tennis
An enjoyably honest portrait of Rik Mayall
If you’ve tended to think Rik Mayall was both very funny and quite annoying, it turns out you’re not alone…
Forties’ love: tennis serves me a perfect midlife crisis
There comes a time when every man must choose how to tackle an impending midlife crisis. A Maserati? A marathon?…
Don’t write off Wales just yet
My friend Tim Andrew has admirable priorities. When I told him I had tickets for this week’s Six Nations opener…
Does AI belong on the tennis court?
The evidence was clear, the official had dropped a clanger. At 4-4 in the first set of the women’s match…
How football found God
Without wanting to sound like a refugee from the 1950s, it was a shame that last week’s Cup Final was…
Rafael Nadal: king of the orange brick court
No tennis player was so well suited to the centre court at Roland Garros, where the Spaniard won a record of 14 French Open titles
The best (and worst) of this year’s sport
It was quite a year for some of the worst of sport – America’s golfers, already among the richest and…
Murray shouldn’t have relied on injury-prone Raducanu
Talk about raging against the dying of the light: Andy Murray and President Biden both. Murray because he is no…
Tennis romance that doesn’t contain much tennis: Challengers reviewed
It sounds straightforward enough: a tennis romance starring Zendaya, idol of the mid-teen demographic and last seen riding a sandworm…
How sport helped shape the British character
David Horspool connects different sports to our historical experience: cricket with class, golf with property rights, tennis with female emancipation and boxing with ethnicity
Does tennis have a doping problem?
Is it more remarkable that Romanian two-time Grand Slam tennis champion Simona Halep took performance enhancing drugs, or that she was caught?…
My wife aced it at Wimbledon-on-Sea
The Hunstanton Lawn Tennis Tournament has become an annual fixture in the Young household. Known as ‘Wimbledon-on-Sea’, the week-long competition…
Diary
In this summer of sporting dramas, every patriotic sports fan likes to think he’s done his bit to help. I…
Diary
When someone asks ‘How are you?’ you have to assume your interlocutor is only being polite. Anyone who returns a…
High life
Now that Wimbledon is over, a few thoughts about youthful brains showing traces of horse tranquillisers, angel dust and cannabis,…
A summer of thrillers
Great sport needs great rivalries, and that is why anyone with a pulse must celebrate being in the throes of…
In a Barbie world
Cosmetic surgery is booming thanks to social media
Anyone for padel?
The fast-growing racquet sport serving up a challenge to tennis
Shame on those who abandoned Peng Shuai
No one really expects much in the way of principles or morality from those charged with running international sport. The…
All the world’s a cricket pitch
So farewell to cricket’s The Hundred tournament, or what seemed by the end to be beefy South Africans in ‘Butterkist’…
The return to Flushing Meadow
British tennis fans famously only acknowledge the sport exists for a couple of weeks in the middle of summer in…
How Kyrgios saved Wimbledon
What separates this year’s ‘empty seats on centre court’ scandal from every other year’s ‘empty seats on centre court’ scandal?…
High life
Now that the weakest Wimbledon since 1973 – the year of the boycott – is over, a few thoughts about…
Time is running out
This is not a book about tennis. Roger Federer appears early on, trailed by the obligatory question ‘When will he…
The only way is up for England’s cricketers
The timing of Brendon McCullum’s appointment as England’s Test match coach couldn’t be better for him, or for the matey…
