WILLIAMS SISTERS - TRULY GREAT CHAMPIONS.

The wonderful Williams sisters are both out of Wimbledon earlier than for many years. Venus lost an epic match against the 2011 champion, Petra Kvitova yesterday, and Serena, the reigning champion, has just been sent home by the 25th seed, French woman Alize Cornet. Both gave their all and both lost only after a tremendous struggle.

However, what strikes me most about both defeats is the manner in which they were received. Both young women must have been absolutely distraught and wanted to get away as quickly as possible and yet both made a point of waiting for their opponents and walking off of the court together; so many others march off within seconds of their loss and pay no attention to their vanquishers.

Few other competitors treat the Wimbledon Centre Court motto so perfectly. Everyone who walks through the doors sees lines from the poem *If* by Rudyard Kipling, undoubtedly one of the greatest pieces of English literature, which say :

"If you can meet with triumph and disaster,

And treat those two imposters just the same"

Venus and Serena have been truly great champions. They have also been, and continue to be, truly great sportsmen. Their behaviour in defeat demonstrates just how great they are and it will be a sad day when they decide to hang up their tennis shoes.

SUAREZ SPONSORS GNASH THEIR TEETH.

So FIFA has deliberated and decided that Luis Suarez should be free to bite again from the end of October. Does this make sense ?

If he'd committed his offence on the street, a third offence, mind you, he'd be facing a probable prison sentence and psychiatric treatment. Instead, FIFA, in it's wisdom, thinks that a 4 month ban will suffice and will, presumably, bring this animal to heel. Of course, they've been constrained by the various factional interests that they serve, but it seems likely that a far more telling blow may be dealt by the sponsors and advertisers who are now considering whether Suarez is a suitable person with whom to be associated.

The evil of football is that major figures can, and do, get away with almost anything because of the money that is involved in their employment. It's only when the flow of money is threatened that anyone takes action. With luck, pressure from a few major sponsors may do what FIFA has signally failed to do - impose a real sanction on this man.

LUIS SUAREZ : A HUNGRY MAN ?

Has Suarez done it again ? That is the question now haunting football.

Way back in the mists of time, actually just over a year ago, Luis Suarez was seen to bite an opponent. After an inquiry, the FA decided on a 10 match ban for the Uruguayan, their decision no doubt influenced to some degree by the fact that he had been banned for 7 matches by the Dutch football authorities after a similar incident in November 2010. Now, he's being accused of biting an Italian player, Giorgio Chiellini, in yesterday's final game in World Cup group D and FIFA are investigating.

What the outcome of FIFA's enquiries will be is anyone's guess; they may try to brush it all under the carpet to avoid tarnishing the tournament too badly, or they may land on Suarez like the proverbial 'tonne of bricks' in order to demonstrate how tough they are. Whatever their approach, if Suarez is found to have bitten a third player surely his career should be brought to an end. One such incident may be considered the result of hot-headedness, a second put down to treatable mental instability, but 3 surely indicates a man completely devoid of normal human decency and morality.

If, and I emphasise *IF*, he's found guilty of a third offence, his continued presence in the Premier League with Liverpool, notwithstanding his brilliance as a player, must surely be an impossibility, while which other great clubs would wish to spend the suggested £70m on buying a player with such cannibalistic tendencies ?

MOEEN SHOWS THE REST HOW IT'S DONE.

Despite losing to Sri Lanka in the Headingley Test match, England did, eventually, show a bit of fight thanks to the heroics of Moeen Ali. After dominating the match for the first 3 days, England did their best to throw their advantage away through some unimaginative captaincy and poor bowling, followed by a pathetic start to their second innings. At the end of Day 4, they were staring defeat in the face and no one gave them much hope of surviving g beyond the early afternoon of the final day.

In the event, and helped by a bit of rain, they made it to the second last ball of the match. From 57-5, Moeen Ali, a newcomer with a beard that would have made the great 'WG' envious, batted throughout the day, nearly 6½ hours, and so nearly saved the day for his side. His grit and determination put the more senior batsmen in the team to shame, as did the guts shown by Jimmy Anderson during their 83 minute and 20 over last wicket partnership of 21. Anderson's '0' was a tremendous effort and his awful despair at his dismissal was gut-wrenching; it was impossible not to have felt tremendous sympathy for him.

