The Times - UK (2020-08-28)

the times | Friday August 28 2020 2GM 67

Sport

today after a 24-hour pause as part of

the sporting protest against racial injus-

tice in the United States. Konta will play

Victoria Azarenka, the two-times

grand-slam champion from Belarus,

who has dropped to No 59 in the world.

Konta has impressed her new coach,

Thomas Hogstedt, the experienced

Swede who has worked with Maria

Sharapova, Li Na, Caroline Wozniacki

and Simona Halep. After only a few

weeks together, Hogstedt already sees

similar qualities to some of his former

charges.

“I like the kind of personality Johan-

na has,” Hogstedt said. “She likes to

work hard and improve, so she remind-

ed me a lot of the players that I had

much success with. I was very attracted

to work with her, and I see how she has

worked her way up.

“I’m sure she will have her success,

because she’s extremely professional.

So when you’re there in the semi-final

of a grand slam [Konta has reached the

last four at all the majors, bar the US

Open], you know you can do it. If you

keep giving yourself the chance, it’s

going to happen.”

1

2

3

4

5

Grand Départ

Tomorrow

Nice

Start

Sept 20

Paris

Finish

PYR

ENEES

A

L

P

S

Longest

stage

218km

100km

6

7

8

9

10 11

12

13

14 15

19

20

21

16

17 18

FRANCE

Shortest

stage

122km

Key

Start of stage

Finish

Start and finish

Time-trial

Rest town

Transfer

stage by stage

3,484

Total km

9 flat stages

3 hilly stages

8 mountain stages

2 Rest days

1 individual time-trial

TV

All stages are live

on ITV4 and

Eurosport

1 Nice Moyen Pays to Nice 156km

2 Nice Haut Pays to Nice 186km

3 Nice to Sisteron 198km

4 Sisteron to Orcières-merlette 160.5km

5 Gap to Privas 183km

6 Le Teil to Mont Aigoual 191km

7 Millau to Lavaur 168km

8 Cazères-sur-garonne to

Loudenvielle 141km

9 Pau to Laruns 153km

Rest Day: La Charente-maritime

10 Île D'oléron Le Château-

d'oléron to Île De Ré Saint-

martin-de-ré 168.5km

11 Châtelaillon-plage to Poitiers 167.5km

12 Chauvigny to Sarran Corrèze 218km

13 Châtel-guyon to

Puy Mary Cantal 191.5km

14 Clermont-ferrand to Lyons 194km

15 Lyons to Grand Colombier 174.5km

Rest Day: Isère

16 La Tour-du-pin to

Villard-de-lans 164km

17 Grenoble to

Méribel Col De La Loze 170km

18 Méribel to La Roche-sur-foron 175km

19 Bourg-en-bresse to

Champagnole 166.5km

20 Individual Time-trial

Lure to La Planche

Des Belles Filles 36.2km

21 Mantes-la-jolie to

Paris Champs-élysées 122km

four key stages

stage 9 September 6 Pau to Laruns, 153km

0km 153km

This is one of the toughest

stages of the race, featuring

four punishing climbs and a

winding descent to the finish.

With the first rest day to follow

immediately, riders can leave it

all on the road here.

Col de

Marie

Blanque

1,035m

Col de Soudet

1,540m

0km 174.5km

Another gruelling mountain

stage that precedes a rest day,

this could be a pivotal moment.

The steep climbs, including a 22

per cent stretch up Montée de la

Selle de Fromentel, will test even

the toughest competitors.

stage 15 September 13 Lyons to Grand Colombier, 174.5km

Montée de la

Selle de Fromentel

1,174m

Col de la

Biche

1,325m

stage 20 September 19 Lure to La Planche des Belles, 36.2km

0km 36.2km

The penultimate stage and

the only race against the

clock in this year’s Tour. The

elevation towards the finish

could rule out time-trial

specialists, opening the door

for a GC contender to strike a

decisive late blow.

Saint- Germain

311m

Col de la

Chevestraye

611m

After the sprinters have shone

on day one, this is an early

adventure into the mountains,

with extra time bonuses available

at the top of the final climb and

the finish line. A chance for GC

0km 186km hopefuls to lay down a marker.

stage 2 August 30 Nice Haut Pays to Nice, 186km

Aspremont

489m

Aspremont

489m

Levens

540m

Mercer, the umpire turned

commentator, dies aged 70

David Mercer, a former Wimbledon

umpire and one of tennis’s “most icon-

ic” voices, has died aged 70.

