Warren Gatland says Wales could have two captains at the World Cup after skipper Ken Owens was ruled out of the tournament.
Scarlets hooker Owens, capped 91 times, has failed to recover from a back injury ahead of the World Cup, which starts in September.
Gatland says it is possible 36-year-old Owens could feature in the later stages of the tournament if there was an injury at hooker, but he will not be named when the New Zealander announces his 33-man squad at the end of August.
“Ken didn’t train at all with us (in recent weeks), his back has not recovered,” head coach Gatland said.
“He has not been able to do any of the training. It is the same injury but not as severe as before so he may need an operation on that.
“He wanted to reiterate he has not retired from rugby and he is hoping potentially he could be available later if we pick up injuries in the tournament.”
Asked about Owens’ successor, Gatland added: “Co-captaincy is a possibility. We did that with Ellis Jenkins and Cory Hill in 2018 and it worked well.
“It is something I have put out there potentially as an option, it is not guaranteed we will do that.
“We will put a leadership group together and we will tell the players. You look at the squad and I don’t think there are any guaranteed starting positions and players will get opportunities in the squad.
“It is looking at the team and picking the right person as captain. It is the support they are going to get or is it potentially co-captains that can share that role and responsibility?”
Outside-half Dan Biggar, who captained Wales in the 2022 Six Nations and the following summer tour to South Africa, and second-row forward Adam Beard are among the leading candidates to take the armband.
Possible younger options could be hooker Dewi Lake, 24, and 23-year-old flanker Jac Morgan.
Gatland chose Sam Warburton, then 22, to be Wales’ captain at the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
Asked if he would consider a young captain again, Gatland said: “Yes absolutely. We have time for that with the two camps (in Switzerland and Turkey) and seeing more of the rugby.
“We have been doing that more with players getting plenty of touches on the ball.
“We probably won’t name a captain or captains until we name the squad.”
Scarlets back-rower Josh Macleod (shoulder) and Cardiff prop Will Davies-King (foot) have both been released from the squad.
Taulupe Faletau will miss the first week of the Switzerland camp because of a calf injury.
Alex Cuthbert and Owen Williams will miss the trip altogether but Gatland, who has called Ospreys hooker Sam Parry into a revised 47-man squad, is confident they will be fit for the Turkey trip.
Veteran trio Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb have all retired from Test rugby during a turbulent build-up to the World Cup.
Prop Rhys Carre was released from an initial 54-player training squad after he failed to hit individual performance targets, while lock Hill withdrew to pursue a club contract opportunity outside of Wales.
“They are different in a way,” Gatland said when asked how this group compared to previous squads.
“There are some young players that are a bit green, but even in a short of period of time we have seen how they have developed.
“They’re all sponges in terms of wanting to learn and wanting to get better. I see that as hugely positive.”
Zoffee and Rajinsky are set to give trainer Hugo Palmer a strong hand in Saturday’s Jenningsbet Northumberland Plate at Newcastle.
Both horses bring strong course form to the ‘Pitmen’s Derby’, with Rajinsky finishing third and fourth in the last two renewals and Zoffee winning last year’s Northumberland Vase – the consolation race for the Plate – on his only previous visit to Gosforth Park.
Rajinsky made a flying start to his campaign by inflicting a shock defeat on star stayer Trueshan in the Further Flight Stakes at Nottingham. He was well beaten in the Sagaro Stakes at Ascot next time, but bounced back to finish a close-up fifth in last month’s Chester Cup.
The admirable Zoffee filled the runner-up spot on the Roodee, going down by just a neck to Metier, and ran another fine race in defeat when sixth in the Ascot Stakes at the Royal meeting last week.
“At this stage the plan is to run both horses,” Palmer confirmed.
“Poor old Rajinsky doesn’t get much luck with the ground in the British summers we get these days, but he ran a great race at Chester and ran a great race in the Northumberland Plate last year.
“It’s a valuable race and he goes on the surface so fingers crossed, but he does have a lot of weight.”
He added: “Zoffee appears to go on any ground and I thought he ran a really great race at Ascot, coming from far too far back from an awkward draw.
“We had runners every day at Ascot so I didn’t see him canter again until this morning (Monday), but he’s full of his usual enthusiasm and Charlotte Kerry, who rides him every day, says he feels fantastic.
“I guess we won’t really know until there’s a furlong to run on Saturday, but he’s certainly in good nick.”
Palmer’s pair were among 48 horses left in the Northumberland Plate Monday’s confirmation stage, with Rajinsky joined at the head of the weights by the William Haggas-trained Roberto Escobarr.
Haggas is also responsible for the well-fancied Post Impressionist, as well as Nathanael Greene.
Other leading hopes include Michael Bell’s recent Newmarket scorer Adjuvant and Golden Rules, who won on his first start for Deborah Faulkner at Kempton after being bought out of John and Thady Gosden’s yard for just 6,000 guineas.
Omniscient (Sir Mark Prescott), Law Of The Sea (Ian Williams) and All-Weather Marathon winner Rainbow Dreamer (Alan King) also feature.
Soprano could be set for a step up in trip after her fine third to Porta Fortuna in the Albany Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The George Boughey-trained filly was well supported in the six-furlong Group Three contest following her smart debut win over the minimum trip at Newmarket.
However, she did not have the ideal draw and despite staying on nicely under William Buick, the daughter of Starspangledbanner could not reduce a diminishing two-length deficit at the line.
Harry Herbert, managing director for owners Highclere Thoroughbred Racing, believes she will develop into another top-class prospect.
“We were really excited by that,” he said. “She looked like a really good filly. She had run and won on debut like a very good filly, and she’d done well physically entering the Royal meeting.
“As William Buick said afterwards, if she’d have just broken a bit better and been drawn a bit better, she would definitely have tickled them up.
“She is a beautiful filly and she’s got size and scope. She needs to go further. We haven’t decided where to go, but we will plot a course.
“It is very exciting, because it looks like she deserves to play at the top table. We’ve been fortunate to have some wonderful fillies in recent years, and she looks like being another one.”
Highclere appear to have another smart filly on their hands in the shape of Truthful.
Trained by William Haggas, the three-year-old by Sea The Stars made a winning debut at Salisbury last month, taking 10-furlong fillies’ novice race and followed up over an extended 11 furlongs at Haydock 12 days ago.
Herbert believes she will step up in class now. He said: “She is lovely filly. She is two for two and we’ll probably step up to black type next time.
“She looks like she could be very special. There is lots to look forward to.
“I don’t know where she goes next. It is hard to know, when you are rated like she is, whether you still stick in a valuable handicap or whether you move to Listed company.
“She was being considered by William for the Ribblesdale after one run, so I’d like to think she’ll be heading to a black type race next time.”
Herbert is the son of the late Queen’s legendary racing manager Lord Porchester and his brother-in-law John Warren currently fills that role.
The King and Queen, attending their first Royal Ascot since the coronation, saw their colours carried to victory by Desert Hero in the King George V Stakes, which Herbert felt was a major shot in the arm for British racing.
“It was an absolutely fantastic Royal Ascot in regards to the overall event,” he added.
“I thought it was extraordinary and of course it was a sort of turning of the page from the late Queen, and the King and Queen so obviously enjoying it and having a winner was wonderful.
“That winner was quite simply one of the greatest things that could possibly have ever happened, great for British racing and the whole event.
“It was remarkable. They enjoyed every bit of it, right through the five days and having a winner, and we all know how hard that is – there are so few races and they’re such competitive races – that to hit the back of the net at Royal Ascot is incredibly difficult.
“It is hugely important that the King and Queen have invested in the sport, absolutely vital. We all know how international Royal Ascot is, the Australians are over here, the Americans are over here, some Japanese are over here.
“Everywhere I have ever gone, racing the world, it is the one place everyone wants to go to, and to ideally have a runner and, if at all possible, a winner.
“It was a fantastic event and I thought it was great that it went off so brilliantly all round.”
Blue Rose Cen is set to make her British bow in the Qatar Nassau Stakes at Goodwood on August 3.
Christopher Head’s French star completed a rare treble at Chantilly when strolling to victory in the Prix de Diane earlier this month, adding to victories in the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches and last year’s Marcel Boussac – a feat previously achieved by the likes of Zarkava, Divine Proportions and Allez France.
Blue Rose Cen, who has won seven of her nine outings, was stepping up to an extended 10 furlongs for the first time at Chantilly and Head is eager to stick at that trip as the Churchill filly takes on older rivals for the first on the Sussex Downs.
He told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast: “The main idea is to still keep up with the challenges. The owner has always been bold and daring in racing challenges and we have been talking about the next stage for Blue Rose Cen and he wants to go to the Nassau to do the same as Nashwa did with the Prix de Diane and Nassau double and we really have great faith in her with that programme.
“I don’t think we have got to the limit of that filly yet. I still want to encounter the older fillies without getting into a new distance, so we’ll keep with the distance we know she is best at right now and try to encounter a new panel of fillies to be able to know if she is capable of getting into the Vermeille and then we will pretty much know if she is an Arc or an Opera (horse).
“Even if she is not in the race, it is a possibility she can still be supplemented into the Arc. Leopoldo Fernández Pujals of Yeguada Centurion is a really a bold and daring individual, embracing challenges, so we’re trying to do our best to get the horses to those kind of challenges, and that’s why we’re happy to go to the Nassau.”
Head also trains Big Rock for the same owner, but he failed in his Classic mission when beaten three and a half lengths by Ace Impact in the Prix du Jockey Club.
That was his first attempt over further than nine furlongs and Head feels his future now lies over a mile.
He added: “He’s pretty much a mile horse or a 1800-metre horse and we learned that in the Jockey Club. We will put him onto another path which is the Jacques Le Marois and probably the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes too.”
Wales captain Ken Owens has been ruled out of their World Cup training squad due to injury.
The hooker has been released from the squad with a back injury along with Scarlets team-mate Josh Macleod who has a shoulder problem.
Cardiff’s Will Davies-King has also been ruled out with a foot injury, while Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric and Rhys Webb have all retired since the preliminary squad was released last month.
Ospreys hooker Sam Parry has been called up ahead of the World Cup, where Wales’ campaign gets under way against Fiji on September 10 followed by games against Australia and Georgia.
Head coach Warren Gatland said: “We’ve been really pleased with the players’ attitude and commitment throughout the first few weeks of our mini camps.
“The group has worked really hard and there have been a few curve balls from us in terms of testing them mentally and physically as people may have seen in some of our videos.
“Unfortunately we’re having to release Ken, Josh and Will due to injury which is really disappointing, but all three are hoping to be available later in the year should we need an injury replacement at any point.
“Ken has a niggle in his back which he needs some time out to sort. Josh got the injury on club duty – we were hoping to be able to manage it but specialist assessment showed that wasn’t possible.
