent and that person isn’t giving up is that if I dislocate their elbow, it actually makes it easier for them to get out.

So if they’re not giving up, I’m actually worried that they’ll get away. In the past, I’ve let people dislocate my elbow, found a way to get out and continued, then ended up winning.

So I assume that the other person is just as stubborn as me and, until it’s over, I don’t really have any emotions going on during a fight.

I’m problem-solving and that’s it.”

tHe switcH

“As a fight gets closer, I feel I become less of my full personality and more this fiery side. While in camp, usually half the time I’m regular, chillingat-the-beach Ronda – and then the other times I’m fighter Ronda. But as the fight gets closer, I’m just into that fighting mentality all the time, and it gets tiring. I can feel my whole personality change as soon as the fight is over.”

Alex Reid

The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rousey vs Team Tate kicked off on BT Sport 2 on Thursday September 5, 11.30pm.

It will repeat on Friday September 6, 11.30pm.

The series will air every Thursday on BT Sport | September 6 2013 | 33

eQuAl opportunitieS

The world’s top female UFC fighter, Ronda Rousey, on the different attitudes she encountered in MMA and judo:

“I’ve got more acceptance from the men in MMA than I ever did in judo.

I never had a single guy in judo come up to me and ask me how to do something. Whereas the first day I met Jon Jones, he was asking me for advice. These guys in MMA are real gentlemen.” k

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october

Issue 325 | October 4 2013

Issue 326 | October 11 2013

war games

Issue 327 | October 18 2013

On a knife edge.

Two decades on from Benn v Eubank, we recall the bitterest rivalries in sport

Issue 328 | October 25 2013

World War league

The Thinker

1 to 11: the factors to decide whether England will make the World Cup cut.

England captain Kevin Sinfield is ready to lead his troops against the mighty Australians

Petr Cech

Jimmy White

Sam Tomkins

Issue 325 | October 4 2013

Right on cue S

Photography: James Lincoln

Two decades on from Benn v Eubank, we recall the bitterest rivalries in sport | October 18 2013 | 19

lessons in gloves

With England goalkeeper Joe Hart enduring a nightmare run, Chelsea stopper Petr Cech offered some strong views on the profession in this country:

to the fight, myself and my fiancee referred to him as ‘Benjamin’,” said Eubank. “To think of actually fighting Nigel Benn would have been too awesome. In the ring, I saw a relentless savage. But I also saw a man with a slight doubt on his mind.

When he looked into my eyes he needed reassurance. I thought: ‘It’s too late for that, mate. You’re mine.’”

D

estructive US heavyweight Deontay Wilder – with 29 knockout wins in 29 fights – shares the secrets of KO power

his head from the canvas and said: ‘Keep this kid in the gym – he is strong!’”

target practice

“If a guy has his guard down, I aim for anywhere in the face. There’s really no specific, ideal place I want to hit you, I’m going to go for every

hook that I haven’t had a lot of time to display.”

BeSt Big-hitter

“My two favourite fighters of all time

bomb squad

Knockout specialist Deontay Wilder gave us an insight into his boxing philosophy:

“If a guy has his guard down, I aim for anywhere in the face. There’s really no specific, ideal place I want to hit you. I’m going to go for every spot: the chin, temple, eyes, nose. If my leather glove is connecting to your head, I can feel that it hurts.”

“I’d like to have prepared better for some of those World Championships”

Old rivals

Another reason for White’s serial finals demise was that his best years coincided with the most successful player in snooker history. The relentless Stephen Hendry bested White in four of his six final appearances, so it seems a trifle cruel to point out that the Scot is newly retired, and for the first time eligible to play in the World Seniors Championship – in which White is competing this weekend. Great news, or is White sick of the sight of him?

“Listen, he’s a great ambassador for the sport,” says White, choosing his words but delivering them with some genuine warmth. “I get on with him. I play him in a lot of the Snooker Legends [exhibition] tournaments. He’s sort of semi-retired now, but obviously he’ll be one of the hardest to beat because he was such a great player.” >

| 35

34 | October 18 2013 |

stones and pockets

We hunted down snooker legend Jimmy White, who regaled us with tales of playing snooker at Ronnie Wood’s house…

“We’d all had a few Guinnesses. Me and Ronnie O’Sullivan played 10 frames and I think there was seven centuries. Ronnie and Keith Richards were watching, but then everything got competitive and they would start trying to outdo each other playing the guitars. Me and O’Sullivan had just as much fun watching them play as they did watching us on the table. Yeah. That was a good night.”

photography by joN eNoch

What makes cook the cricketer he is?

“He’s one of those people who is incredibly determined. What’s amazing about him is that he doesn’t fail. He may fail for a short while, but he’ll overcome it. He’s done that all the way though his career. It’s probably the most important trait for any cricketer to have.”

What did you think would be the hardest challenge for him when he took over the captaincy from you?

“Talking to the media was never his strength, but he’s improved a huge amount over the course of the job, just because you have to do it so much. That was one area where he was conscious of [improving]. As England captain, you’re the mouthpiece of the side, so it’s quite important that you get that area right. I think he’s doing a good job of it, actually.”

Ashes and Fire Dangers down under, media traps and his relationship with Kevin Pietersen – as his autobiography is published this month, former England cricket captain Andrew Strauss opens up to Sport

You banned newspapers from the dressing room as England captain. Has your view of the media changed now you’re working in it?

“In a way, but it’s also reaffirmed why, as a sportsman, you shouldn’t be concerned about the media. It’s not for you. If you spend all your time checking tweets, reading articles and being distracted, then you’re the only one to blame because you’re reading it.

I suppose, working in it, I’ve seen that people in the media are generally much more supportive of English teams than you believe when you’re on the other side of the fence.

But at the same time, I don’t think England players should go out of their way to court the media.”

How was it commentating for Sky and critiquing players who were very recently your teammates?

“For the first year or so, you’re given a bit of leeway, because what they want you to bring to the commentary is more of a [current] player’s view on things. That allows you to avoid overt criticism. Ultimately, though, if someone plays a bad shot, you’re stupid if you don’t say it’s a bad shot. The players understand that. Also, the type of character I am, if I criticise someone, I will try and do it in a way that’s constructive. I’m not going to try to nail anyone. Maybe there are people in the media who do have wider agendas.”

What’s your assessment of Michael clarke as a captain?

“I tell you what: one of the biggest problems with judging captains – and I think the media fall into this trap all the time – is judging them on what their field placings are. That is a relatively small part of the job. The main role you have as a captain is as a leader, and most of the time that’s done off the pitch, so we can’t see into that. We don’t know what goes on in the dressing rooms. I think Michael Clarke has a very good feel for the game of cricket and I quite like his positive attitude – although sometimes you could argue that it verges on the reckless. But I don’t know what happens in the dressing room. The players who play under him are the only ones who really know how good or otherwise he is.”

During your time as England skipper, who was the easiest player to captain – and who was the trickiest?

“It’s funny. You connect easier with some players. For me, that meant people like Paul Collingwood, Alastair Cook, Marcus Trescothick and so on. They had very similar views on life, and the game of cricket in particular, to myself. It’s a bit harder with the guys who see the game differently, because you’ve got to appreciate where they’re coming from. I suppose someone like Kevin Pietersen, for instance, would be harder to deal with in that respect. But having said that, the vast majority of the time that I spent with him, I think we had a pretty good and healthy relationship.”

You cover the incident of Kevin Pietersen sending texts about you to South African players in 2012 in your book. How are things between you now?

“I saw him quite a lot during the summer and there’s no problem. Life’s too short to worry about something that happened over a two-week period when I’ve known and played with a guy for more than 10 years. We’ve moved on and things are absolutely fine.”

You’re clearly very close to current captain Alastair Cook. Does he ever pick your brains?

“Occasionally we’ll have the odd little chat.

But I don’t think he’s sitting there, >

NatioNal iNterest

“I lIke MIchael clarke’s posItIve attItude – although soMetIMes you could argue that It verges on the reckless”

Driving Ambition, published by Hodder & Stoughton, is out now. Andrew Strauss will be signing copies of his autobiography at Chapter One Bookshop, Reading RG5 3JH on Saturday October 12, 12pm

clarke is good mates with shane Warne, who attacked cook a lot in commentary this summer. Was that warranted?

“One of the things in the commentary box or in the media in general is that you’re looking for people to have opinions on things.

You don’t always agree with them, but that’s not a problem. We all see cricket in different ways. Shane Warne played the game of cricket in a very similar way to Michael Clarke. It was very successful for Shane and he’s got every right to say that he didn’t think England were playing the right way. I would maybe argue that you just need to look at the Ashes scoreline.”

