24 NEWS
THEWEEK 17 July 2021SportCyclingAnna van der
Breggen successfully
defended her Giro d’Italia
Donne title after coming
fourth on the final stage. It
was the fourth time the Dutch
cyclist has won the event.
Rugby unionSix South
African players tested
positive for Covid-19, causing
the whole squad to self-
isolate two weeks before their
series against the British and
Irish Lions.
MMADustin Poirier defeated
Conor McGregor at UFC 264
in Las Vegas. The fight was
stopped after the first round,
when McGregor’s leg was
badly injured.OnSaturday,CentreCourthelda15,000-strong
capacitycrowdforthefirsttimesince2019,said
SimonBriggsinTheSundayTelegraph–andit
wasrewardedwith“thebestwomen’sfinal”at
Wimbledonin1 5 years.Ican’tremembersuchan
excitableatmosphereinrecenthistory,“atleast
notwhentherehasbeennoBritishhopetocheer
for”.Perhapsitwaspartlyrelief:forthefirstten
minutes,the“biggestmismatchimaginable”
seemedonthecards,asAshleighBartywonthe
firstthreegames.HerCzechopponent,Karolína
Plíšková,has“areputationforgettingdownon
herself”.Butafterlosingthefirstset,Plíškovádug
inforadramaticsecond-setwin.WhenBarty
servedforastraight-setswinat6-5inthesecond,
Plíškovábrokeback,thenwonthetie-break–to
an“enormousroar”fromthecrowd.“HowdoyourecoverafterfailingtoserveoutaWimbledon
final,”askedTumainiCarayolinTheObserver.“Somanywould
havecrumbled,butBartyshruggeditoff.”Sherecoveredstraight
away,withadecisivebreakearlyinsetthree,and4 5 minutes
afterthefirstattempt,foundherselfservingforthematchagain.
Thistimeshefoughtoffabreakpoint,andwon:“nothinginthe
world”wasgoingtostopherfrom takingthe Wimbledontitle.
The25-year-old became thefirstAustralianwomantoliftthe
Venus Rosewater dish sinceEvonneGoolagongCawleyin 1980.BothwomenhaveaproudIndigenousheritage,
andGoolagongCawleyhadbelievedthather
“littlesister”wouldbecomeAustralia’snext
femaletennischampioneversincewatchingBarty
playaged 1 3.Bartypaidtributetoher“mentor
andidol”withascallopeddressinspiredbythe
oneGoolagongCawleyworeduringherfirst
Wimbledontitle,exactly 50 yearsago.Thefact
thatBartywasplayingafterahipinjurymadeher
victoryallthemoreimpressive,saidStuartFraser
inTheSundayTimes.Shehadbeenforcedto
retireinthesecondroundoftheFrenchOpen:
medicalexpertsadvisedherteamthatsheshould
notevenplayatWimbledon.“Remarkably,
perhapsirresponsibly”,theydecidedtokeepher
inthedarkaboutthisuntilshehadwonthetitle.Thefollowingday,NovakDjokovicretained
histitle,saidTomKershawinTheIndependent.“Indefeating
MatteoBerrettiniinfourbreathtakingsetsthatdemandedallof
hisstubbornwillandingenuity”,theworldNo1.finallyequalled
therecordof 20 men’sGrandSlamtitlesheldbyRogerFederer
andRafaelNadal.Henowneedsonlyonemoretoconfirmhim
asthe“greatestofalltime”.HavingwonallthreeGrandSlams
sofarthisyear,Djokovic said hecould“definitely envisage”also
winningtheUS Open inSeptember.Few woulddoubthim.“No
light can separateNovakDjokovicfromlegendanylonger.”Tennis: anew Wimbledon championAmasscrash,alatebikechange, swelteringheatand
aninjurytoateammatecombinedto makeMark
Cavendish’sfourth-stagewinatthisyear’sTourde
Franceoneofhis toughest,saidJeremy Whittle in
TheGuardian–butit wasalsotheonethat made
history. Cavendishequalled EddyMerckx’s all-time
recordof34 stagewins, confoundingthose whohad
writtenoff hiscareerafteryearsof illnessandpoor
form.“Whatheisdoingnow isreallycrazy,” said
the defendingTourchampion andwearer ofthe
yellowjersey,TadejPogacar, asheconsideredthe
36-year-old’s achievements.“Allrespecttohim.”AyearagoCavendish wasclosetoretiring,said
DavidBates inTheTimes,worndownbydepression
and theEpstein-Barrvirusthatcauses glandularfever. Hehadn’t
won astage ofthe Toursince 2016 ,and hewasn’t evensupposed
to becompetingthisyear.Cavendish wasonlyselectedwhentheDeceuninck-QuickStepteam’s originalsprinter,Sam
Bennett,was injured.But an extraordinarycomeback
reacheditszenithon FridayinCarcassonne,said
DanielMatthews inthe DailyMail.After 220
“gruelling”kilometres, and amessy climaxin which
histeammate MichaelMørkøvnearlyfinishedahead
of him,Cavendishcrossed the line.As he“hobbled”
to the waitingcameras,Cavendish wastoospentto
walk ortalk.That determinationtodig deephas
madehim thegreatestsprinter ofalltime.As Cavendish himself admittedina“note-perfect”
press conference,hedoesn’t reallybearcomparison
withMerckx,thegreatestall-round cyclistthesport
haseverknown,saidTomCaryin TheDaily
Telegraph.Butwe cannowsay, withouthesitation,thathe is“the
greatestsprinterthesport haseverknown”.And youwouldn’t
bet against himbreakingthe stagerecordbeforethisTourisover.Cycling: Cavendish equals Eddy Merckx’s all-time recordBarty:adecisive performanceCavendish: determinationEngland one-day team: wiped out by Covid Sporting headlinesThe English cricketing summer is
on a“knife edge”, after Covid
cases forced England’s entire
one-day squad and coaching staff
to self-isolate, four days before
their first one-day international
against Pakistan, said Elizabeth
Ammon in The Times. An entirely
new 18-man squad had to be
assembled, with players pulled
from ongoing county matches, a
third of whom had never played
international cricket before. As
cases rise, the rest of the season–including the
Test series against India and the new Hundred
tournament–may be jeopardised.
Even so, it wasa“triumphant week” for the
understudies, said Will Macpherson in the
London Evening Standard.Acrushing nine-
wicket win in Cardiff on Thursday, and anaggressivedisplay at Lord’s to
secure the three-match series,
proved that even those who have
never played under Eoin Morgan
have absorbed his “brand”.
Pakistan were “more
undercooked than steak tartare”,
said Mike Walters in the Sunday
Mirror, but England’s “kids” were
both ruthless and entertaining.
England’s rich talent pool stems
fromaunique advantage, said
Tim Wigmore in The Sunday
Telegraph. With the only cricket season in the
northern hemisphere summer, players are free
to play the full range of global T20 leagues.
Opening batsman Phil Salt had “bountiful
experience” against international bowlers
before he made his England debut last week –
and he was the top scorer at Lord’s.Salt: top scorer