“Will picked up the foot injury in training with us which we were managing but then he got re-injured so has been released.”
John Quinn has not ruled out running gutsy mare Highfield Princess in the July Cup at Newmarket, following her two placed efforts in Group One sprints at Royal Ascot last week.
A triple Group One winner last season, the six-year-old was beaten a length when runner-up to Bradsell in the King’s Stand last Tuesday and was narrowly denied again when third to Khaadem in Saturday’s Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes.
“We’re as pleased as we could be. We’d like to have won one of them, but anyway, there we are,” said Quinn. “She has come out of Saturday’s race really well, which is the important thing. She’s a great mare.”
Highfield Princess’s fairytale rise through the ranks, from winning off a mark of 58 at Ayr in September 2020 to triple Group One scorer last term, has made her one of the most popular horses in training,
The North Yorkshire trainer says she will follow a similar path to last season, which included victories in the Prix Maurice de Gheest at Deauville, Nunthorpe at York and Flying Five at the Curragh, before she finished a close-up fourth to Caravel in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland.
However, he is mulling over an additional run in Newmarket’s Group One feature on July 15, for which she is a general 5-1 chance.
“She is in the July Cup in three weeks’ time and we’ll consider that, but if we don’t, we’ll just wait for a little bit,” said Quinn.
“I do think she’s a Breeders’ Cup horse. We’ll go down the same route. All being well, we’ll run her in the Coolmore Nunthorpe, the Flying Five and see how we go.
“The July Cup is a question mark, though possibly Goodwood for her, possibly. That would give her a nice break.”
Quinn had two other runners at the Royal meeting, with Breege beaten a length second to Coppice in the 29-runner Sandringham and Mr Wagu downed by two and three-quarter lengths when seventh to Saint Lawrence in the 27-runner Wokingham.
“It was a fantastic meeting. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We don’t cry,” said Quinn. “We ran four horses, three of them were placed and Mr Wagyu was just out of the money, beaten a short head out of sixth place in the Wokingham, so they have all run really well.”
He added: “We will have a think about where we go with Breege. Mr Wagyu might go back to Ireland for the race he won there last year (Paddy Power Scurry Handicap, Curragh, July 22) then onto the Stewards’ Cup (Goodwood, August 5) – that’s the way we are thinking with them.”
Andy Murray will warm up for Wimbledon with a match against rising star Holger Rune at the Giorgio Armani Tennis Classic at Hurlingham on Wednesday.
The two-time former Wimbledon champion has opted for some extra match play following his first-round exit to Alex De Minaur at Queen’s Club last week.
World number six Rune, 20, reached the semi-finals of the cinch Championships before also losing to De Minaur and should provide strong opposition for Murray at the exhibition event.
Hurlingham frequently attracts the world’s best players and will also host world number one Carlos Alcaraz, top British player Cameron Norrie and defending Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic.
The Serbian, who will bid to equal Roger Federer’s tally of eight titles at the All England Club, faces exciting American star Frances Tiafoe on Thursday.
Frankie Dettori will extend his farewell tour to encompass the Melbourne Cup Carnival in November.
The rider will retire at the end of the year and after a fine Royal Ascot meeting that saw him win four races including the Gold Cup, Dettori has confirmed his intention to compete at Flemington in the autumn.
On what will be the 30th anniversary of his Melbourne Cup debut aboard Drum Taps, Dettori plans to be in action at Flemington on Lexus Melbourne Cup Day (November 7), Kennedy Oaks day (November 9) and TAB Champions Stakes day (November 11).
Dettori has come close to Melbourne Cup glory in the past, finishing second aboard Central Park in 1999 and Max Dynamite in 2015, with Master Of Reality coming home second in 2019 before being demoted to fourth.
He said: “I have achieved all there is to achieve in horse racing and have had a fantastic career, but the Melbourne Cup has always been one race that I would love to win.
“I am looking forward to returning to Melbourne to ride at the carnival for one final time and hopefully I can finish my career with a Melbourne Cup win.”
Victoria Racing Club (VRC) chief executive officer Steve Rosich is delighted Dettori will make one last trip to Australia for the spring racing highlight.
“Frankie Dettori is one of the best jockeys and personalities the sport has ever seen and the VRC look forward to giving him a fitting farewell at Flemington at the Melbourne Cup Carnival,” Rosich said.
“The Melbourne Cup is a race that jockeys across Australia and the world want to win, and this year will be no different. Preparations for this year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival are well underway and racegoers can look forward to another week of world-class racing, hospitality and entertainment.”
Billy Vunipola has undergone a minor operation on his injured knee but expects to be fit for the Rugby World Cup.
The England forward remains with a 36-player squad named by head coach Steve Borthwick for their third World Cup training camp at The Lensbury Resort in south-west London.
“The medical team are positive about my prospects and I understand exactly what needs to be done over the next few weeks,” said Vunipola.
The line-up is the same as last week’s camp with the exception of Will Joseph and Beno Obano, who both miss out. Players from Gallagher Premiership finalists Sale and Saracens have not been included.
“I’m pleased with the progress that’s been made over the last two weeks and we look forward to another productive training camp at the Lensbury,” said Borthwick.
“There’s still a long way to go until we are ready for a World Cup but each day we take another step forward.”
Ollie Chessum, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Ollie Lawrence and Jack Walker all remain with their team-mates as they continue their rehabilitation from injury.