Was england’s ashes performance a disappointment, despite the result?

“I don’t think England played nearly as well as they can do, and a lot of the batsmen had poor series. You’ve got to give credit to Australia’s bowling for exploiting that. But we still won 3-0 without playing very well, and I expect England to play better in Australia. Although Australia have home advantage and they will be more competitive, in pure cricketing terms, England are still the stronger side and should have enough to win out there.”

What are the challenges of captaining england in an away ashes series?

“The whole Australian population will go quite hard at England, including the media. One of the real challenges in Australia is how you start. If you start badly, you just can’t get away from it. Everywhere you look, you’re being vilified and attacked – not physically, but it becomes a very hard and lonely place.

This weekend, Kevin Sinfield leads England out against Australia for the opening game of the 2013 Rugby League World Cup. In an exclusive interview with Sport, he speaks of the pride he takes from being captain, reflects on the beliefs he inherited from his father, and reveals the camaraderie he thinks can drive his team on to glory

Saturday Rugby League WoRLd Cup: engLand v austRaLia | MiLLenniuM stadiuM | bbC one 2.30pM

I’ve experienced it first-hand in the 2006-07 Ashes, so that first Test match is crucial.

Keeping people out of trouble is crucial.

Also, make sure you don’t get distracted too much.” looking back on your own playing career, is there anything you’d change?

“The further I got with writing this book, the more I thought: I’ve just been unbelievably fortunate. First, to jump through all the hoops and get to international cricket having not really been part of the system [as a young player]. Then to play 100 Test matches, to captain England in 50 of them – it’s just been a ridiculous fairytale that I didn’t quite appreciate while I was going through it.

So did I make every decision correctly? No. Would I like to have taken back some of the dumb shots I’ve played? Yes. But I had a pretty good run.”

In the book, you mention seeing daniel radcliffe on tv in 2005, saying he watched so much cricket that he dreamed about you chasing him with a bat. ever dreamed about cricketers – or about wizards?

“Well, I always dreamed about cricket. I had that anxiety dream of having to go out to bat and being late and not being able to get my pads on in time, and so on. I used to wake up and think: ‘Oh, not that dream again!’ But I didn’t have any nightmares about wizards or about Daniel Radcliffe. I mean, I had some real-life nightmares against people like [South Africa’s] Morne Morkel, who’s a bowler I don’t miss facing at all. But that was different.”

Alex Reid @otheralexreid | October 11 2013 | 33

from the horse’s mouth

Born, not Built

“It was so many years ago. I was 14 or 15. I just remember being in a black cab,” says White, recalling the days when he and Tony Meo would pocket oodles of cash in challenge matches against local snooker hall champs. “We’d get picked up at the club in Tooting and then – there was no internet in them days – we’d literally put a pin in a map and go to a place. We’d get to the local snooker club, then this guy would go in and say: ‘I’ve got two boys here who will play anybody.’

“Now if you’d go to a club, they’d always have a good local player in the area who used to beat everybody else. So these people who he’d beaten would back that player against us – and we would clean up. Great experiences, great characters – but a lot of travelling in a black taxi.”

Any scrapes with people unwilling to pay up?

“We had a few close shaves where people, like, realised we were just far too good for anybody and they didn’t want to pay. But that wasn’t down to us [to collect], that was down to the backer,” says White, diplomatically.

Andrew Strauss

Ahead of an Ashes tour that hasn’t gone to plan, we asked former England captain Andrew Strauss about the pressures of playing international cricket in Australia:

KnocKout power

Clean-up kids

Alongside his attacking verve with a snooker cue and everyman charm, however, the off-baize scrapes and stories that colour White are why he is to this day irresistibly popular with fans.

Conclusive proof that snooker can be rock and roll comes in the tales of him playing an astounding level of snooker at Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood’s house, in boozy matches against his good friend Ronnie O’Sullivan.

“We’d all had a few Guinnesses,” he says. “Me and Ronnie [O’Sullivan] played 10 frames and I think there was seven centuries. But it was good, because Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards were watching, but then everything got competitive between them as well. So they would start trying to outdo each other playing the guitars. Me and O’Sullivan had just as much fun watching them play as they did watching us on the table. Yeah. That was a good night.”

Too many ‘good nights’ are what is often considered the reason why – despite a host of titles, a maximum 147 at the Crucible and many more career highs – many believe White never quite fulfilled his prodigious potential. “Obviously I’d like to have prepared better for some of those World Championships,” he says evenly when asked the hoary old question of whether he has any regrets.

“Been a bit more focused. But I’m a realist – that’s gone. I’m still on the tour, I’m still playing. When you get to my age, one day you’re good and one day you’re bad, so you’ve got to keep practising – but the love of the game is massively still there.”

agonising over a decision, thinking: ‘Oh, I should ask Straussy about this this’. He is forging his own way. I’m always at the end of the phone if he wants to chat about something, but by and large he doesn’t need or want to use me as that sort of confidant – and rightly so.”

| October 11 2013 | 31

Radar

A sleek-looking black car is humming in front of us.

Blacked-out windows. It could be for anyone.

Is Philip Schofield in there, post his This Morning shift? “Is this car for Jimmy White?” we ask the driver. Suddenly, the back door opens and a cheery, familiar face pops out. It’s not someone who’s worked with Gordon the Gopher. “Are you from Sport?” says Jimmy White, scooching over to make room. “Hop in then mate – we can do this while we drive.”

Kevin Sinfield

Andrew Strauss

Hamish Blair/Getty Images, Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Eubank had vowed not to meet Benn’s gaze until they came face to face in the ring. And he had carried out meticulous mental planning for when the moment came. “In the lead-up

Hamish Blair/Getty Images

eye of the tiger

Boxing writer Ben Dirs relived the bitter rivalry between Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank:

“I think the problem is definitely with the way goalkeepers are raised here. Everywhere I was before, you are taught certain ways in which you can catch the ball better; techniques to help you move faster; ways to improve your co-ordination. But in England, I think the system has been to keep shooting at the keeper and hope he learns how to catch. This is not the way it should be.”

port is running breathlessly down a corridor in Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, in search of Jimmy White.

The roguish southpaw snooker genius, people’s champion and six-time World Championship runner-up is, infamously, a tricky man to pin down.

The ghostwriter of his autobiography, Rosemary Kingsland, tells a tale of chasing him into a pub only to realise he had, it seems, escaped through the back door.

White is in Westfield doing some filming for This Morning, talking about testicular cancer, which he survived after an operation in 1995. We are due to interview him afterwards, and we come armed with a crucial weapon: Jimmy’s feted ‘147’ number (a mobile number with 147 in), which is the key to calling him. The wind is somewhat taken out of our sails before leaving by our columnist Bill Borrows – himself blown out by the Whirlwind on three occasions in the past. “Calling that 147 special helpline mobile number you’ve been given won’t help,” advises Borrows. “He’s got about 147 of them.”

Still, we’re optimistic on meeting White. That’s until a friendly ITV producer informs us that, despite arriving early, we’ve missed him by mere seconds. “He’s just gone to that Costa Coffee shop.

I think he said your interview was on the phone.”

Hearing this, and foreseeing a swerve shot from the great man, Sport pelts it in that direction, calling the ‘147’ number as we go. No answer.

And no White, inside or out the coffee shop. In a desperate move, we leg it to the nearest exit and run into a car park, looking around desperately.

Mike Cooper/Allsport

Jimmy White talks snooker hall hustles, the Rolling Stones and the toughest player he ever faced

In an exclusive interview with Sport on the eve of his 300th Premier League appearance, Petr Cech looks back on a childhood spent behind the Iron Curtain, reflects on the modern art of goalkeeping and explains why he’s learning yet another new language k

Credit

An education

war games

Two years ago, Wigan won silverware on their first visit to Wembley in 13 years.

This weekend, they’re back this weekend,

“The whole Australian population will go quite hard at England, including the media. One of the real challenges is how you start.

If you start badly, you just can’t get away from it. Everywhere you look, you’re being vilified and attacked – it becomes a very hard and lonely place. That first Test match is crucial.”

Despite an encouraging first day, England endured a nightmare in Brisbane – a fragile batting line-up collapsed twice in the face of an Australian pace onslaught, and the team lost by 381 runs. Things have not improved.

| 19

18 | October 25 2013 |

a normal bloke

Ahead of a Rugby League World Cup campaign that ended in semi-final heartbreak against New Zealand, England captain Kevin Sinfield spoke of his upbringing as the son of trades union activists in the northwest:

“People seem to think we’re a wacky family, but we’re not. My dad was a shop steward, with firm beliefs about trying to help others, and I have just inherited that. I’m not a crusader. I just think we could make life better for one another if we cared a little more. If that’s linked to Cuba or Che Guevara, so be it. The political stuff makes a good story, I guess, but at the end of the day I’m just a normal bloke.” k

| December 20 2013 | 33

november/december Daniel Sturridge

Sam Warburton

lucky Striker

lEadEr standIng by We sit down with Wales skipper Sam Warburton ahead of his side’s Autumn Internationals to talk Lions, injuries and his plans for the future

Since moving to Anfield in January, Daniel Sturridge has not looked back. Ahead of the visit to Arsenal this weekend, he tells us he’s enjoying every minute of his new life in Liverpool

Saturday Wales v south africa | MillenniuM stadiuM, cardiff | BBc tWo 5.30pM

ou wouldn’t know it to look at his form right now, but it’s been a long road to the

top for Daniel Sturridge. It is more than six and a half years since he made his senior debut for Manchester City, yet within weeks he had suffered a serious hip injury that would keep him out of the game for almost a year. Upon his return, the then 18-year-old failed to establish himself at the Etihad; a subsequent move to Chelsea saw him frustrated more than fulfilled, leaving only a short loan spell at Bolton to suggest the qualities many in the game knew he possessed.

The contrast with the 10 months that have followed his arrival at Liverpool, then, is an obvious one. The 24-year-old has netted 21 goals in 27 games since moving to Anfield, including eight in nine Premier League appearances this season – goals that have helped fire his new club to third in the league ahead of their visit to table-topping Arsenal tomorrow.

If paying £12m for Sturridge represented something of a gamble for manager Brendan Rodgers, then it is one that has most definitely paid off. But, we ask the England striker, why have things gone so right? “I’m just playing in the position that I enjoy playing in,” he tells us. “When I went to Bolton, I was able to show what I can do because I was playing as a centre forward. At Chelsea, I never got the chance to do that, and I’ve got that opportunity here. My faith in God, my k

t

he past year has been a good one for Sam Warburton. After helping Wales to a second successive Six Nations title, the Cardiff Blues man led the Lions to Australia and their first series win for 16 years.

Now back from the injury that ruled him out of the decisive third Lions Test, Warburton’s focus is on the month ahead, and four tricky southernhemisphere match-ups that lie in wait for Wales.

After the Welsh domination of the Lions, though, the international camp must be a strange place to be at the moment, with so many faces bringing a Lions aura with them.

“There hasn’t really been any Lions talk, to be honest,” Warburton insists when we ask him about the atmosphere in the camp. Not even a cheeky Lions top being worn by the captain in training?

“Not a chance,” he laughs. “The senior players would put me back in my place pretty quickly if I did. No, the focus is genuinely on this autumn and getting some victories.”

After last year’s return of four defeats from four, this autumn is not one they will take lightly.

David Rawcliffe/Propaganda

Y

David Jones / PA Images

| November 1 2013 | 19

FOUR PLAY

You lost all the autumn games in 2012, then went on to win the Six Nations. Does that make it hard to convince the team these games really matter?

“Not at all, because you want to just set yourself a challenge anyway. We’ve done quite well in the northern hemisphere in the past few years, but now it’s time to do it against the southern teams.

SKIPPER SAM

Sam Warburton reflected on accepting the Lions captaincy:

That’s what the England team of 2003 did, and that’s what we’ve got to do now. We’ve got to the stage where we have to start achieving in these autumn series and put more emphasis on that.”

Did England’s win over New Zealand last year make you think it was more possible to beat the All Blacks, or annoy you that they got there first?

“I’m not anti-English like a lot of Welsh fans are, so when I heard about it, I genuinely thought it was great for northern-hemisphere rugby. And the more that happens, the better. Even Scotland have got the odd scalp, so the only one who doesn’t seem to have that is Wales. We’re the ones who have to put that right this November.”

The World Cup is fast approaching. Does that make these games all the bigger?

“Obviously they’re important, especially with our World Cup pool. Every Wales v Australia, Wales v England and Australia v England game is going to be under the microscope now. I guess that’s what pundits will look towards, but the World Cup isn’t for two years – and that’s a heck of a long time.”

Warren Gatland talked about learning from England on the Lions tour. Is there anything that you picked up that will help this team?

“What we learned about other countries, they learned from us as well, so everyone’s on the same page, really. I think people could recognise that the

style of play we played on the Lions was quite Welsh in the fact that it was very physical. It’s the sort of game plan that you could figure out, but if you can’t match a team physically, there’s nothing you can do about it. If we apply it properly, like the third Test on that Lions tour demonstrated, then there’s very little teams can do about it.”

How is your body holding up after the Lions tour?

“Alright, yeah. I got back earlier from injury than I thought I would, and I’ve done a shift with Cardiff now. It’s a bit of a blessing, in a way, getting injured, because having three months off has allowed me to focus on rehab on my knees, shoulders and stuff.

So I feel like I’m in the best shape I’ve been in since the Poland camps before the World Cup, really. >

“I’m not antI-EnglIsh lIkE a lot of WElsh fans. I thought England bEatIng nEW zEaland Was grEat for northErnhEmIsphErE rugby”

“Andy Irvine said the one thing that really stuck with me. He was telling me that if I didn’t take the captaincy when Warren rang, he would have come down to my house and strangled me until I took it. It was nice to know that they were that keen for me to be captain, and it gave me a lot of confidence.”

| November 8 2013 | 25

Daniel Sturridge was realistic about Liverpool’s aspirations for the Premier League this season: Alastair Cook

The here WiLL w Be BLood blo

“It’s top four, isn’t it? That’s got to be the aim. We haven’t finished in the top four for a few years now, so we’ve got to aim for that.

Anything else is a bonus.”

Luis Suarez is perhaps reading from a different script, mind.

Frank Lampard

Chelsea’s all-time top goalscorer speaks exclusively to Sport about a golden past, a blue present and why he’s happy to finally be able to look ahead to a special future ome 48 hours have passed since Chelsea suffered a 2-0 reverse in the northeast.

They have been 48 hours of miserable contemplation for Frank Lampard, who – despite the disappointment – does his best to shrug off the defeat to Newcastle as a mere ‘blip’ in what has been an otherwise impressive opening to the Blues’ 2013-14 campaign.

“I think we have to take it as a blip, because these things can happen,” he explains. “But up until then we’d been on a very good run of wins. It just shows the strength of the Premier League, really. Whether you’re playing a team like Newcastle or a team like Crystal Palace, where they’re already fighting for their lives, you have to turn up with all 11 players at their best. It’s the competitive nature of the league.

We didn’t perform, so we lost.”

Lampard’s no-nonsense appraisal is testament to the fact that he’s been here before. Many times. From the highs of league titles and Champions League victories to the lows of managerial upheavals and international heartbreak, the Chelsea midfielder is well versed in what separates the blips from the more serious warning signs.

His calm demeanour on this Monday afternoon at Chelsea’s Cobham base – where a collection of snappers are lining the perimeter in the hope of catching an irate Jose Mourinho kicking David Luiz’s backside – should settle the nerves of any prematurely anxious Blues fans.

Mistake Lampard’s serenity for indifference at your peril, however.

At the age of 35, he is all too aware that he is entering the final stretch of a long, trophy-laden career. And, as Sport quickly discovers, it’s that knowledge that is making him a more dangerous and dogged opponent than he’s ever been.

It was a tough weekend for Chelsea.

Do you find it easier to deal with the highs and lows of football after so many years at the top?

“It still bothers me when we lose.

It actually bothers me even more as I get older. I was very upset on Saturday night after the loss against Newcastle.

I think I’ve always been pretty intense

like that, really – getting upset with a loss or a personal bad performance.

I suppose, as you get older, there’s kids and family life to bring you out of it quicker – but I’m still very intense with myself. I’m my own biggest critic. So, if I’ve had a bad game, I analyse it for two or three days before I have to start looking ahead to the next game.”

Jose Mourinho isn’t one for hiding his disappointment. After Saturday’s defeat, he said: “I made 11 mistakes.

I should have picked another 11.”

Is he the same old Mourinho he was at his first spell at the club?

“I think his experiences elsewhere have probably tempered him in different ways. But, looking at it from where we are as players, he hasn’t really changed. He is who he is. He used to get upset and quite vocal with a loss, but I always liked that about him because then you know where you are.

Some managers don’t say anything after a bad result, and you’re left wondering what they’re thinking.

He was very to-the-point on Saturday, and he was right in what he was saying. But, at the same time, when we win he’s very emotional with the lads and celebrating. For me, one of the beautiful things about him is his personality – and that hasn’t changed.”

Alastair Cook talks captaincy, Stuart Broad and Shane Warne – and how respect can be earned from Australia’s bloodthirsty crowds

| November 15 2013 | 17

MISPLACED CONFIDENCE

How did you feel when you first found out he was returning to the club for The Special One: Part Two? “It was a bit surreal, because there was gossip about it for a long time.

But, having been here on the day he left, you thought with all the water under the bridge since then… well, it was very surreal. Personally, I was delighted because I knew what a great manager he’d be for the club and for me. At that later stage of your career, it’s great to have a manager you trust and who understands you – and you understand him. We have a lot of young players here, too. They need direction, a good leader and someone to take them forward. For me, he was the man that was going to do it, and is doing it.”

Was it comforting to have someone so familiar return after a season that held so much managerial unrest?

“Yes, he’s a manager who really has the club in his heart, and I think the > | November 8 2013 | 17

GOLDEN GENERATION?

Frank Lampard looked back on his England career (so far) with more than a smidgeon of sorrow:

Alastair Cook had such high hopes for this Ashes series just a short month ago:

“They are sports-mad in Australia – they enjoy watching good sport – so you can earn their respect on and off the field.

There’s nothing to be fearful of. I have absolutely no doubt in my lads that they can get the job done.”

Yeah, let’s come back to that…

MITCHELL WHO?

The Ashes

Still time though Lampsy. Never stop believing, eh?

Ashes lowDowN 3

Walking away with it: Graeme Swann hits out (far left) and Stuart Broad celebrates (above) after taking Ryan Harris’ wicket in the fifth Test; Nasser Hussain interviews Alastair Cook (left)

BowliNg Big

one-day series], so his batteries will be recharged now, he’ll be raring to go. The good thing for him is that he’s starting in places where he’s got a phenomenal record – in Brisbane and then on to Adelaide. As they have with Jonathan Trott, sides have learned finally that you’ve got to pitch the ball up to Alastair Cook. There’s no point bowling short and wide – he’ll murder you all day. So Australia are bowling slightly better at Cook, but he knows what’s coming. When you set him a challenge, he’ll work out how to get the job done.”

CAPtAiN Cook

“I never listened to the rubbish people were spouting before the summer series that this was the worst Australian team ever. They’re a good team – extremely well led by Michael Clarke – and they have an excellent coach in Darren Lehmann.

In terms of their line-up, Mitchell Johnson will probably come in, but they’re looking for a number six. Maybe someone like Aaron Finch might pop into that position. Australia need to remember how to get over the winning line, but they will be a threat.”

“England have gone for a very tall bowling attack, with Chris Tremlett, Boyd Rankin, Stuart Broad and Steve Finn with – obviously – Jimmy Anderson as the world-class swing bowler. It shows the resources England have that they can leave out someone as good as Graham Onions. I would have liked him in the squad as he gives you something different. He’s a line bowler, a skiddy bowler, and I can’t see them playing all the big guys at once – but then tall bowlers in Australia tend to go really well, so you can’t argue with the selection.”

“His record is very impressive and his team are playing for him. He’s very calm, very well liked, very popular within the team. He’s not a fancy kind of guy – not someone who will set unusual fields, for example. At times in Australia, when the Kookaburra ball goes flat and a partnership builds, he may have to think outside the box – use his part-time bowlers more and rest his quick lads, so they can come on and give more penetrating spells.”

Cook’s BAttiNg struggles

“I don’t think it was the captaincy taking a toll.

He was just exhausted by the end of the summer.

Quite rightly, he was given time off [missing the 22 | November 15 2013 |

34 | December 20 2013 |

Nasser Hussain on Australia ahead of the Ashes:

Former England captain Nasser Hussain previews the series

AustrAliAN streNgth

stuArt BroAD

“Broad is the type of guy who loves the heat of battle. He won’t mind being the centre of attention.

England have three or four of those players who

they’re A gooD teAm – extremely well leD By miChAel ClArke – AND they hAve AN exCelleNt CoACh iN DArreN lehmANN are always right up for it. That said, it won’t always be easy for Stuart, but England look after their boys on the boundary – they send Jonathan Trott down to soak up all the abuse, while Broad will be at mid-on. Even away from the game, he’s going to have to be careful a little bit and maybe walk away from a situation or two – and I think he will. He’ll have to do what [David] Warner eventually did in England. He copped a lot of abuse, but he took it with a smile on his face, waved to the crowd and he handled it very well. I hope Broad learns from that.”

Ashes outCome

“The gap between the sides is not as wide as some people think, but England do have more depth.

If their first-choice spinner Graeme Swann gets injured, Monty Panesar comes in. If Tremlett or Finn gets injured, the other comes in. They also have a slightly better batting line-up. I still think Swann is a major threat with the left-handers in the Australia team, albeit at the top of the order now.

Also, England cricketers do not fear Australian cricketers any more. I think England will win.”

The great sport keeps coming on Sky Sports, with live and exclusive coverage of the Ashes – part of an unrivalled winter of live sport available in HD and via Sky Go Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand

“In terms of their line-up, Mitchell Johnson will probably come in…”

Hindsight’s a wonderful thing. Can we go back to that bit when Mitch’s place was still in doubt?

Shaun Botterill/Getty Images, Ryan Pierse/Getty Images, Gareth Copley/Getty Images

“I’m disappointed that we didn’t at some stage do even what England did in 1990, when they got to the World Cup semis and the whole nation was behind them. We never quite got on that sort of run, which is disappointing.”

k

Photography by James Lincoln

Ben Duffy Photography

S

r

Issue 331 | November 15 2013 Issue 329 | November 1 2013

Issue 330 | November 8 2013

Issue 332 | November 22 2013

ALL EYES ON ME

Forget me not KOP IDOL

Issue 334 | December 6 2013

Issue 335 | December 13 2013

of Ath let es 201 3 the YeA r

ALASTAIR COOK TALKS SHANE WARNE, STUART BROAD AND COPING WITH THE PRESSURE OF AN ASHES DOWN UNDER

Carl FroCh

Frank Lampard has unfinished business with both club and country

Champion. egomaniaC. psyChopath.

We talk to the Premier League’s top scorer

Issue 333 | November 29 2013

Beckham

Bale

ANDY AY MURR

+

ChRistiNe Leigh hALfOhURUOgU stUARt BROpeNNY RONNie O’sUAD MO fARAh LLivAN

On England. On United. On life after football.

We speak to Real Madrid’s newest superstar

Britain’s best boxer by his friends, enemies and the man himself

Scott Jurek

Issue 334 | December 6 2013

THE REGRETS OF BECKS

David Beckham spoke to Sport – and, like Lampard, recalled with pride and regret his time in an England shirt.

Ultramarathon runner Scott Jurek talks to Sport about ‘the toughest footrace on earth’ and what it’s like to spend 24 hours running around in circles

Credit

S

| May 3 2013 | 31

“If there’s one thing I could change, it would be winning something with England. I’m proud of the amount of times I’ve played for England [115] and I’m proud that I’ve captained my country... I’d give up a lot to have a trophy for my country.”

cott Jurek’s brow is furrowed. He’s searching for the answer to one of the toughest questions an ultramarathoner can face:

how many miles are on your clock? For a man who has been going beyond the standard 26.2-miler for almost 20 years, it’s not an easy calculation.

“I tried to figure that out once before,” he says.

“It’s tricky. But if I were to say an average, on the basis that for ‘x’ number of weeks I run 100 miles per week and I’ve been racing ultras for almost two decades, it would probably be somewhere in the range of 40-50,000 miles.”

If he was a car, you’d be thinking about trading him in right about now – but Jurek isn’t ready for the scrapheap yet. The 40-year-old has been a dominant force in ultra-running (any distance beyond the 26.2 miles of a marathon) since completing his first 50-mile race in 1994. Despite having run his first marathon just a month earlier, Jurek crossed the finish line in second place. His immediate reaction to achieving such a feat? “I said: ‘Never again.’” Four years later, however, Minnesota-born Jurek was standing on >

Ian Corless/iancorless.com

Running for his life

| November 8 2013 | 39

THE RUNNING MAN

Beckham

We asked ultramarathon runner Scott Jurek to estimate how many miles were on his clock:

On England. On United. On life after football.

“I tried to figure that out once before. It’s tricky.

But if I were to say an average, on the basis that for ‘x’ number of weeks I run 100 miles per week and I’ve been racing ultras for almost two decades, it would probably be somewhere in the range of 40-50,000 miles.”

And what does he miss now he’s retired?

“That regimented schedule of getting up in the morning, training, coming home, seeing the kids.

I miss that, I miss training, being around the lads. And game days.

Nothing can replace that.”

Froch v Groves

Carl ‘The Cobra’ Froch has climbed long and hard to become Britain’s top boxer, but George Groves has plans to bring him back to square one in Saturday night’s grudge match

Saturday Boxing | Carl FroCh v george groves Phones 4u arena, ManChester | sky Box oFFiCe hD 8PM

A t h l eet e o f t h2 0 1 3 YeAr

“One of the first times I ever met Carl Froch, I went round his house for a meeting and he was carrying two huge slabs of concrete on his shoulders,” recalls Eddie Hearn, Froch’s promoter. “He had his shirt off and a pair of overalls on. I thought: ‘What’s going on here?’ This was a champion of the world – and he was fitting up his own patio, carrying concrete around. What people don’t see about Carl is if that if the flooring needs doing in his house, he’ll go down to B&Q, pick up what he needs and go and do it. He’s down-to-earth. He’s so real.”

Unsurprisingly, this is not a view shared by Froch’s fellow Brit and opponent in Manchester this weekend, George Groves. When Sport spoke to Groves, backstage at Sky Sports on the day the pair were interviewed on an animosity-fuelled edition of the Ringside boxing show, he described an entirely different character.

“I’ve only met him a handful of times,” says Groves. “But if you see him, listen to him or read his interviews, his personality come across as someone who’s insecure and also, in part, an egomaniac. He was always fighting for recognition until he joined Sky, then his profile raised – and now he feels that he’s above and beyond not just fighters in his own division, but pretty much all British fighters.

“So the fact that he’s got to fight me winds him up.

I think he finds my confidence bemusing. He can’t possibly think that a chap like me with 19 fights who hasn’t fought the likes of Andre Ward or Mikkel Kessler can be mentioned in the same breath as him, let alone get in the ring and beat him. That’s a dangerous mentality to have before a fight like this.”

Whether you’re inclined to believe Groves’ take on Froch’s personality or Matchroom boss Hearn’s, Groves makes two accurate points. First, that Froch has had a long battle for recognition.

Second, that Groves has wound him up. It’s obvious as Sport watches the two super-middleweights on a tense Ringside set. Even with cameras off, Froch refuses to talk to or make eye contact with Groves, who stares occasionally at his rival. At one point, when the cameras are rolling, Groves goads Froch playground-style: “I’ll put this chump to sleep… you’re going to cry, aren’t you? Don’t cry.” k 20 | November 22 2013 |

Justin Downing

Sleepy chump

| 21

FIGHT! FIGHT!

We spoke to Carl Froch and George Groves ahead of their epic scrap in Manchester:

Groves: “The fact he’s got to fight me winds him up. I think he finds my confidence bemusing.

He can’t possibly think that a chap like me with 19 fights, who hasn’t fought the likes of Andre Ward or Mikkel Kessler, can be mentioned in the same breath as him, let alone get in the ring and beat him. That’s a dangerous mentality to have.”

Froch: “People love a good, old-fashioned, passionate tear-up in the ring. It’s a bit barbaric, but that’s ultimately what human beings are.

Boxing’s not going anywhere – and, unfortunately for George Groves, nor am I just yet.”

Groves won over the crowd, but Froch won a controversial fight.

How do you top a year like 2012? And can anyone stop Novak Djokovic? Those were two of the burning questions we posed in January – some seven months before Andy Murray answered them both, on one historic (and incredibly sweaty) Sunday afternoon in July. Who better, then, to open Sport’s annual Athletes of the Year issue than the Wimbledon champion?

AN DY M UR RAY Wimbledon champion

A

ndy Murray is sitting bolt upright in a chair trying to deliver an awards acceptance speech to camera. At the same time, he’s

being pelted with balls thrown by a group of people that includes his own agent. Murray’s struggling.

Mostly because he can’t stop himself from laughing as he tries to thank “all those people who have voted for me” while taking a series of direct hits to the head from some admirably accurate shots.

The stunt is a forfeit Murray’s been told to pay by way of apology – he’s been named Best British Sports Star at Radio 1’s Teen Awards, but won’t be able to attend the ceremony to pick up his trophy.

Amid the onslaught he manages to say: “It’s been a great year on the court and… aah, that was in the eye, that one… and I’ll try and be there next year so I don’t have to deal with this nonsense.”

The camera stops rolling, but the balls keep flying in Murray’s direction for a few seconds longer. All he can do in response is laugh.

Some six weeks have passed since Murray underwent what turned out to be season-ending back surgery in a bid to clear up the issues that have plagued him in recent seasons. He’s mobile, but moving around carefully – and any twisting motions are made from the neck up.

“For the first two weeks after the operation, I wasn’t allowed to do anything at all,” he recalls when Sport steps in to relieve him from his ball boy duties. “I was pretty much just lying down all day to let the wound heal, because if I sat up I could pull at it. Those two weeks were really tough. But it made the first 10 days or so of rehab feel quite fun, because I was able to start moving around again –

after sitting down for that long, anything at all is gonna be fun.”

Sport’s Athlete of the Year is spending the day at Queen’s Club, where he’s launching Head’s new Graphene Radical racket – his weapon of choice for the 2014 season. We speak to him just yards from the court where Murray lifted his third trophy of 2013. It came on a day that started with the downcast news of a rain delay and ended with the surreal sight of London Mayor Boris Johnson wielding a wooden racket for a celebrity exhibition match in aid of the Royal Marsden Hospital, where Murray’s close friend Ross Hutchins had been undergoing chemotherapy.

“It was a great day,” says Murray. “We raised a lot of money for a good cause and Ross came on court at the end and hit a couple of balls – that was the first time he’d picked up a racket since hearing the news about six months earlier. Then a few days later, Ross got the news that he had the all-clear.

So, yeah, that was a good few days.”

BA C K O N S A F E GR O U N D

It reveals the depth of Murray’s feelings for Hutchins that his foremost memories from that day are all related to the health of his friend.

He makes no mention of the ridiculously oversized trophy that he won for a third time, or of the fact that he entered the tournament having not played competitively since retiring midway through his second round match with Marcel Granollers at the Rome Masters four weeks earlier, skipping the French Open entirely. k

Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

SnakeS & LadderS

| 21

20 | December 13 2013 |

HOW TO WIN WIMBLEDON

It seems only a week ago that Andy Murray talked of his mental state ahead of the Wimbledon final:

“I actually dealt with it much better this year than I had the year before.

I practised in the (Saturday) morning and spent the afternoon watching a video of my [final] match against Novak at the Olympics with Dani [Vallverdu, Murray’s hitting partner] and Ivan [Lendl, his coach].

“I felt good going to the match, but that last 45 minutes to an hour or so before I got on the court was pretty intense. There’s not just pressure on me, but on the rest of the team. I knew they were feeling it and were nervous too – I could sense it. Just before I walk out on to the court, I say a few words to all the guys.

But I honestly can’t remember what they were – it all becomes a bit of a blur.

“But what I actually felt on court in the final was different to anything I’d ever experienced before. It was a very new feeling for me.” | 35

7 Days OUR PICK OF THE ACTION FROM THE SPORTING WEEK AHEAD

DEC 20-DEC 26 HIGHLIGHTS » Football: Premier League » p38 » Football: Boxing Day Fixtures » p40 » Cricket: Fourth Ashes Test » p42 » NFL: Carolina Panthers v New Orleans Saints » p42 » Rugby Union: Saracens v Leicester » p44

Boxing Day HORSe RACiNg | WiLLiAm HiLL KiNg geORge Vi CHASe | KemPTON | CHANNeL 4 3.10Pm

Grey day?

For a period in the late 1980s, Christmas wasn’t truly Christmas without the sight of a gallant, galloping grey grinding his rivals into the Kempton turf on Boxing Day. Four times did the majestic Desert Orchid claim the glittering King George crown in an era he graced with pure exuberance, winning the hearts of an adoring public like few horses have ever managed.

Dessie jumped into the racing heavens in 2006, little over a month before the great Kauto Star won the first of his record-breaking five King Georges. It is now 15 years since Teeton Mill became the last grey to claim the great race, but the 2013 renewal features two horses with serious pretensions to ending that run.

The market suggests the David Pipe-trained Dynaste has the better chance of overturning favourite Cue Card, who disappointed in this last year but looked fabulous when winning the Betfair Chase at Haydock last month. That might the eight-year-old returned from injury with a low-key win at Ascot last month, but trainer Paul Nicholls has sounded bullish in the build-up to a race he has won no fewer than seven times.

Nicholls has a second hope in Silviniaco Conti, while two-time winner Long Run is looking to bounce back after two poor runs this season.

The winner should come from the first three in the betting, however, and two of those are grey – victory for either would provide a fitting echo of the days when Dessie ruled Christmas.

36 | December 20 2013 |

Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images for Ascot Racecourse

be to underestimate Al Ferof (pictured), though;

Only on the Sport iPad app, available in the Apple Newsstand on December 27.

50 QUESTIONS: 2013 SPORT’S BIG QUIZ OF THE YEAR And don’t miss another exclusive iPad-only issue on January 3. iPad edition on Newsstand now

7 Days

Premier League

Saturday liverpool v cardiff | anfield bt sport 12.45pm

We’re not sure how two managerial sackings fit into the 12 Days of Christmas. But we’re certain December is a cruel month in football. Will it continue? monday arsenal v chelsea | emirates stadium | sky sports 1 8pm

The red Bluebirds have won their past five league meetings with Liverpool, including a 4-0 win at Anfield, although they were all in the late 1950s. Cardiff have been tough to beat at home this term, but have won just once on the road. Liverpool, meanwhile, have scored 20 in their past five at Anfield, including nine since losing Daniel Sturridge to injury. His absence (and that of Steven Gerrard) has seemed only to galvanise Luis Suarez.

Saturday sunderland v norwich stadium of light | 3pm

Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea in the previous round of

By the time they kick off against Chelsea, Arsene

Sunderland’s home form: won two,

the Capital One Cup has worked out quite nicely for

Wenger’s side could be third in the league – Liverpool and

lost six, conceded 16. Norwich’s

the Gunners. While the Blues had a Tuesday night tie in

City are both capable of overtaking them this weekend.

away form: won two, lost six, let

Sunderland to contend with this week, Arsenal have had

Jose Mourinho’s side could also leapfrog them with a win

in 21. It’s not pretty reading for

nine days to recover from the exertions of Champions

at the Emirates, where the Blues haven’t lost since 2010.

either, but the difference is that

League qualification and their defeat to Manchester City.

The league leaders are three games into a period

Chelsea were 2-1 winners on each occasion the sides

Sunderland’s home points are their

met last season, with Juan Mata scoring in both games.

only wins of the season. If they’re

predicted to reveal their true potential as trophy

The Spaniard has failed to score only once in the past five

going to stay up, home victories

challengers – and thus far they’re winless. A draw with

games he’s played against Arsenal – a record that should

need to be more frequent, and they

Everton was followed by defeats to Napoli and

be enough to win him a place in Mourinho’s starting 11.

will fancy themselve against teams

Manchester City, knocking the stuffing out of Arsenal’s

Although, having been hauled off after 62 minutes of their

like Norwich. Although with Gary

cushioned lead at the top of the table and handing them

match against Crystal Palace last weekend, he probably

Hooper scoring four in six, the

the task of beating Bayern Munich in Europe.

shouldn’t count on it.

Canaries will not be easy targets.

38 | December 20 2013 |

Saturday fulham v manchester city craven cottage | 3pm

Saturday manchester united v west ham old trafford | 3pm

Saturday stoke v aston villa britannia stadium | 3pm

The Tony Pulis revolution returns to

Manchester City have become

Carlos Tevez scored for West Ham

Aston Villa’s trip to the Britannia

Selhurst Park, where the Eagles

the agoraphobics of the Premier

the last time they won at Old

signals the start of a period that

have picked up seven points in their

League. Despite eight wins from

Trafford, in 2007. Their biggest

Paul Lambert will see as vital. His

past three games. Barry Bannan is

eight at the Etihad, they have just

threat this time could be an equally

side has picked up 12 points from

the key to unlocking Newcastle’s

two away victories so far this term.

controversial player – former United

eight games on the road this season,

defence, but it’s at the back where

Fulham have won just two league

prospect Ravel Morrison, who is

and their away games at Stoke and

Palace’s strength lies, having let in

games at Craven Cottage this

rebuilding his career in east London.

Sunderland sandwich ties with

one in five before last week’s trip to

season, but they will be heartened

Robin van Persie scored three of

Crystal Palace and Swansea at

Chelsea. Newcastle’s Loic Remy

by the absence of the injured Sergio

United’s six goals against the

home. Now, then, is the time for

(pictured) – who missed a howler

Aguero. There remain plenty of

Hammers last season, but with the

Villa to rediscover their best form.

against Southampton last week –

goals in this City team, however,

Dutchman out injured, the onus will

The same could be said of Christian

will need to be at his best to break

as Arsenal found out. Yaya Toure

again be on Wayne Rooney (above)

Benteke (pictured) – the Belgian

down Palace’s rearguard.

(pictured) will fancy it here.

to perform in front of goal.

hasn’t scored in his past 10 games.

Saturday west brom v hull the hawthorns | 3pm

Sunday southampton v tottenham | st mary’s sky sports 1 1.30pm

Sunday swansea v everton | liberty stadium sky sports 1 4pm

Premier League tabLe P

W D

L

F

A

1

Arsenal

16

11

2

3

33

17

35

2

Liverpool

16

10 3

3

39

18

33

3

Chelsea

16

10 3

3

32

18

33

4

Man City

16

10 2

4

47

18

32

5

Everton

16

8

7

1

27

15

31

6

Newcastle

16

8

3

5

21

22

27

Pts

7

Tottenham

16

8

3

5

15

21

27

8

Man Utd

16

7

4

5

25

19

25

9

Southampton 16

6

6

4

20

15

24

5

5

6

22

21

20

10 Swansea

16

11 Aston Villa

16

5

4

7

16

21

19

12 Hull

16

5

4

7

13

19

19

13 Stoke

16

4

6

6

15

20

18

14 Norwich

16

5

3

8

15

29

18

Alarm bells were clearly ringing at

Andre Villas-Boas said he was

As Christmas gifts go, a tenth

15 Cardiff

16

4

5

7

12

22

17

the Hawthorns after four defeats

no quitter after overseeing

straight game unbeaten with them

16 West Brom

16

3

6

7

17

22

15

on the bounce, leading to Steve

Tottenham’s worst home defeat in

opening up the gap between

17 West Ham

16

3

5

8

13

19

14

Clarke’s sacking just hours after

16 years, and then promptly left “by

themselves and Moyes’ boys would

18 Crystal Palace 16

4

1

11

11

24

13

West Brom’s loss to Cardiff.

mutual consent”. So Spurs now head

be up there for Everton fans. And,

19 Fulham

16

4

1

11

15

30

13

20 Sunderland

16

2

3

11

12

30

9

Chairman Jeremy Peace pulled the

to St Mary’s, where Southampton

for Roberto Martinez, a win at his old

plug ahead of a crucial game, with

have been beaten just once this term.

club would be fairly sweet, too. The

the Baggies failing to win at home in

Mauricio Pochettino has surely

Toffees will miss Gerard Deulofeu

their past three attempts. On the

exceeded everyone’s expectations

after he picked up a hamstring

plus side, Hull don’t seem to enjoy

since taking over on the south coast,

injury, ruling him out until January.

life on the road, with just one win so

and he might want to watch himself

Swansea were beaten 3-0 in Wales

far. Someone’s form book is going to

on Sunday – Daniel Levy’s on the

by Everton last term. This time they

have to get ripped up here.

hunt again.

face genuine top-four contenders.

17

Luis Suarez has now scored more goals than 10 of the 20 Premier League teams this season

Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand | 39

All pictures Getty Images

Saturday crystal palace v newcastle selhurst park | 3pm

7 Days

Boxing Day football Manchester city v LiverpooL | etihad stadiuM | Bt sport 5.30pM Appropriately, it being Boxing Day, the Premier League’s big hitters in front of goal slug it out to maintain their respective title charges at the Etihad.

Manchester City have scored 47 in 16 league games so far, but will be without 13-goal marksman Sergio Aguero. Citizens manager Manuel Pellegrini expects the Argentine to miss “at least one month” with a calf injury suffered in City’s 6-3 demolition of Arsenal last weekend. The boys in blue can, of course, call upon practically anyone else in their side to fill Aguero’s goal-scoring shoes – we’re backing Alvaro Negredo (pictured), with seven league goals so far, and Yaya Toure, with eight, to continue their rich form.

