Daily Mail - 30.08.2019

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FORMULA ONE

JONATHAN McEVOY

at Spa-Francorchamps

ALEX ALbon, the british-

born kid plucked from

obscurity to partner the

blistering Max Verstappen

at Red bull, has called his

transformation ‘laughable’.

Speaking ahead of Sun-

day’s belgian Grand Prix,

his first for the team, Albon

reflected on how he splut-

tered into the top flight

after several setbacks,

including seeing his

mother Kankamol

imprisoned for fraud

in 2012. Soon after

that he was released

by the Red bull junior

programme and

had to fight his

way back.

It is remark-

able then that

the 23-year-old (below) has

been promoted from Toro

Rosso to replace the under-

performing Pierre Gasly.

‘It’s quite laughable

when I look back,’ said

Albon. ‘It has not been

a fluid career. I’ve had

my ups and downs

and to be in this posi-

tion is quite an oppor-

tunity. I hope it hasn’t

come too soon.’

Although he

drives under

the Thai flag,

Albon was

brought up and lives in

England. He competed in

Formula Two last year,

finishing third behind

british pair George Russell

and Lando norris.

He won a Formula E

contract before Toro Rosso

gave him a seat, although he

had never driven an F1 car.

A best finish of sixth in

Germany last month helped

secure him his chance

alongside Verstappen. How-

ever, Albon will start at the

back of the grid at Spa for

engine-part changes.

Alfa Romeo’s Kimi

Raikkonen will assess his

fitness in practice today

after injuring a leg playing

an unspecified sport over

the summer break.

ALBON: I HOPE I’M READY

QQQ
Daily Mail, Friday, August 30, 2019

Gatland laughs off rankings jibe

RUGBY UNION

By WILL KELLEHER

WARREN GATLAND has

mocked suggestions that

Wales do not deserve

their No 1 world ranking

— saying he is happy to

sacrifice the spot to

satisfy critics at the top of

the sport.

Agustin Pichot, World

Rugby’s Argentine vice

president, labelled his

own governing body’s

ranking system

‘ridiculous’ and suggested

Wales should not be top

dogs having failed to beat

New Zealand for 66 years.

Wales rose to No 1 having

beaten England in their

last World Cup warm-up,

and can stay there by

beating Ireland at home

on Saturday. But, speaking

in the build up to that

match, Gatland laughed at

Pichot’s comments. ‘I’m

quite happy to decline the

position,’ he joked.

‘We will forfeit it! We

didn’t go in and apply for

it. If he’s not happy, then

take it off us! It doesn’t

bother us. We officially

decline the position —

thanks very much!’

This was in response to

Pichot, who said: ‘It is a

ranking that is badly done

and I said it the first day

I arrived at World Rugby.

‘It has no order, it is all

mathematical and I

would say that it is almost

a matter of marketing.

‘This was demonstrated

when Wales never beat

New Zealand (since the

rankings were created

in 2003) and now appears

first. It’s ridiculous!

I’m going to change it,

I assure you.’

Gatland has made 14

changes to the side

who beat England for

the Ireland game,

handing debuts to two

21-year-olds: wing Owen

Lane and prop Rhys Carre.

R

oGER FEdERER

paid dan Evans

what he might

consider the ulti-

mate compliment

in January, when he said

facing the british no 2 was

a bit like playing himself in

the mirror.

The 29-year-old from birming-

ham had just given the Swiss

master a decent test in the

Australian open second round in

three tight sets.

It earned Evans tennis’s equiva-

lent of a royal summons, an invi-

tation to train with Federer in

Switzerland during the spring.

That turned out to be a friendly

encounter, which will not be the

case this evening when they

tackle each other in the third

round of the US open, after

Evans last night upset the

tournament’s 25th seed.

He played solidly enough to

beat France’s Lucas Pouille

6-4, 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 in three hours and

10 minutes, although there was

not always the kind of easy flu-

ency that has drawn comparisons

with his next opponent.