England will take on Wales in Cardiff on August 5, with Borthwick due to name his 33-strong squad for the World Cup in France two days later.
Training squad:
Backs – H Arundell (London Irish), D Care (Harlequins), J Cokanasiga (Bath), F Dingwall (Northampton), T Freeman (Northampton), J Marchant (Harlequins), J May (Gloucester), A Mitchell (Northampton), C Murley (Harlequins), G Porter (Leicester), H Slade (Exeter), F Smith (Northampton), M Smith (Harlequins), F Steward (Leicester), J Van Poortvliet (Leicester), A Watson (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester).
Forwards – J Blamire (Newcastle), D Cole (Leicester), A Dombrandt (Harlequins), T Dunn (Bath), C Ewels (Bath), E Genge (Bristol), J Heyes (Leicester), T Hill (Bath), C Lawes (Northampton), L Ludlam (Northampton), J Marler (Harlequins), G Martin (Leicester), Z Mercer (Montpellier), T Pearson (London Irish), V Rapava-Ruskin (Gloucester), D Ribbans (Northampton), K Sinckler (Bristol), W Stuart (Bath), S Underhill (Bath).
Andy Murray revealed he has a plan for how he would like to retire from tennis but reassured fans it will not be for a while yet.
The two-time Wimbledon champion turned 36 in May and is continuing to defy expectations of what can be achieved with a metal hip.
While Novak Djokovic is as dominant as ever, Murray has seen one of his other big rivals, Roger Federer, bow out, and Rafael Nadal announced his intention to call it a day after a final tilt next year.
Murray had a taste of retirement during his battle to recover from his hip problems, and he told the PA news agency: “That’s an experience I went through where I didn’t know if I was going to be able to play again.
“So I certainly don’t want to put myself in that position – I want to finish my career on the tennis court. It’s something I have an idea about when it is I would like to stop and a plan for that – certainly nothing immediate.”
Murray does not see himself playing a farewell tour like Nadal intends to do and admired the way Federer bowed out in emotional scenes at the Laver Cup last autumn.
“It was a great way for him to finish,” said the Scot. “I don’t think there’s a special or particular way or right way of doing it, just so long as the individual’s happy with that, and hopefully you get the chance to do that on the tennis court rather than it being through an injury or anything else.”
Murray still has ambitions on the court, including what he hopes can be another strong run at Wimbledon.
He looks set to fall just short of his aim of being seeded at the All England Club so will be keeping his fingers crossed for a kind draw.
With Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper injured, Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans are the only other direct British entrants into the main singles draws this year, although 10 players have been given wild cards.
Negative headlines around the absence of British women at the French Open have been mitigated to an extent by success on the grass, with Katie Boulter winning the WTA title in Nottingham to return to the top 100.
“Is it disappointing? It’s always a difficult one to know what British tennis should be expecting, or what should be considered success,” Murray said.
“Because, in the last 10 years, I’ve won some grand slams and Emma Raducanu obviously won a grand slam on the women’s side.
“That hadn’t been the case for, I don’t know, 70 years on the men’s side, and I think it was 40 years on the women’s side – so that’s a big improvement.
“People will want more – more players competing at the top of the game. I would obviously like to see more but hopefully that will change in the next few years.”
Murray returns as an American Express ambassador this summer to help tennis fans make unforgettable memories at the Amex Fan Experience onsite at The Championships, Wimbledon. To find out more, visit wimbledon.com/americanexpress
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have expanded their sporting portfolio by investing in Formula One team Alpine Racing.
The Hollywood stars and co-owners of Wrexham are part of a 200million dollar (approximately £157million) investment, representing a 24 per cent stake in the team, who sit fifth in the constructors’ championship.
Reynolds’ Maximum Effort production company has teamed up with Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners, with fellow actor Michael B. Jordan also among the investors.
Reynolds and McElhenney have earned widespread praise for their approach to Wrexham, frequently attending games and promoting the whole town.
The news was announced by Alpine’s parent company Renault, and James Toney, co-founder of Maximum Effort Investments with Reynolds, said on renaultgroup.com: “Maximum Effort Investments focuses on unlocking value through the power of storytelling, and we believe there is tremendous untapped potential in Alpine Racing.
“We are eager to help shine a light on this incredible team. We’re thankful to our partners at Otro Capital and RedBird Capital Partners and look forward to diving in with them, as well as our co-investors Michael B. Jordan and Rob McElhenney.”
Since the Renault team was rebranded as Alpine in 2021, they have managed one victory and three podium finishes, with Esteban Ocon coming third in Monaco this season.
Ocon currently sits ninth in the drivers’ championship, with his team-mate Pierre Gasly one place further back.
Novak Djokovic has the chance to match Margaret Court’s record of 24 grand slam singles titles as he takes his dominant form of recent years to Wimbledon.
With the Serbian also chasing a calendar year Grand Slam, the PA news agency takes a look at his record.
Grand slam record
Djokovic has won six of the last eight major tournaments he has played, including the last three in a row – Wimbledon last summer and this year’s Australian and French Opens.
That 21-match winning run extends his record to 52 wins and two defeats since the start of 2021, and 58-3 since he was defaulted at the 2020 US Open for hitting a ball girl with a ball.
He missed last season’s Australian and US Opens due to his unvaccinated status but has otherwise been in a class of his own since tennis returned following the most stringent Covid lockdowns.
