Nadal retains top spot, confirms Saudi exhibition tie against Djokovic
World No 1 Rafael Nadal, who maintained his comfortable lead in the latest ATP tennis rankings released on Monday ahead of second-placed Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in third place, said he has agreed to play an exhibition match against fellow Grand Slam title winner Novak Djokovic in Saudi Arabia in December. The match between the two stars will take place at Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City on December 22. Djokovic and Nadal have played 52 times in their careers with the Serb leading their head-to-head 27-25.
PARIS:
SCOTLAND TO NOT HOST PAK HOCKEY MATCHES
Scottish Hockey (SH) has announced that it will not play host to Pakistan men’s hockey team’s ‘home matches’ in the inaugural FIH Pro League which debuts next year. Following significant changes from the MoU signed two years ago with Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF), SH has been unable to negotiate suitable contract terms. “After lengthy negotiations, it is with sadness and frustration that it has not been possible to agree a contract with the PHF,” SH Chief Executive David Sweetman said. The FIH is now looking to find solutions for Pakistan’s ‘home’ matches in 2019.
TWAY WINS PGA TITLE
It has been 15 years since Bob Tway recorded the eighth and final PGA Tour victory of his career and on Sunday it was his son Kevin’s turn to savour that winning feeling after he survived a three-way playoff to win the Safeway Open.
Tway beat Ryan Moore and Brandt Snedeker to claim the title in Napa, northern California. Snedeker had squandered a fiveshot lead during the final round before being eliminated at the first extra hole, Tway then sinking a 10-foot birdie at the third extra hole to beat Moore. It was the first PGA Tour victory for the 30-year-old, who was born less than two years after his father won the 1986 PGA Championship. “If I don’t go for that gap and the gap was there… Might as well stay at home.” That’s what Sebastian Vettel told his team while slowing his Ferrari down after the Japanese Grand Prix. It sounds like a suitably samurai approach, evoking the tattooworthy Ayrton Senna quote: “If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver.”
The Japanese Grand Prix is held at the iconic circuit of Suzuka, where Senna had his most memorable duels with nemesis Alain Prost.
In 1988, Senna drove a wetweather masterclass to win and take his first world title. In 1989, both drivers crashed as Prost made sure not to give Senna room, but Senna restarted his car, improbably — and gloriously — still crossed the line in first place, yet was disqualified for cutting a chicane.
In 1990, championship leader Senna drove into the side of Prost to take out both drivers. The incidents barely qualify as accidents: Prost closed the door defiantly in ’89, and Senna’s lunge in ’90 was intentionally savage. Anything for the win.
On Sunday, Vettel realised desperation is not enough. The German driver had qualified eighth at a time when he needed exclusively to win in order to keep distant championship hopes alive. He started the race heroically — bolting past three cars on the opening lap — but then, at the ever-sticky Spoon curve, he tried to slice past a defiantly obstinate Max Verstappen. They made contact and Vettel spun out. He was now last. He recovered to sixth place by the end, but the hara had been kiri’d.
The question is not whether the gap was there — it might just have been, from Vettel’s view — but Verstappen never gives room, and any gap involving him ought be considered half its width. For me, the moment is more questionable than the lunge. Verstappen was slower, and had been given a 5-second time penalty for unsafely rejoining the track. Vettel was, effectively, already ahead and in third place. All the Ferrari driver needed was to hold his (prancing) horses awhile.
A few years ago, the Senna quote was popularly tailored to suit an infamously crash-happy driver: “If you go for a gap that no longer exists, you’re Pastor Maldonado.”
Vicious, but true. Vettel ended up closer to Maldonado than Senna this weekend.
Lewis Hamilton may be minding a different gap. The British driver is now 67 points ahead in the world championship standings, and, given Vettel’s form, can choose not to show up at the next four races and still nab the title. Hamilton is, however, showing up. With this performance — his fifth win in six races — he has moved to 71 wins. That’s 20 behind Michael Schumacher’s seemingly insurmountable record of 91. He might have it easier if Sebastian stays at home.
NEW DELHI: LOS ANGELES: