Richardson quits SW19

VETERAN BBC broadcaster Garry Richardson has resigned as a Wimbledon TV reporter and will be replaced at next week’s championships by

Strictly Come Dancing champion Ore Oduba. Richardson, whose repetitive interview style — demonstrated to effect on his Sportsweek radio shows — was never really suited to providing TV soundbites after matches in SW19, made his decision during last year’s tournament and told colleagues that he would not be returning.

Richardson had a famous Wimbledon spat with Andy Murray in 2013 after he came back from two sets down to beat Fernando Verdasco. Murray did not like being asked by Richardson whether coach Ivan Lendl had given him a hairdryer — in the style of the watching Sir Alex Ferguson.

Sport have finally given Racecourse Media Group some justification for leaving Channel 4 to attract a bigger audience for their main racing events on ITV. For the first time on a showcase race day this year ITV average of one million viewers was well over double C4’s rating (477,000) in 2016.

ASCOT like to make out that the Royal meeting does not have race sponsors and that the few decreed partnerships are all very discreetly advertised. Yet the full list of Ascot backers in the race programme highlights just how voraciously Ascot hoover up in the sponsorship market. They have two official partners, an official timekeeper, 14 official suppliers and 87 race sponsors.

long battle between talkSPORT and the BBC for radio rights to the 2017-18 Ashes series will be decided next week. The BBC are expected to keep the contract but not without paying a seven-figure sum.