Wimbledon was not staged in 2020 and Djokovic’s US Open nightmare followed before he finished as runner-up to perennial champion Rafael Nadal at a rescheduled Roland Garros.
He won 2021’s first three slams and reached the final in New York, only for Daniil Medvedev to deny him a calendar year grand slam. Nadal again defeated him in Paris last year, at the quarter-final stage, before his current all-conquering run.
In his career as a whole, Djokovic has won 88 per cent of his grand slam matches, 348 of 395. Wimbledon therefore provides his first opportunity to tick off two landmark numbers, 350 wins if he reaches the third round and 400 matches by getting to the last eight.
His 23 grand slam titles are the most ever for a male player, having broken a tie with Nadal by winning the French Open, and alongside Serena Williams for all players in the Open era. Court’s 24 were split almost equally between 13 in the amateur era and 11 in the Open era.
Wimbledon dominance
Djokovic goes to Wimbledon as a four-time defending champion – a run dating back to 2018 given the 2020 cancellation.
His 2018 triumph saw him account for Tennys Sandgren, Horacio Zeballos and Karen Khachanov in straight sets and Kyle Edmund and Kei Nishikori in four before an epic semi-final against Nadal – winning 10-8 in the fifth set – and a three-set final against South African giant Kevin Anderson.
He was similarly dominant the following year, dropping sets only against Hubert Hurkacz and Roberto Bautista Agut on the way to the final where he needed two tie-breaks to take Federer to a decider and another to win it 13-12.
He dropped only two sets in 2021 but was more sternly tested last year, with only two straight-sets wins while he trailed Jannik Sinner by two sets before winning a thrilling quarter-final 5-7 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-2 and going on to beat Cameron Norrie and Nick Kyrgios to retain his title.
Calendar slam on agenda again
Two years on from going within one match of the calendar slam feat achieved by only two men in history, Djokovic is halfway through another assault on that target.
American Don Budge won all four of 1938’s majors while Australian great Rod Laver did so in both 1962 and 1969.
Djokovic is already the third and final man to hold all four titles simultaneously, winning Wimbledon and the US Open in 2015 and the Australian and French in 2016, as well as uniquely having at least three wins in each.
In this season’s two grand slam triumphs he has dropped only three sets – to French journeyman Enzo Couacaud at the Australian Open, on a tie-break while conceding only three games across the three sets he won, and to both Khachanov and Carlos Alcaraz in France.
In 2021, outside of Wimbledon, he was made to work for his titles, starting in Australia where he faced a five-set battle with American Taylor Fritz and dropped sets also to Frances Tiafoe, Milos Raonic and Alexander Zverev.
He trailed both the unheralded Lorenzo Musetti and final opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas 2-0 in France, where Matteo Berrettini and Nadal also took him to four sets, and had only one straight-sets win in New York before losing the final 6-4 6-4 6-4 to Medvedev.
England captain Jamie Peacock announced his retirement from international rugby league, on this day in 2012.
The then 34-year-old Leeds prop called time on his 12-year international career but would continue to feature for his club after signing a new two-year deal taking him to the end of the 2014 season.
Peacock’s England debut came against Russia in the 2000 World Cup and he walked the England side out for the final time in their 18-10 win over the Exiles in June 2012.
He ended his international career with 21 England caps to his name and also made a further 26 appearances for Great Britain.
Peacock said: “The last achievement I felt I could have with England would be to right the wrong and beat the Exiles team and this has happened.
“To play and captain your country is the highest honour within the game and this was a decision that was not taken lightly.
“In 2000, when I made my debut, it was beyond my wildest ambition and dreams that I would then go on to represent my country nearly 50 times and captain them for seven years.
“I felt that the time would be right for me to step down and solely concentrate on playing for my club.”
Cameron Norrie heads a depleted and slightly downbeat British men’s field at Wimbledon needing an upturn in form if he is to emulate last year’s run to the semi-finals.
The British number one, 27, could only make it to the last eight at Queen’s Club and is managing a knee issue.
But Norrie believes the grand slam format is better suited to him as he bids for another run deep in the tournament.
“I think it’s definitely a different match, playing best-of-five,” he said.
“I really think it should suit me better, and I really have been more experienced over the years now playing best-of-five-set matches against some of the other players.
“Usually as the match goes on and on and I get my teeth into the match, it usually works in my favour, especially with the way I play and the way my game style is.
“I think over time I can break guys down physically and just putting the ball in awkward situations, so I think the longer I stay out there, the better it is for me most of the time. So I’m really excited to get going.”
Jack Draper and Kyle Edmund will miss SW19 through injury, while British number two Dan Evans is not exactly positive about his prospects.
Evans, knocked out in the first round at Queen’s and on a run of six defeats from seven matches, said: “I’m not looking forward to playing any tennis at the minute.
“It’s tough. When you feel no confidence, it’s not a good spot to be in and it’s a difficult spot.
“You know, I’d love to say I’m looking forward to playing my next match but I’m not. That’s the honest truth for you.”
Andy Murray won back-to-back grass titles in Surbiton and Nottingham but his bid to be seeded at Wimbledon fell short – barring a host of withdrawals – after also falling in the first round at Queen’s.
Nevertheless, the two-time champion said: “Obviously on grass there are less players that are probably comfortable on the surface than the clay and the hard courts.
“Some of the seeded players are maybe not that comfortable on the grass, so there’s some draws that are better than others. There are also guys that are not seeded but love the grass courts and it’s their favourite surface.”
There are also wild cards for Britain’s Liam Broady, Jan Choinski, Arthur Fery, George Loffhagen and Ryan Peniston.
Andy Murray’s main memories of the biggest moment of his life are of tension and fatigue.
“I remember it being unbelievably stressful and then at the end of it huge relief,” he says of the victory over Novak Djokovic that ended Great Britain’s 77-year wait for a men’s singles champion at Wimbledon.
The year before had ended with Murray choked by tears on Centre Court following defeat by Roger Federer in his first final.
Twelve months later and with a long-awaited first slam title under his belt in New York, Murray faced another of his major foes with history at his fingertips.
Ten years on, the feelings remain seared in his mind.
“I was unbelievably nervous before the final and I also remember feeling like my team were really nervous,” he tells the PA news agency.
“They were struggling to hide it. My physical trainer, when we were doing the pre-match warm-up, he was fumbling all of the balls during the reaction drills.”
Even ‘Old Stone Face’ Ivan Lendl, the coach who had helped turn Murray into a slam champion, was not immune to the tension.
“Ivan doesn’t usually talk loads but before the final he was chatting a lot and I just felt my team were feeling it as well,” adds Murray.
“After the match I was exhausted. Twenty or 30 minutes after we got off the court, I was sitting with my wife and I was wanting to sleep. That is not usually how you feel after a match, normally the adrenaline makes it hard to sleep but I was completely spent after the match.”
The history books show Murray won in straight sets, 6-4 7-5 6-4, yet even when he served for the match in a tortuous game that somehow encapsulated all his struggles, it still felt on a knife edge.
Three match points came and went, then there were three break point chances for Djokovic as the tension around Centre Court ramped up and up. Murray stood firm, saving each one confidently, before a fourth chance came the Scot’s way, and this time his opponent netted.
The reaction from Murray was of sheer wide-eyed joy mixed with disbelief before the enormity of it all caught up with him.
For his opponent, the memories are of course very different, although Djokovic could find happiness amid his disappointment for the rival just a week older than him against whom he had been competing since childhood.
“It was not a great result for me obviously in the end, painful to lose a grand slam final, especially the Wimbledon final,” says Djokovic, who has lost only twice at SW19 in the decade since.
“But I was happy for Andy because he deserved it. He was working so hard to get his hands on the Wimbledon title.
“I had to congratulate him because he was a better player that day and it was kind of a perfect scenario for Great Britain and for him as a British player to win at Wimbledon on Centre Court.”
Among the crowd living every twist and turn was an 11-year-old Jack Draper, who eight years later made his own Centre Court debut.
“Watching Andy win Wimbledon on Centre Court in 2013 was an experience that I will never forget,” says the British number four.
“I was only 11 at the time but, looking back, it was definitely a moment that made me more motivated than ever to become a professional tennis player – and compete on the biggest stages against the world’s best players.
“I was very lucky to have Andy as a role model and hope that in the future I can do the same for young players.”
The experience was not at all the same for Murray’s brother Jamie, who was notably absent among the family and friends supporting the Scot courtside.
“I watched the final on a laptop in Stuttgart with my wife,” says the doubles specialist, who had already moved on to his next tournament.
“Of course it would have been great to be there to see him win but reality was it definitely wasn’t a sure thing. He was playing Novak, he’d lost a bunch of finals to that point.
“I was just glad that he won. I didn’t really care that I missed it. Obviously it was a weird situation to find yourself watching the match. The stream wasn’t even particularly great.
“I know what it meant to him to finally get his hands on the trophy. I don’t even remember what it was like when I saw him. Everything had kind of died down by then. It was a bit lame but that’s just the way it was.”
The Wimbledon victory cemented Murray’s place as one of Britain’s sporting greats, and he followed it up three years later with a second title.
Jamie does not believe achieving his biggest goal changed his brother, saying: “He was still incredibly motivated to do the best he could on the court and try to win more grand slams, that his talent probably deserved.
“That was an amazing moment in tennis where these four guys were playing in the semis and finals of every big tournament. They hoovered up everything for so long. I know Andy only won three but he played in 11 grand slam finals, which is a crazy career when you think about it.”
As Novak Djokovic bids for more history, Wimbledon organisers will be keeping their fingers crossed that the focus remains on tennis.
Two coronavirus-dominated years were followed immediately by the fall-out from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Wimbledon going out on a limb by banning players from the country and its ally Belarus 12 months ago.
The threat of further sanctions from the tours and a lack of support from the rest of the grand slams led Wimbledon to reverse its position this year, and Russian and Belarusian players will be permitted to return provided they remain neutral and are not funded by the regimes.
Organisers will have followed with some trepidation events at the Australian Open and French Open this year.
A ban on Russian flags in Melbourne did not stop a pro-Vladimir Putin demonstration taking place on the steps of Rod Laver Arena, which Djokovic’s father was – unwittingly, the family insisted – caught up in.
At Roland Garros, meanwhile, high-profile matches between Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian players saw the likes of Elina Svitolina booed for refusing to shake hands with opponents, while Aryna Sabalenka twice declined to do press conferences after being pushed on her political beliefs.
Similar behaviour from the crowd in the more genteel setting of SW19 appears unlikely but the prospect of the Princess of Wales presenting a trophy to a Russian or Belarusian player is very real.
Sabalenka will be among the favourites to win the women’s title while Russian duo Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev are both in the top 10 of the men’s rankings.