Evans has already faced Federer

on the Centre Court (2016) and

the Rod Laver Arena. now, at

5pm UK time, they will reunite on

the biggest stage of all, the Arthur

Ashe Stadium.

‘I would rather not be playing

him but it’s better than being out

on Court 12,’ reasoned Evans. ‘I

have to go out there and think I

can beat him. I’m in a different

place to when we’ve played before

and so is he.

‘I’m over thinking, “It’s Roger

and it’s impossible to beat him”.

I have more belief. I played good

tennis that day (when they met in

Australia) but I played too far

back in the court and I will need

to come forward more.’

Pouille’s strength is usually his

consistency and mental fortitude

but his game was littered with

errors and he served eight double

faults. Evans led 4-1 in

the third set and then 3-0 in the

ensuing tiebreak before finishing

it off in the fourth when he

decisively broke for 5-4.

He should have finished it

sooner, and that could count

against him against Federer as

the rain-induced postponement

of Wednesday means that he will

not have the same luxury of a day

off as his evergreen opponent.

There is, however, the sense the

38-year-old might be vulnerable.

before recovering both times.

Evans acknowledged those slow

starts but pointed out: ‘He’s

routined them after that.’

by his own standards, Federer’s

recent record at Flushing

Meadows is modest, not having

gone past the quarter-finals since

2015. Evans has reached the third
      round on his three appearances
      in the US open main draw.
      His much improved application
      since the blaring alarm call of his
      one-year suspension now sees
      him back in the top 50.
      Wimbledon champion Simona
      Halep was last night upset in the
      second round, beaten 2-6, 6-3, 7-6
      by American qualifier Taylor
      Townsend, the world no 116 who
      employs the old school serve and
      volley style.

JO KONTA is relishing the big

tournaments like never before

this year, and she eased to her

12th victory in the Grand

Slams this season by reaching

the third round of the US Open

last night.

Having been kept waiting for

nearly seven hours on

Wednesday before being sent

home due to the persistent

rain, Konta made up for lost

time when she finally got to

face Russia’s world No 61

Margarita Gasparyan.

It took only 54 minutes for

Konta to overwhelm one of the

few players on the women’s

EVANS READY FOR

HIS ULTIMATE TEST

MIKE

DICKSON

Tennis Correspondent

at Flushing Meadows

US OPEN TENNIS

It’s Federer

up next but

Dan says he

isn’t fazed

Fighting spirit:

Evans beats 25th

seed Pouille in

four sets REX

Tennis

By MIKE DICKSON

Dominant

Konta looks

like a major

threat again

tour to possess a single handed

backhand, and she ran off

12 straight games after losing

the opener to seal a 6-1, 6-0 win.

She is building the kind of

momentum that makes her

dangerous to any opponent

and she now faces fellow

Wimbledon quarter-finalist

from last month Shuai Zhang,

the world No 34 from China.

What the British No 1 has

certainly avoided is the kind of

nosedive that occurred in 2017,

when making the semi-finals at

Wimbledon was followed by a

prolonged late-season slump.

Despite the disappointment of

losing in the quarter-finals at

SW19, she is the 11th best

performing player in the

world this year.

D EVANS

L POUILLE

v

WEARY MURRAY CRAMPS

UP IN MALLORCA DEFEAT

A WEARY Andy Murray needed

treatment for cramp as he was

beaten last night by the world

No 240, bringing to an end his

experiment with the Rafa Nadal

Challenger event in Mallorca.

The 32-year-old Scot went out

in the third round, losing to

Italy’s Matteo Viola 3-6, 6-4, 7-6

in two hours and 43 minutes.

He said: ‘It was good. I played

two competitive matches, but

physically I need to get better.’

The 20-time Grand Slam winner

looked alarmingly shaky in losing

the opening set of his first two

matches.

He went behind against Indian

unknown Sumit nagal and again

versus bosnian damir dzumhur