tennis
Tennis romance that doesn’t contain much tennis: Challengers reviewed
It sounds straightforward enough: a tennis romance starring Zendaya, idol of the mid-teen demographic and last seen riding a sandworm…
How sport helped shape the British character
David Horspool connects different sports to our historical experience: cricket with class, golf with property rights, tennis with female emancipation and boxing with ethnicity
Does tennis have a doping problem?
Is it more remarkable that Romanian two-time Grand Slam tennis champion Simona Halep took performance enhancing drugs, or that she was caught?…
I knew I was right about private schools
The Hunstanton Lawn Tennis Tournament has become an annual fixture in the Young household. Known as ‘Wimbledon-on-Sea’, the week-long competition…
I sledged Steve Smith for England
In this summer of sporting dramas, every patriotic sports fan likes to think he’s done his bit to help. I…
Diary
When someone asks ‘How are you?’ you have to assume your interlocutor is only being polite. Anyone who returns a…
High life
Now that Wimbledon is over, a few thoughts about youthful brains showing traces of horse tranquillisers, angel dust and cannabis,…
Cricket, tennis and the Women’s World Cup: what a summer
Great sport needs great rivalries, and that is why anyone with a pulse must celebrate being in the throes of…
Barbie’s world: the normalisation of cosmetic surgery
Cosmetic surgery is booming thanks to social media
Watch out Wimbledon: padel is taking over
The fast-growing racquet sport serving up a challenge to tennis
Shame on those who abandoned Peng Shuai
No one really expects much in the way of principles or morality from those charged with running international sport. The…
Drama at Lord’s: Stumped is a treat for cricket fans
So farewell to cricket’s The Hundred tournament, or what seemed by the end to be beefy South Africans in ‘Butterkist’…
I fancy Emma Raducanu’s chances at Flushing Meadows
British tennis fans famously only acknowledge the sport exists for a couple of weeks in the middle of summer in…
How Kyrgios saved Wimbledon
What separates this year’s ‘empty seats on centre court’ scandal from every other year’s ‘empty seats on centre court’ scandal?…
The Oprah-fication of Wimbledon
Now that the weakest Wimbledon since 1973 – the year of the boycott – is over, a few thoughts about…
What do Beethoven, D.H. Lawrence and George Best have in common?
This is not a book about tennis. Roger Federer appears early on, trailed by the obligatory question ‘When will he…
My one to watch at the French Open
The timing of Brendon McCullum’s appointment as England’s Test match coach couldn’t be better for him, or for the matey…
Why do Russian tennis stars need to condemn Putin?
Nigel Huddleston is Under-Secretary of State for Sport, Tourism, Heritage and Civil Society, hardly the biggest job in government. Yet…
The year sport and politics became inseparable
Sport and politics have always been intertwined, but this was the year they became joined at the hip. Yorkshire racism;…
Lord Lucan, Joan Collins and the greatest dinner ever
There’s a narrow stretch of Chelsea, south of the King’s Road from Oakley Street to Ormonde Gate, that reminds me…
Why the Reds have got the blues
Not so much the hair dryer: more a gentle home perm. Contemplating the increasingly less youthful visage of Ole Gunnar…
I’d pick the Vero Beach retirement home for old ladies over Annabel’s
Around 20 or so years ago I had a point for match point on a perfect grass court at Fort…
Can we talk about Emma Raducanu's Christianity?
I’ve just been looking at photographs of Emma Raducanu again, this time focusing on her upper chest. She usually wears…
Blue-tick Twitter is spoiling Emma Raducanu's victory
How do you take the pleasure out of something so marvellous and joyful as Emma Raducanu’s US open victory last…
Emma Raducanu can save tennis
Something perfect at the death of summer: Emma Raducanu in full flight, smoking winners up the lines and progressing without…