As for Ali, his 108* was an innings of epic proportions. This not so young man (he's already 27), had a very successful year with the bat in 2013 and has now justified his place in the England team as a batsman, though not necessarily as the spinning all rounder that is really needed. If he could develop his bowling talents a little, he could make himself secure for the next 5 or more years, though it's a big *if*.

WHITHER BRITISH SPORT ?

There seem to be very few sports in which the British excel. Apart from the rather exclusive pursuits of rowing, cycling and equestrian, what else are we much good at ?  Certainly not football, our tennis, golf, rugby and cricket are shaky, and our athletics is pretty much 'hit or miss'. Why ?

Quite simply put, we're decadent. In the past, we tended to dominate the world at most things; today, we're rather old and tired, added to which we now have a population which includes a huge number of immigrants whose first loyalty is to their countries of origin. Far too many of our youngsters look for 'money through celebrity' rather than from actually doing anything of note, and there's no hunger for success at anything which requires effort. Finally, our education system has been utterly destroyed by successive governments ever since 1945, concepts such as 'losing' being considered unacceptable and most schools having done away with any serious sporting activities in favour of a token bit of 'PE' or, if the girls prefer it, dance. We no longer produce athletes at our schools and rely on parents to fill in the gap. inevitably, the only parents who do are those with time, money, enthusiasm and, generally, a bit of intelligence; the result is rowers, cyclists and the occasional tennis or golf star and the odd racing driver.

Is there any hope of this changing ? Probably not, unless the powers that be get away from their idiotic notions about equality and fairness. Sport is about winning and losing, as is life. When the state stops providing support for every loser, we'll start winning at sport; until then, we can't expect to win very much as we'll always be beaten by those who are hungrier for victory. In football, as long as the likes of Rooney are paid £15 million a year by their club, why should they care much about international success ? Individuals will always emerge in some sports but for the main team games we will continue to struggle and in the rest we'll have trouble finding more than the occasional Andy Murray, while minnows like Belgium and Uruguay will outdo us year after year.

ALL BLACKS AND WALLABIES SHOW HOW IT'S DONE !

Oh Dear, oh dear !

Not only our football but now our Rugby too is broken. Following hard on the heels of the England football team's depressing performance in their World Cup the Rugby team touring New Zealand received a sound thrashing at the hands of the almighty All Blacks.

The first of three tests produced a close match with the home side winning only in the last minute or 2 and the visitors being genuinely unlucky to lose. The second match saw a less assured performance from the English and a rather flattering defeat by only one point. The third match, yesterday, saw virtual annihilation. England were blown away in the first half and never recovered; they looked jaded and out of their depth as the All Blacks ran in 4 first-half tries to lead 29-6 at the break, the match all-but over by then. England did put up a better showing in the second half but the suspicion must be that the home side knew they'd done the job and could back off. Even then, the best England could achieve was a 7-7 outcome for the half and a 36-13 thrashing overall. Success in next year's

World Cup seems a long way off.

Not that England were alone in finding the southern hemisphere too hot too handle. The French, too, suffered a beating, 39-13, at the hands of the Wallabies although the Welsh did rather better against South Africa, only losing by 1 point and to a last minute penalty try at that. Nonetheless, with little more than a year to go, the northern nations look to be the underdogs as the 'Big 3' from the south gird up their loins for the fight.

ENGLAND'S WORLD CUP WOES ARE NEARLY OVER.

Excellent ! England are out, so now perhaps the 'experts' will start talking some sense about English football, whatever the result against Costa Rica next Tuesday.

The Premier League may be one of the best leagues in the world, but it's populated by so many foreign players that to equate it's success with English football is a nonsense. While there are many world class players in the league, few if any of them are English and the poor showing of the national team at the World Cup is a clear consequence of this. The way that foreign owners with vast fortunes now infest the Premier League and use it as a means of self-aggrandisement inevitably reduces the opportunity for young home-grown players, as owners prefer to buy-in expensive but proven players rather than develop their own talent. Unless this trend is reversed, England will continue to be bit-part participants for many years to come.

The sad truth is the likes of Rooney and Gerrard never have been 'world class', whatever the media hype around them has been. Hart is a somewhat shaky goalkeeper and the likes of Baines, Cahill, Henderson, Johnson et al are nothing like as good as they're painted. Sturridge without Suarez alongside him is only half a threat and the rest are a mixed bag. Welbeck and Barkley have yet to prove themselves at the highest level, while Lallana's elevation to the national side smacks of desperation as does that of Lambert, a man who's never even been in contention before. Jagielka is possibly the best of a poor bunch. The one bright spot has been Sterling, but a couple of good games doesn't make a world class player, though our media will undoubtedly build him up to superstar status.

