Battling Jamie lets it slip away
WHAT a difference a year makes.
Twelve months ago, Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares were defying the odds and winning all of their round-robin matches at the ATP Finals to end the season as the No 1 pair in the world.
Yesterday they conspired to lose a match they had on their racket strings, going down 7-5, 6-7, 10-8 to 39-year-old twins Mike and Bob Bryan from the United States.
Holding three set points on the first set, they lost them all but then, coming back from 4-1 down in the second set and 6-1 down in the match tiebreak and saving three match points, they were denied victory at London’s O2 arena. “We had it on our racket in a way, then let it slip,” Murray said. “We fought hard to come back but didn’t get a great start in the tiebreak. We got to 9-8, but it was just a little short.”
There are still two matches to play in the round-robin phase and a place in the semi-finals is still a possibility. A TEST involving McLaren due to take place at Interlagos this week has been cancelled following the security incidents that overshadowed the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Members of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team were robbed at gunpoint after leaving the circuit on Friday in one of five alarming incidents.
The two-day tyre test with Pirelli, set to include British McLaren protege Lando Norris, 18, has now been scrapped after staff expressed their unease over the apparent lack of security. ENGLAND duo Owen Farrell and Maro Itoje have been shortlisted for the World Player of the Year award.
The Saracens pair, both rested for the Argentina game, join New Zealand’s Beauden Barrett and Rieko Ioane and Australia’s Israel Folau as nominees.
Barrett beat Farrell and Itoje to the honour last year. In the light of the shared Lions-New Zealand series, maybe a tie is in the offing when the winner is announced in Monte Carlo on November 26.
England winger Lydia Thompson is nominated for the women’s award. THE RFU are aiming to double the number of women players in England by 2021 on the back of the success of the Red Roses in reaching the World Cup final.
A new initiative was launched yesterday to bring another 25,000 regular players into the women and girls’ game.
“Women’s attitudes to sport are changing,” said RFU rugby development director Steve Grainger. “They want physical activity to satisfy a number of needs; from contributing to a healthier lifestyle, to learning new skills and becoming the best version of themselves.”