Left field

Roddick gatecrashes Murray’s Wimbledon party

The build-up to Friday’s second Wimbledon semi-final was all about Briton Andy Murray but the man of the hour was the fearless American Andy Roddick.

Sat on a packed and sunny Centre Court, the prospect of Murray’s party being gate-crashed did not take long to dawn on a crowd who did not seem sure who they should be cheering for.

Roddick never stopped playing like a man on a mission, contesting every point while Murray’s more subtle, patient approach was not coming to fruition as many had predicted.

Murray produced glimpses of magic and he stood up bravely to return many of Roddick’s meteoric serves, which hit a staggering speed of 143MPH, but his own first serve let him down too often and the passing shots he regularly makes went amiss.

On paper, this was a match Murray was meant to win, but in reality the world number three was outplayed by sixth seed Roddick whose recent good form has coincided with a much fitter physique.

At 22-years-old, a grand slam semi-final still represents progress for Murray and the defeat will by no means damage his confidence or reputation — British fans will just have to wait a little longer for a homegrown Wimbledon finalist. After all it has been 71 years already.

However, tennis fans will not begrudge Roddick, a former world number one and the 2003 U.S. Open champion, another chance to renew his rivalry with defending champion and overwhelming favourite Roger Federer in Sunday’s final.

Moment of truth for Armstrong and Contador

It is THE question the Tour de France caravan has been asking in the crowded restaurants of Monaco: Can the returning Lance Armstrong really live in peace and harmony with Alberto Contador, the 2007 winner and the American’s team leader?

Astana team director Johan Bruyneel says there is no rivalry whatsoever between the two riders before Saturday’s start.

“Alberto is our leader at the start and we gave him the number one in the team simply because the last three Tours (Tour, Giro and Vuelta) he entered he won. I discussed it with Lance and he agreed,” Bruyneel told reporters.

“A rivalry is always a good story for the media but there is no rivalry. We’re entering this Tour as a team. There will be attempts to divide the team, but we’re united, we don’t have a row.”

Bruyneel suggested the press asked questions about a possible rivalry between Contador and another of his team-mates, Levi Leipheimer, who finished close to him in the 2007 Tour and last year’s Vuelta.

“Or why don’t you ask yourself questions about a possible rivalry in the Saxobank team between Frank and Andy Schleck. After all, they’re brothers, it’s a good story,” he said.

The answer, and he knows it well, is very simple. Lancemania is hitting Monaco and journalists flocking the auditorium for a Contador news conference only had questions about the seven-times champion.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Can Owen revive career at Manchester United?

On the face of it, replacing world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo with an injury-prone forward whose side just got relegated does not seem like a great bit of business.

The British media is certain that Michael Owen, a free agent after leaving Newcastle United, is on the verge of joining Manchester United if he passes a stringent medical.

Has Alex Ferguson gone mad? Far from it. Having banked 80 million pounds from the sale of Ronaldo to Real Madrid, he is poised to bring in one of English football's most renowned goalscorers for free. And Owen is still under 30.

Even if Owen only ends up playing half a season, he will still be able to contribute and his England partnership with Wayne Rooney always looked promising.

However, United fans will hope Owen and Wigan's Antonio Valencia will not be the only new recruits.

What do you reckon? An inspired signing or a gamble doomed to failure?

Murraymania keeps on building … but Andy’s unimpressed

Andy Murray’s brutal straight sets victory over Juan Carlos Ferrero took him through to the semi-finals at Wimbledon for the first time in his career on Wednesday but while the centre court fans and the Henman Hill mob did their Mexican waves one man was singularly unimpressed by the Murraymania.

Murray himself is doing his best to let the media frenzy pass him by. He may have received notes of encouragement from the Queen, Sean Connery and Cliff Richard, and he knows he will be all over the front and back pages of the newspapers again on Thursday, but to say the Scot is staying cool would be a massive understatement. Here’s what he said after the 7-5 6-3 6-2 win over Ferrero:

“It doesn’t make any difference the way you perform, the hype. If you spend the whole time, if you work in the media and spend a lot of time reading the papers, watching everything on the TV, getting said all the things that are getting said on the radio, then you get caught up in it.

If you ignore it you don’t realize it’s happening. You don’t take anything that’s being said about you. You know, I don’t read it because 90% of the stuff’s gonna be pretty much untrue anyway.”

Ouch.

Murray didn’t sound too impressed to hear that Kate Winslet had been in the crowd either, although he did concede it might be good for the sport.

from Reuters Soccer Blog:

Benzema to join Real, when will the spending end?

France striker Karim Benzema is joining Real Madrid from Olympique Lyon, the Ligue 1 club said on Wednesday on their website.

The 21-year-old Benzema will become Real's third major signing under returning president Florentino Perez after Brazil's Kaka and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo.

When Perez was first in charge at the Bernabeu he set about signing one Galactico each close season. Now he is trying to buy them all in a month.

Where is he getting the money from during this global economic crisis? Furthermore, what damage is the spending spree doing to other clubs?

Manchester United were reportedly interested in Benzema to try to boost their forward line after Ronaldo's departure.

We really are in unchartered territory here. Will Real still pursue Bayern Munich's Franck Ribery too?

from Commentaries:

Will Murray success at Wimbledon be RBS’s best return?

Royal Bank of Scotland is not best known for backing winners.

So the Scottish bank must be savouring Andy Murray's run at the Wimbledon tennis tournament.

World number three Murray is one of the "sports personalities of present and past" sponsored by RBS during the heady days of Sir Fred Goodwin.

Murray must count as one of Sir Fred's more inspired investments. Murray's play has literally gone from strength to strength -- all the time with the RBS logo emblazoned on his shirt sleeve.

Stephen Hester, Goodwin's successor as chief executive of RBS, must be hoping Murray maintains his winning streak and goes all the way to the Wimbledon men's final.