WHAT’S HOT WHAT’S NOT

HOT RAFAEL NADAL

HE GETS that being shut in a hotel is hard for those preparing for the Australian Open. He also gets how bad it looks to moan. ‘We cannot complain,’ he said. ‘You see how many people are losing their father, their mum, without having the chance to say goodbye.’ Novak Djokovic might one day match Nadal’s haul of 20 Slams, but on other scales he is a long way short.

DAVID MOYES

THE pounding he took during and after his time at Manchester United always seemed a little gratuitous but both parties are recovering well. In Moyes’s case, his work at West Ham surely eclipses that done by any other manager in the Premier League so far this season.

YANNICK BESTAVEN

HE MADE it around the world in 80 days, which is not especially fast given the immense potential of the yachts used in the Vendee Globe. But finishing the toughest race in all of sport is a fine thing irrespective of timings; to win it is something remarkable. The Frenchman joins a special club.

NOT BARCELONA

THEIR latest scheme to tackle £1billion of debts has involved selling a one-off El Clasico shirt for £80 (£130 if you want the match version, apparently). Their ‘more than a club’ moniker has never seemed so apt; they would also appear to be a car-boot sale and an eBay auction rolled into one.

FRANK LAMPARD

WHO knows where he will land next? And who knows if he truly believed that a club with Chelsea’s track record would respond any differently when the road got bumpy? In any case, it feels shabby and sadly predictable that his achievement amid such spending constraints last season didn’t buy him a little longer in this one.

CONOR McGREGOR

A FAIRLY ludicrous figure at the best of times and the speculation runs wild on what he might be at his worst. For a long while, he has been able to fall back on his bankable ability to win fights, but with three defeats in his past six, what does that make him? Other than extremely rich, of course.