the times | Wednesday April 13 2022 63
Sport
near St Albans on June 9, a week before
the US Open.
“The interest level we’ve had... well, I
had a player who’s won a couple of
major championships sitting in my very
office here 48 hours ago,” Norman, 67,
said. “It doesn’t matter who plays, we’re
going to put the event on.
“There’s a $4 million first prize. I hope
a kid who’s 350th in the world wins. And
then a few of our events will go by and
the top players will see someone win-
ning $6 million, $8 million, and say,
‘Enough is enough, I know I can beat
these guys week in, week out with my
hands tied behind my back.’
“We’ve respected the Masters and let
it go off, but now our journey is finally
coming to fruition — for the players,
not for me. Their rightful place to have
what they want. That’s why they are
still very, very, very interested. We have
players signed, contrary to the white
noise you’re hearing out there.”7-6 (7-4) win against France’s Benjamin
Bonzi. If the British No 2 defeats
Belgium’s David Goffin today, then he
will face Fokina in the third round
rather than the 20-times grand-slam
champion.
As for the other members of the “big
three”, both have provided brief
updates on their respective recoveries
from injury. Rafael Nadal, who
sustained a stress fracture of the rib
cage in Indian Wells last month,
removed his name from the entry list
for next week’s Barcelona Open and
has not yet confirmed whether he will
participate at the Madrid Open, which
starts on May 1.
“We don’t know yet when he will be
at his first tournament on clay this
year,” a spokesman for Nadal said.
“Hopefully soon.”
Roger Federer is continuing his long
period of rehabilitation from a third
operation on his right knee last August,
posting a photo from the gym on social
media along with the caption: “Rehab is
rocking.” As expected, the 40-year-old
formally withdrew from the French
Open and he is unlikely to appear at
Wimbledon this summer. A likely
comeback target is the Laver Cup team
event at the O 2 arena in London from
September 23-25.
Meanwhile, Kim Clijsters has retired
from professional tennis for a third
time. The 38-year-old former world
No 1 from Belgium returned to the
sport in February 2020 but rarely
appeared on the tour because of the
pandemic, and lost all five matches that
she contested.every right to be grumpy over dire handling
operators needed
Norman: Saudi tour still on
Golf
Elgan AldermanGreg Norman said the Saudi-backed
golf series would happen regardless of
who signs up and that more players
would join when they saw inferior golf-
ers earning multimillion-dollar prizes.
Norman, a former world No 1 and
two-times major champion, is the chief
executive of LIV Golf Investments,
which is backing the eight-tournament
circuit. The organisers hope to
announce the players involved “in the
coming weeks”, with The Daily Tele-
graph reporting that Bubba Watson,
Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Kevin
Na are thought to be among the first
wave. Players face expulsion from the
PGA Tour if they sign up.
The series will feature individual and
team competitions with a total prize
purse of $255 million (about £200 mil-
lion), starting at the Centurion ClubDjokovic is a busted
flush in Monte Carlo
Tennis
Stuart FraserA lack of match practice and fitness
caught up with Novak Djokovic at the
Monte Carlo Masters yesterday.
Unable to compete regularly this year
because of his refusal to be vaccinated
against Covid, the world No 1 looked
well off the pace as he suffered an early
exit.
Contesting only his fourth match of
the season, Djokovic could not shake
off the rust in a 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 defeat
by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, the
world No 46 from Spain. The Serb’s
serve was particularly poor, with nine
breaks the most he has suffered in any
best-of-three-set match during his
19-year professional career.
Djokovic had acknowledged before
the tournament — the traditional
curtain-raiser to the European clay-
court swing — that he was unlikely to
be at his best, and there is still plenty of
time on his side before the French
Open begins on May 22. Yet, he did
admit afterwards to some surprise at
the dip in his physical capabilities.
“I didn’t like the way I felt physically
in the third set,” Djokovic, 34, said. “I
just ran out of gas completely. I just
couldn’t stay in the rally with him. If you
can’t stay in the rally, not feeling your
legs on the clay, it’s mission impossible.
“I don’t like that kind of feeling I
experienced in the third set, but I’m
going to look with my team into reasons
why that was the case and go back to the
drawing board.”
After receiving a first-round bye as
the top seed, yesterday’s match marked
the resumption of a full-time schedule
for Djokovic. Having been deported
from Australia and barred from
entering the United States because of
his unvaccinated status, he is unlikely to
face any further restrictions in Europe
over the coming months, including at
Wimbledon, which starts on June 27.
Djokovic received a warm welcome
from the Monte Carlo locals, having
owned an apartment in the principality
for several years, and he gave them
something to cheer when he battled
hard to win an 85-minute second set.
But ultimately he was undone in the
blustery conditions by his misfiring
serve, as well as 51 unforced errors.
The departure of Djokovic — who is
next scheduled to play at the Serbia
Open in Belgrade next week — is
potentially good news for Dan Evans,
who opened his campaign with a 6-0,in crime, Stuart Broad, from last
month’s tour to the West Indies and
how it was explained to him. Or not, as
the case was, because Anderson said he
had “stopped trying to make sense of it”.
So too have the rest of us. It did not
make sense at the time and it does not
make any more sense now. Yes, Ander-
son is 39 (and it should be noted that
Broad is still “only” 35 — they are too
easily categorised together when Broad
may well have a lot longer left), and
Father Time will eventually win a battle
that Anderson has defied common wis-
dom to prolong as long as he has, but
there has been no evidence to suggest
his powers are beginning to diminish.
He topped England’s bowling avera-
ges in Australia during the winter, when
Broad was England’s second leading
wicket-taker behind Mark Wood. Since
the start of 2021 Anderson has played 13
Tests and taken 40 wickets at 23.40. As
Glen Chapple, his head coach at
Lancashire, said on Monday: “He is still
the best bowler in the country, end of.”
He sure is.
That five-minute phone call was
delivered by Sir Andrew Strauss, who is
the interim managing director, and
whose people skills are well known.
Indeed Anderson, in his book Jimmy:
My Story, praises them for the occasion
when he was rested for a Test against
West Indies in 2012, much to his
chagrin, of course.
Strauss was captain then and phoned
him a couple of days after the decision
to talk to him. Anderson said: “I have
found man-management one of hisgreat strengths and it wasn’t a huge sur-
prise when I received a call from him.”
The problem at the moment is, even
if Strauss did call Anderson again
(which he may have done after Ander-
son’s comments), what would he say? It
is not in his remit to determine Ander-
son’s future. That will be for the new
managing director and head coach.
If the former position goes to Rob Key,
as expected, then it is likely that Ander-
son will receive a long call and a place for
the first Test against New Zealand. It is
the least he deserves. But at present
English cricket cannot give him what he
deserves because it is in such a mess.
“Grumpy” is the title of the first chap-
ter of Anderson’s book, and he certainly
can be grumpy, and querulous too, but
right now he has every reason to be so.“I didn’t like the way I felt,” a rusty
Djokovic admitted after his early exitStuart
Broad
Tests: 152
Wickets: 537
Average: 27.80
Five-fors: 19James
Anderson
Tests: 169
Wickets: 640
Average: 26.58
Five-fors: 31