DEMOLITION DHABI FOR RAFA

for him.

But Joyce held his nerve to book a quarterfinal against No.1 seed Michael van Gerwen at the William Hill PDC world championship, Wade – whose mental health issues deserved a more sympathetic audience – cut a figure of abject despair.

Gesticulating to his entourage that the bawdy atmosphere was beyond his powers of recovery, he gave genial Geordie Joyce a perfunctory handshake before he disappeared into the night and vacated the premises without commenting.

The minimum £50,000 for reaching the quarter-finals is by far the biggest payday of Joyce’s career, and he could hardly believe his luck afterwards.

He said: “This is the best result of my career by a long way.”

The knockout that ended the career of Tony Bellew was arguably the KO of the year. Before he got to Bellew he beat Mairis Briedis in January and Russian puncher Murat Gassiev in July to become the first unified cruiserweight champion.

He did this not in front of his home fans in Kiev but on the road in Riga and Moscow.

In fact he has yet to fight at home since winning the WBO title in Poland two years ago.

What a machine he is, and all achieved under the umbrella of RAFA NADAL has triggered fears that he will miss the Australian Open after pulling out of an exhibition match.

The Spaniard, who has not played a competitive match since withdrawing from the US Open semi-finals with a knee injury, was beaten in three sets by Kevin Anderson in Abu Dhabi yesterday and immediately opted out of a scheduled clash with Karen Khachanov today. “I spent more time on the court than I thought – now is the time to take a step back,” said Nadal, who underwent ankle surgery last month. “I have suffered a lot in terms of injuries, I do not want to suffer any more.”

The 32-year-old said he will head to Queensland for next week’s Brisbane International, which will see the return of Andy Murray.