Talking of which, Luis Suarez remains Liverpool’s main man, everyone’s Fantasy Premier League no-brainer having bagged 17 of the Reds’ 39 goals so far this term, and two in the 5-0 rout at Tottenham last week.

Still, Manchester City are at home, so we’re backing them to score more. This time.

huLL city v Manchester united | kc stadiuM | sky sports 1 12.45pM

On the last occasion these sides met in the Premier League,

It has been seven years since West Ham got the better of

in January 2010, Wayne Rooney (pictured) almost single-

Arsenal at Upton Park – Marlon Harewood bagged an

handedly destroyed Hull City. He scored all four goals in

89th-minute winner for the Hammers in November 2006.

Manchester United’s 4-0 win at Old Trafford – he had also

More recently, it’s been a happy hunting Boleyn Ground for

opened the scoring in the Red Devils’ 3-1 victory at the KC

the Gunners, who put three past West Ham on each of their

Stadium the previous December.

two most recent visits. Last October Olivier Giroud (pictured)

That season, his four-goal haul saw United leapfrog title All pictures Getty Images

west haM v arsenaL | upton park | Bt sport 3pM

struck his first league goal since joining from Montpellier.

rivals Arsenal and Chelsea to top the league table. There will

The seven-goal Frenchman has been Arsenal’s main threat

be no such motivation this time, with the gap between David

this season. West Ham manager Sam Allardyce is longing for

Moyes’ side and the top end of the table already a seemingly

the return of his own star striker Andy Carroll – who the club’s

insurmountable 10 points.

co-owner David Sullivan this week admitted he would not

Hull have conceded the same number of goals as Manchester United after 16 games. We expect that to change.

40 | December 20 2013 |

have signed had he known the £15m man would be injured for so long. That Harewood’s still kicking about, isn’t he?

AND THE REST aLL 3pM kick-offs aston viLLa v crystaL paLace | viLLa park cardiff v southaMpton | cardiff city stadiuM cheLsea v swansea | staMford Bridge everton v sunderLand | goodison park newcastLe v stoke | st JaMes’ park norwich v fuLhaM | carrow road tottenhaM v west BroM | white hart Lane

7 Days CHRISTMAS DAY > CRICKET | FOURTH ASHES TEST: AUSTRALIA v ENgLAND | MELBOURNE CRICKET gROUND | SKY SPORTS 2 11.30PM

Scraping the barrel The 10-match Ashes series is perfectly poised at 3-3 with two games to play.

Seriously, anything might happen now!

And with England having just recorded one of their highest-ever fourth-innings totals, and having unearthed a new genuine all-rounder in Ben Stokes (pictured), all the momentum lies with the tourists, surely? Oh come on. Allow us to totally ignore what has really happened this winter for just a second.

In reality, as the teams head to Melbourne for the traditional Boxing Day Test, it will be all Andy Flower and Alastair Cook can do to rouse their troops enough to avoid a 5-0 whitewash. They have been comprehensively outplayed by Australia, who have taken every opportunity to humiliate England – can you imagine Cook ordering his batsmen to go out and hammer 134 runs in 17 overs, as the Aussies managed on the morning of day four in Perth? Not only that, they plundered them at will from England’s alleged premier bowlers: James Anderson and Graeme Swann.

So what now for England? They seem physically exhausted. But if they are not to lose every single match, they need to follow Stokes’ lead. He can quite obviously bat and bowl – but, most importantly, he alone has stood up to Australia.

Older, more experienced teammates: take note.

SUNDAY NFL | CAROLINA PANTHERS v NEW ORLEANS SAINTS | BANK OF AMERICA STADIUM, CHARLOTTE | SKY SPORTS 2 6PM

Crunch time in NFC South It’s make or break time for the teams in contention as the NFL reaches week 16 – the penultimate weekend before the playoffs in January. In the NFC South, the New Orleans Saints missed the opportunity to clinch a playoff spot after losing to the St Louis Rams.

That loss sets up a huge game, as the Saints travel to the Bank of America Stadium to play divisional rivals the Carolina Panthers.

Mark Kolbe/Getty Images, Grant Halverson/Getty Images

Both teams have a 10-4 record, but last weekend’s results have left the Panthers in the driving seat to take the divisional title and gain a bye for the first round of the playoffs. They need to win their final two games and will be desperate for revenge against the Saints, who beat them 31-13 in week 14. However, the Panthers (including running back DeAngelo Williams, pictured) can take confidence after last week’s victory over the Jets, when they held quarterback Geno Smith to just 167 yards and only six yards per passing attempt.

In the AFC West, the Kansas City Chiefs have booked at least a playoff place after beating the Oakland Raiders 56-31 – just a year after losing 14 games to finish bottom of the AFC West. The Denver Broncos, second favourites for the Super Bowl, are prime candidates to win the division, despite losing to the San Diego Chargers.

42 | December 20 2013 |

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7 Days SAtuRDAY RUGbY UNION | AvIvA PREMIERSHIP: SARACENS v LEICESTER | ALLIANz PARK | bT SPORT 1 3.15PM

Tigers ready to pounce Top versus fifth at Allianz Park on Saturday, and fifth is not a position that Leicester Tigers like to find themselves in at this time of year.

Back-to-back wins over Montpellier fired the Tigers back into Heineken Cup contention in Pool 5, and while Vereniki Goneva’s late try last weekend acted as a glorious finale, a subsequent winning conversion from Ryan Lamb (pictured) could prove more important. That’s because Lamb is a confidence player who can tear any team apart. While the power of Jamie Gibson, Thomas Waldrom and Julian Salvi offer Leicester a real fringe threat with ball in hand, Lamb’s form gives manager Richard Cockerill an intriguing alternative to Toby Flood at 10.

Not that Saracens are short of fly half options, themselves, with Charlie Hodgson rolling back the years and Owen Farrell looking all the better for his summer with the Lions. The Sarries pack will cover the Allianz Park turf with never-diminishing hunger, but it’s the men outside the chosen 10 who really cause trouble on the fast-moving surface, with Dave Strettle in particular in flying form.

The home side are unbeaten in seven, and are yet to suffer defeat on their artificial surface since their January move there. Leicester, though, will just see that as an incentive.

FRIDAY > SWIMMING | DUEL IN THE POOL | TOLLCROSS INTERNATIONAL SWIMMING CENTRE, GLASGOW | SKY SPORTS 2 7PM

#TeamEurope Europe’s best swimmers take on a team from the USA this weekend in the Duel in the Pool – a Ryder Cup-style event held every two years. This will be the third instalment of the clash, with the first two both being dominated by team USA. This time though, the Americans will be without their main man.

Ryan Lochte – 11-time Olympic medallist – is still recovering from the torn ligament in his knee that occurred when an overexcited teenage girl hurled herself at him, bundling the pair of them over.

They will also miss their two most successful female swimmers this century – Missy Franklin and Natalie Coughlin – with the David Rogers/Getty Images, Adam Pretty/Getty Images

former unable to squeeze it into her busy freshman schedule.

The European Allstars are in good health, however, with Michael Jamieson (pictured), Fran Halsall, Hannah Miley and Jazmin Carlin just some of the British names involved. They’ll be joined by French Olympic gold-medallists Florent Manaudou, Yannick Agnel and Fabien Gilot, Holland’s three-time Olympic champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo and Denmark’s Lotte Friis.

The latter’s rematch against USA’s Katie Ledecky should provide plenty of drama in particular, after Ledecky won four gold medals at this summer’s World Championships – beating Friis to the top spot over both 1,500m and 800m.

44 | December 20 2013 |

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EXTRa TiME Making the most of your time and money

P54 We all hustle to survive – that includes Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale

Kit

Santa’s coming!

