This week’s roundup also features an Australian Grand Prix washout, the best of Gigi Buffon and an outrageous rally move1) Formula One 2018 is go, go, go – starting with Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix. Since moving to Melbourne Park, the race has become a regular curtain-raiser, but it used to end the season when held on the streets of Adelaide. Here’s a potted history of the race, and Ralf Schumacher taking off on the first lap in 2002. The 1991 edition was the shortest race in F1 history, abandoned after 24 wild and wacky minutes in a torrential downpour: Continue reading...
The greatest champion of the modern era has had to achieve it all to a backdrop of thinly veiled racism and unjust criticism – sadly, her having a baby is unlikely to change anythingWould someone please give Serena Williams a break? Two weeks into her comeback, seven months after giving birth to daughter Olympia (her name chosen from a shortlist of those associated with strength), the winner of 23 grand slam singles crowns was forced to endure another round of the rubbish that has been as consistent a part of her career as the titles.Williams had to enter the Miami Open this week as an unseeded player, a wildcard in fact. This despite the fact that she left for her...
‘Not since Muhammad Ali has a fighter been this socially active,’ says the manager of the California-born fighter who is the new WBC light-welterweight championDonald Trump says he likes a good fight. And, although the Fat Controller would cut a comical figure in boxing shorts, he briefly was a dynamic promoter in the 80s and 90s at his casinos in Atlantic City before serial bankruptcies forced him to quit the Jersey boardwalk – and the fight game.Nevertheless, although he ended up president of the United States, it is unlikely Trump will ever get a ringside invitation to watch his country’s latest boxing hero, the Californian-born José Carlos Ramírez. Related: Scott Quigg and boxing's growing problem of failing to make the...
The Retrievers’ stunning takedown of Virginia reminded us why March Madness endures as one of America’s best sporting traditionsThat whoosh you heard on Friday night was the sound of millions of brackets across America simultaneously bursting into flames. The sporting spectacle whose overarching allure is chaos was finally graced with the mother of all upsets as University of Maryland-Baltimore County upended top-ranked Virginia to become the first ever No16 seed to defeat a No1, springing the greatest of NCAA men’s basketball tournament surprises in the most shocking way imaginable. Related: Ultimate upset: UMBC stun Virginia to become first ever No16 seed to top a No1 Continue reading...
The 14-times major winner’s second place at the Valspar Championship has generated excitement but talk of him conquering Augusta again may be prematureBookmakers are apparently revelling in these fevered times for golf. By Monday afternoon, the only absent bulletin was the price for Tiger Woods to walk unassisted on Rae’s Creek when taking to the 12th green during his first round at the Masters. That may be in the post.Woods’s surpassing of expectations has been timely. With the first major of the year, the Masters, only three weeks away, the 42-year-old finds himself listed among the second favourites to prevail. Woods can be backed at shorter odds than Sergio García, the defending champion, Justin Rose, a modern day Augusta specialist,...