Mercer umpired the Wimbledon

men’s singles final between Jimmy

Connors and John McEnroe in 1984

before focusing on commentating — a

career in which he also covered Amer-

ican football, cricket, rowing, rugby

union and skiing.

Scott Lloyd, the chief executive of the

LTA, described him as one of the game’s

“most iconic and distinguished voices”.

“His immense passion for the sport

came across in his commentary,” he

added.

Mercer was born in Swansea in 1950

and won a Welsh junior doubles tennis

title in 1968. He was a graduate of Not-

tingham University and qualified as a

solicitor, running his own firm in Swan-

sea for nine years. Mercer started work-

ing as a freelance sports broadcaster for

BBC Wales in 1979 and umpired at

Wimbledon between 1973 and 1984.

“John McEnroe called him a s***

once and he always enjoyed that,”

Anthony Blackburn, Mercer’s long-

time agent, said. “David was a lovely,

kind man who I was fortunate to

represent for many years.”

McEnroe later worked with Mercer

as his co-commentator and said: “My

God, they’re giving me an umpire.”

He continued to travel the tennis

circuit as a freelance commentator for

the BBC and Eurosport, and would

have worked at Wimbledon this year

but for the tournament being cancelled

because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Mercer was married to his second

wife, Sue, and had one daughter,

Caroline, and two stepchildren, Liz and

Chris.

6 American twins Bob and Mike Bryan

have retired from a record-breaking

doubles career. Together the 42-year-

old brothers collected 16 grand-slam

titles, 119 tour-level titles and a 2012

Olympic gold medal.

Konta hot favourite

to triumph in new

battle of the Brits

Tennis

Stuart Fraser Tennis Correspondent

The Battle of the Brits events proved a

popular way to fill the tennis void this

summer and that theme will continue

at the US Open next week after Johan-

na Konta and Heather Watson were

drawn to play each other in the first

round.

The chances of the only two British

participants in the women’s event being

placed next to each other in a draw of

128 players were slim, but the United

States Tennis Association’s computer

software delivered this unlikely out-

come yesterday.

Konta, ranked No 15 and a quarter-

finalist at Flushing Meadows last year, is

the obvious favourite for this intriguing

contest against Watson, the world

No 52. Konta has won all three of their

previous encounters, the last on grass at

the Nottingham Open two years ago.

The form book is also clearly in favour

of Konta, 29, who has reached the semi-

finals of the Western and Southern

Open this week without dropping her

serve once. Watson, 28, has lost both

matches she has played since returning

to the WTA tour two weeks ago.

Andy Murray, who is ranked No 134,

will be thankful to have avoided a seed

in his first grand-slam singles match

since the 2019 Australian Open. The

2012 champion plays Japan’s Yoshihito

Nishioka, who was in good form before

the tour was suspended in March,

reaching a career-high No 48.

If Murray can build up a head of

steam, then potential opponents after

this include Felix Auger-Aliassime, the

world No 20 from Canada, in the second

round; Dan Evans, the British No 1, in the

third round; and Dominic Thiem, the

world No 3 from Austria, in the last 16.

Kyle Edmund has not been given a

kind draw. The British No 2 faces the

unorthodox and tricky game of Alex-

ander Bublik, the world No 51 from

Kazakhstan, first up. If he wins, then the

17-times grand-slam champion Novak

Djokovic is likely to be his second-

round opponent.

The semi-finals of this week’s US

Open warm-up event will go ahead

British first-round draws

(World ranking in brackets)

Dan Evans (No 28) vs

Thiago Seyboth Wild (Br, No 113)

Kyle Edmund (No 44) vs

Alexander Bublik (Kaz, No 51)

Cameron Norrie (No 77) vs

Diego Schwartzman (Arg, No 13)

Andy Murray (No 134) vs

Yoshihito Nishioka (Japan, No 48)

Johanna Konta (No 15) vs

Heather Watson (No 52)

Other notable draws

Novak Djokovic (Serbia, No 1) vs

Damir Dzumhur (Bosnia, No 107)

Serena Williams (US, No 9) vs Kristie

Ahn (US, No 97)

First round starts on Monday

Live on Amazon Prime, from 5pm