Another concern for organisers, meanwhile, will be the potential for environmental protesters to disrupt the tournament, with Wimbledon offering global exposure.
On the court, Djokovic will be heavily favoured to make it three straight slam victories having lost just twice at the All England Club in the last decade.
The Serbian, who has been overtaken again at the top of the rankings by Carlos Alcaraz, can equal Roger Federer’s men’s record tally of eight Wimbledon singles titles, while a 24th slam would draw him level with Margaret Court’s all-time mark, which has stood since 1975.
Having been struck down by cramp in their first slam meeting in Paris earlier this month, Alcaraz will be hoping for another shot at Djokovic, and he showed he is learning quickly on grass by claiming the title at Queen’s Club.
Last year’s finalist Nick Kyrgios has been hobbled by knee surgery this season and it is tough to think of realistic challengers to Djokovic.
Ten years on from his memorable victory over the Serbian to win his first Wimbledon title, it is stretching credulity to imagine Andy Murray could be in the mix again, but the Scot remains one of the few grass-court naturals and, if the draw is favourable, he will fully believe he can reach the second week at least.
British number one Cameron Norrie, meanwhile, will be hoping to emulate last year’s breakthrough run to the semi-finals.
The women’s draw is much more open, with former semi-finalist Sabalenka looking to overtake Iga Swiatek as world number one.
The Pole’s dominance on clay is not replicated on other surfaces, and defending champion Elena Rybakina should also be a strong contender having built impressively on her success.
New British number one Katie Boulter leads the domestic challenge in the absence of Emma Raducanu and is one of a number of home players who, draw permitting, is capable of causing upsets.
Wimbledon will miss the star presence of Rafael Nadal this year but several other high-profile names will be raring to go for the third major of 2023.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic will aim to extend his 28-match winning streak in SW19 and 2022 winner Elena Rybakina returns as one of the most prominent figures in the women’s game.
Here, the PA news agency looks at 10 players who will hope to light up the championships at the All England Club this summer.
Iga Swiatek
There is a degree of deja vu for the former Wimbledon junior champion who again arrives as world number one and fresh from winning at Roland Garros. The four-time grand-slam champion has been top of the WTA rankings since last April, but has made no secret of how “uncomfortable” she finds grass. After exiting in the third round in 2022, Swiatek will hope she can adjust to the lawn this time.
Elena Rybakina
View this post on Instagram
The unassuming Rybakina was the surprise package last year, keeping a calm head to win her first major at the age of 23. Victory occurred amid controversy given that while she represents Kazakhstan, she is Moscow-born and Russian state media celebrated her triumph. It has not affected Rybakina, who backed up her grass exploits by reaching the Australian Open final before winning Masters tournaments in Indian Wells and Rome to prove her credentials as part of a new big three in women’s tennis.
Aryna Sabalenka
Australian Open champion Sabalenka is the third member of the trio and will be out to make up for lost time following her enforced absence last year due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes. It was a run to the semi-finals at the All England Club in 2021 that showed Sabalenka had the game to win a grand slam and the Belarusian ended her wait for major success in Melbourne back in January. She will be a formidable force in SW19.
Ons Jabeur
Jabeur’s love for the lawn is matched by her results on it. Last year’s finalist will be a fierce competitor in the battle to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish. The Tunisian’s style of play, with drop shots and deft touches aplenty, has earned grass-court titles in Birmingham and Berlin while in 2021 she made the last eight of the Championships, beating Garbine Muguruza and Swiatek.
Venus Williams
View this post on Instagram
A wild card for the 43-year-old veteran will continue the long tradition of a Williams sister featuring in the main draw at Wimbledon. You have to go back to 1996 for the last time neither Venus nor Serena were involved in the ladies’ singles. And Venus, a finalist at the All England Club in 2017, showed last week in Birmingham with two gutsy displays against top-50 players that she can still push the best and will be a star attraction in SW19.
Novak Djokovic
After titles at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, the calendar slam is on for defending champion Djokovic and who would bet against him? Djokovic has won the last four tournaments in SW19, is a seven-time Wimbledon winner and crucially will have no Rafael Nadal in his way this time. Djokovic dropped only one set in Melbourne, two at the French Open and the only thing left for him to achieve is winning each major in the same year, having achieved the non-calendar year slam across 2015 and 2016.
Carlos Alcaraz
One of the main rivals to Djokovic will be US Open champion Alcaraz. The all-action Spaniard won at Flushing Meadows in Djokovic’s absence before he lost to the Serbian while suffering with cramps at Roland Garros in May. Alcaraz has limited experience on grass and exited Wimbledon in the last 16 in 2022, but his impressive victory at Queen’s showed his potential and took him back to world number one. If he is to deny Djokovic, he will have to find a new level.
Holger Rune
With Jannik Sinner a potential injury doubt, Rune will hope to further push his cause as the star of the next generation. An impressive run to the Queen’s semi-finals showed his capability on grass after exiting in round one on his Wimbledon debut last year. Better known for his clay-court displays, having made the last eight at Roland Garros twice in the past 12 months, Rune will aim to keep his emotions in check and show his class in London.
Daniil Medvedev
View this post on Instagram
The Russian will be involved after last year’s ban on his compatriots and Belarusians. Despite being unable to compete in 2022, he still made two finals on grass and triumphed in Halle. Medvedev has never made it beyond the fourth round at the All England Club, but his 6ft 6in height and big serve make him a candidate for the title. He also stopped Djokovic achieving the calendar slam by beating him to win the US Open two years ago.
Cameron Norrie
Norrie’s big breakthrough at a major occurred at his home grand slam during a memorable run to the semi-finals in 2022. Djokovic stopped the British number one but the 27-year-old will have gained a huge amount of belief. The world number 13 should receive a favourable draw and continues to look more at ease on this surface, having made the Queen’s final two years ago. Backed again by the Wimbledon crowd, he will eye another unforgettable summer.
The tennis highlight of the British summer is upon us again with the 2023 edition of Wimbledon.
Here, the PA news agency picks out five talking points ahead of this year’s tournament.
Ukraine-Russian tensions to resume
This year’s Wimbledon Championships marks the 50th anniversary of a dispute which saw 81 male players boycott the tournament and changed tennis forever.
Top stars including defending champion Stan Smith, Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe and Ken Rosewall stunned the sporting world by turning their backs on the most gilded event in tennis.
The build-up to the Championships was dominated by the ‘will they, won’t they’ saga, but the pervading opinion of the authorities was that there was no chance the players would sacrifice playing at Wimbledon. They were wrong.
“It was huge, huge,” recalls tennis historian Richard Evans. “It was the front-page lead in every newspaper in Britain for five days. The game would never be the same again.”
As with many more notable and bloodier conflicts in living memory, this one was sparked by a relatively minor dispute in eastern Europe.
But tensions between the warring factions – the players who had turned professional five years earlier, and the still amateur tennis federations administrating them – had been simmering for some time.
Those tensions boiled over when Yugoslavian player Nikki Pilic was banned by his country’s tennis federation – of which his uncle, General Dusan Kovac, was the president – for refusing to play in a Davis Cup match.
The recently formed players’ union, the ATP, duly threatened to boycott Wimbledon in support of one of its members, unless the ban was lifted.
“He came along at just the appropriate moment,” Evans said. “It was the classic situation of an amateur federation president demanding a player play Davis Cup when that player, who was a professional, had already signed a contract to appear in a doubles tournament in Montreal.
“His uncle got so angry he banned him for nine months. Then the International Lawn Tennis Federation (now the ITF) banned him for six weeks, knowing full well it would take him right into the middle of Wimbledon.”
The ATP board, comprising Smith, Ashe and fellow American player Jim McManus, Britons Mark Cox and John Barrett, chief executive Jack Kramer and president Cliff Drysdale, met in the basement of the Westbury Hotel in Mayfair to vote on whether to boycott, the day before the Wimbledon draw was due to be made.
Drysdale had canvassed the opinions of players at the recent tournaments in Rome and Paris – and to his surprise, found the mood to be mutinous.
“The media were sitting on the hotel steps, about 12 of us, waiting for the decision,” Evans said. “By then Cliff had been to Westminster to talk to the minister of sport and there had also been an injunction. It was all happening.
“But eventually they came down on the Thursday night to break off. Then they slept on it. The Wimbledon draw was being made on the Friday morning and the players were there practising.”
Cox and Barrett – staying loyal to Wimbledon – and Smith voted not to boycott but Ashe, McManus and Kramer voted for.
Drysdale therefore had the casting vote and he abstained.
“Jack said afterwards ‘I nearly fell off my chair, what a politician the guy is’,” added Evans. “Because Cliff was in a terrible situation. He knew if he voted to boycott it would all be on him and if he voted not to boycott it would be the end of the association.
“John Newcombe had phoned Jack in the middle of the night and said ‘if you don’t boycott, I’m out’. It would have started a whole run and people would have left the association.
“But by abstaining the vote remained 3-3 and (under ATP rules) the motion was carried. The decision to boycott was phoned through to referee Captain Mike Gibson, who had just done the draw and had to rip it up because 81 players had quit on him.”
The rebel players were branded ‘money grabbers’ by the press, but there was far more to it than that.
“The media got it wrong,” said Evans. “The sports editors were faced with ‘who’s the bad guy, who’s the good guy?’. And the bad guy couldn’t be Wimbledon.
“Therefore the players had to be the bad guys, which was very difficult because Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall, Arthur Ashe, John Newcombe, they were hugely popular sporting stars.
“So they settled on poor old Jack Kramer and made him the bad guy. He was supposedly leading the players.
“But it wasn’t about money. It was about detaching themselves from the stranglehold of the LTA and the ILTF, as it was then. The players finally said ‘we are not going to put up with amateurs telling us, professionals, how to run our lives’.”
Wimbledon had to hastily put together a new field comprising mainly eastern Europeans, whose federations did not allow them to be ATP members, and young players – including a 17-year-old Bjorn Borg – who were not yet contracted.
Three ATP members broke ranks; British number one Roger Taylor, Romanian Ilie Nastase (a divisive figure at the best of times and who claimed his federation made him play), and Australian Ray Kelbie, because he said he could not afford not to play.
“Roger Taylor was in a terrible position, because he was the number one, the big man in British tennis,” Evans said.
“But his father was a Sheffield steelworker and union man. And he was telling his son ‘you can’t be a scab’. But the media and the public were saying ‘Roger, you’ve got to play’.
“Eventually he played, lost in the semi-finals and wasn’t very popular in the locker room for a long time.”
As a footnote to an extraordinary episode in world sport, the name that graces the champions’ wall inside Centre Court – and pub quizzes to this day – is Czech Jan Kodes, who beat Russia’s Alex Metreveli in three sets for the title.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