Top Row (left to right): LED Light Up Reindeer That’s right, the reindeer lights up. We feel sorry for reindeers who don’t have red noses £30 | truffleshuffle.co.uk; Red Multi Reindeer The second in our reindeer double-bill is perfect if you like ice-white Christmas numbers £40 | cheesychristmasjumpers.co.uk; Middle Row (left to right): Elf Jumper The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear – and wearing this £40 | thechristmasjumperstore.co.uk; Snowman Christmas Jumper Just look at his happy little face and big red nose £40 | thechristmasjumperstore.co.uk; Label J Polar Bear Crew Neck This one might look a bit like a dead-eyed psycho, but polar bears have been a staple of Christmas tradition since… well, since Coca-Cola decided they were £25 | jacamo.co.uk; Bottom Row (left to right): John Lewis Save The Children Christmas Jumper The ‘classiest’ of our selection also means £25 to charity for every sale £49 | johnlewis.com; Winter Wonderland Green This Fair Isle jumper has pine green and berry red in the colour scheme. Does it get more festive? £35 | cheesychristmasjumpers.co.uk; SoulCal Xmas Scene That reindeer must be knackered! Still, this traditional Christmas scene makes for a nice jumper £25 | usc.co.uk 46 | December 20 2013 |

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eT

Watches

rubber soul

Admit it, you’re not going deep-sea diving anytime soon – but these rubber-strapped watches look just as good on terra firma

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1. Accurist Chronograph £200 | accurist.co.uk; 2. bremont supermarine £3,600 | mrporter.com; 3. IWC Ingenieur Dual Time Titanium £6,250 | newcavendishjewellers.com; 4. Maurice lacroix Pontos s extreme £3,970 | mauricelacroix.com; 5. omega speedmaster racing £2,960 | beaverbrooks.co.uk; 6. superdry scuba Multi Dial £99.99 | hsamuel.co.uk; 7. Victorinox swiss Army Night Vision £575 | watchshop.com; 8. Jorg Gray JG9600-12 £475 | jorggray.co.uk; 9. Certina Ds eagle £950 | watchelements.co.uk; 10. Hamilton Khaki Flight Timer Quartz £980 | jurawatches.co.uk; 11. Tag Heuer F1 Chronograph £1,195 | beaverbrooks.co.uk; 12. Tissot Prs 516 extreme £915 | uk.tissotshop.com; 13. seiko sportura Alarm Chronograph £350 | watchshop.com; 14. Nixon 48-20 Chrono P £280 | watchshop.com 48 | December 20 2013 |

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James Lincoln, www.jameslincoln.co.uk

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you are the power.

dedicated to perfection SPORTURA. Thanks to a rotor that spins at up to 100,000 rpm, Seiko Kinetic converts your every movement into power, so no battery charge is ever required. The new Sportura Kinetic GMT also offers a screw see-through case back, 10 bar water resistance and a sapphire crystal. The perfect watch for sport at the highest level. seiko.co.uk

Et

gadgets

small, but mighty

The smallest DSLR ever from Panasonic, plus a bag to keep it in, a snappy wooden block that tells the time and an innovative phone with two screens

Panasonic lumiX DmC gm1

The world’s smallest compact interchangeable lens camera, the GM1 gives you the high-quality photos of DSLRs, but in a body that’s about the same size as an iPhone 4 (although obviously much thicker). It weighs just 203 grams, and has Wi-Fi connectivity so you can easily upload your pictures instantly. No longer will you have to compromise between picture quality and portability. £630 with 12-32mm f/3.5 kit zoom | amazon.co.uk

Click Cube Clock

Tells you the time only when you click your fingers, which stops you from staring at the clock when you can’t sleep, and from knocking over everything reaching for your phone. Of course, if you’ve got company, they might be slightly alarmed if you sit up in the middle of the night and start snapping your fingers like a madman. Explain quickly. €30 | firebox.com

booq Python slimpack Camera bag

You’ll hardly need it if you have the slender camera featured above, but if you’re a keen amateur photographer with a few lenses, this case will stop you fumbling around and risking dropping your expensive kit. It has room for up to two DLSR cameras, up to four mid-size lenses, one zoom lens, a tripod and a tablet. No space for your lunch, though. £110 | booqbags.co.uk

ONLY LG SMART TV BRINGS YOU SKY SPORTS AND SKY MOVIES ON NOW TV

50 | December 20 2013 |

yotaPhone

A glimpse of the future to end the year – this dual-screen Android phone has a regular display on the front and an e-ink display (similar to the Kindle e-reader) on the back.

So you can see information like the time, email or notifications without waking up your phone, thus saving effort and battery. The first batch is sold out. Look out for this in 2014.

UK £TBC | yotaphone.com

ards 2013 Aw

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Extra time Gemma Atkinson

52 | December 20 2013 |

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Gemma Atkinson is part of the USA Pro Team. Visit usapro.co.uk

ctress Gemma Atkinson is no stranger to the world of sport, having previously dated Cristiano Ronaldo (the highest-paid footballer in the world, PFA Player of the Year and Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year, 2007, 2008; Ballon d’Or winner in 2008 and the most likely candidate to lift the golden ball again in January) and Marcus Bent (Premier League Player of the Month, January 2002).

She is currently an ambassador for sports brand USA Pro, for whom she can be seen extolling the virtues of the gym and Thai boxing, to which Atkinson attributes being in what she says is the ‘best shape of her life’.

It’s customary to decorate your surroundings with holly at this time of year, but we’ve had to make do with gilding these pages with a former Hollyoaks actress instead.

Merry Christmas.

A

Rose among thorns

Jason Long

ET

Entertainment

HusTLE AnD BusTLE

Ceiling swimmers and a busy market arrive in the capital, while David O Russell’s barbershop trio hit all the right notes

Film

Event

Real Food Christmas Market Southbank Centre Square

Don’t be distracted by the hairstyles, because underneath Jeremy Renner’s JFK quiff, Bradley Cooper’s Kevin Keegan bubble perm and Christian Bale’s Woody Harrelson in Kingpinstyle combover lurks one of 2013’s most entertaining films. David O Russell (Three Kings, The Fighter) directs this fine ensemble cast – which also boasts Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence – in a 1970s-set crime/comedy caper.

Centre stage is a paunchy, garrulous

DVD

Elementary Season One

It suffers in comparison to the Beeb’s Sherlock, but this US-set Holmes update certainly has its merits. Jonny Lee Miller is richly enjoyable as a twitchy, volatile detective, forced to swap his Baker Street residence for New York following a stint in rehab.

Lucy Liu as Dr Joan Watson makes for an enjoyably dry (in both senses) apprentice.

Out Monday 54 | December 20 2013 |

conman (Bale) and his more wary yet crafty girlfriend (Adams, in dresses with necklines that are less plunging, more plummeting), who are forced to work for Cooper’s FBI agent. Things get dicey when the couple get involved with a corrupt New Jersey mayor whose high-strung wife threatens to pull all of their schemes apart. Packed with characters with delusions of grandeur, Russell has delivered a Scorsese-style epic with humour, charm and panache.

Out today

Book

Lying Sam Harris

Bullshit is bad – or so reckons neuroscientist Sam Harris, who outlines the theory that fibbing never ends well. Called “the most thought-provoking read of the year” by Ricky Gervais, Lying claims that so-called ‘white lies’ are the most dangerous offenders. So start by altering your CV and telling your partner that, yes, they do look fat in that.

Out now

Theatre

Blu-ray

Fuerzabruta Roundhouse

The Argentine cunning stunt troupe return to London for a run of 100 shows. Witness swimming on the ceiling, members of the audience being hoisted aloft by the performers and a chap ploughing full throttle through a series of obstacles. Does it make any narrative sense? No. Will it leave your jaw ajar in flabbergasted wonder? Certainly.

From Monday

Pain & Gain

Michael Bay unleashes his trademark Bayhem in this slick, pumped-up action comedy about a gang of bodybuilders who kidnap a rich crook in order to nab his cash. Predictably, it all ends messily, but not before Mark Wahlberg and The Rock flex their comedic muscle to excellent effect as the thieves who are low on brains, high on LA’s good life.

Out Monday

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2013 Annapurna Productions LLC All Rights Reserved, David Levene 2012

American Hustle

‘Brixton botanicals marmalade’ sounds to us like some kind of new, ironic, hipster prog-rock band – but no! It’s actually one of the many delicious foodstuffs available to buy at London’s Southbank from now until Sunday December 22. Cheeses, chutneys, chocolates, cake, charcuterie and other items that don’t even begin with the letter ‘c’ are also on sale – and while this organic fodder isn’t always cheap, there is a try-before-youbuy policy. The ideal place to get stuffed, do your Christmas food shopping, have a glass of mulled wine or hot cider and endure some seasonal carols, all at the same time.

On now

free £30 gift card

* †

when you buy any of the NEW

home of entertainment

/hmv

@hmvtweets

*Offer starts Thursday 5 December till Wednesday 22nd January 2014. Also includes Solo HD headphones, Mixr headphones, Studio headphones, Executive headphones, Pro headphones, Wireless headphones. All Beats products are subject to availability, while stocks last. † Beats products and colour variations are available via the Beats ordering system.