It is not the manager's fault, we simply don't have the players. There's no immediate answer and the European Championships in 2016 may well be even worse for us; after that, it'll be another new manager, more encouraging words and on to 2018. God Help Us.

ENGLAND CRASH AND BURN.

True to form, England are on the point of elimination for the football World Cup, while having won the war of media drivel quite comfortably.

Indeed, if there was a medal for talking a good game, England would be champions year after year. The pundits on television, radio and in print never stop telling us how good our players are, though, for once, they did not raise expectations as high as they might have done. Just as well.

Yesterday's game against Uruguay, a nation with little more than one fifteenth of our population, produced excessive chat about when Rooney would score and many shouts of "Better" from one of the commentators, but little real commentary. In the end, England's shortcomings were exposed - failure to take advantage of good positions, an ability to ignore dangerous ones - and the one world class player on the pitch, Luis Suarez, made them pay. In truth, I don't think England played badly, but they simply don't have players of the necessary calibre. Sterling, Sturridge, Cahill, Rooney and Henderson all had their moments but Hart looked out of his depth, the defence was shaky and the mid-field did too little.

All hope now rests on Italy beating both Costa Rica and Uruguay while, even then, England would have to beat Cost Rica by enough of a margin to go through on goal difference. It could happen, but it's not a gamble to bet one's house on. Of course, the pundits have been having a field day, discussing what went wrong, who else should have been in the team, what could have been done differently and whether or not the manager has a future. Given the limited choice of limited players, it's hard to see any changes that would have made much difference, and what rationale there could be for sacking the manager escapes me. As with any side, the manager needs time to assess his players and build a team - Hodgson has had far too little time to do either and must surely be allowed to carry on to the next World Cup in 2018 although, at 64,  he was far too old when appointed in May 2012.

If England are ever to climb the heights again, they need certain things. Firstly, a younger manager who can be given at least 10 years to build his team. Secondly, many more young English players appearing regularly in the Premier League and playing at the top level; the prominence of foreign imports has to be reduced. Thirdly, less hype and celebrity status for these overpaid prima donnas. What chance is there of all, or any, of this occurring ?

ENGLAND'S WORLD CUP GLOOM.

Almost before it's even begun, it looks as though England's world cup bid may be over. Last night's defeat against Italy makes it very difficult for 'our boys' to make it through to the last 16 and an exit at the Group stage looks a distinct possibility, especially after Uruguay's failure against the supposed minnows from Costa Rica.

England tried hard but were simply not good enough. The much lauded talents of Gerrard and Rooney failed to materialise and while they huffed and puffed they found it impossible to blow down the Italian house. In fact, after the first few minutes, England created few truly threatening positions; their goal was a great piece of flowing football but other opportunities were wasted by poor play in and around their opponents penalty area. Raheem Sterling was their outstanding player by a country mile, while no one else achieved much of note. The truth is that we have few, if any, world class players and the sooner we accept this, the better.

Oh for the finishing of Arjen Robben or Robin van Persie. These two showed how it should be done with magnificent performances in the match between Holland and Spain. Current champions, Spain, were simply blown away by some superb play from the Dutch and, in particular, by some brilliant finishing from Robben and van Persie. These two are WORLD CLASS, Gerrard, Rooney and the rest are not and never will be; good, yes, but World Class, not a chance.

For England, all now rests on Thursday's game against Uruguay, a side who will be equally desperate for a result. It's likely to be a cracker and defeat will almost certainly mean an early flight home, but for which side ?

CANADIAN GRAND PRIX DELIVERS THE GOODS.

How nice to see a Formula One race with drivers who appreciate each other's talents without enmity.

Following the recent antics of Lewis Hamilton, being a very childish and miserable loser, today's Canadian Grand Prix, a terrific race by the way, has been won by the 'new boy' Daniel Ricciardo. The prize giving demonstrated all of the best of real sportsmanship - Ricciardo oh-so-happy but without any attitude, Vettel so pleased for his team mate and with no animosity, and Rosberg thanking his lucky stars that he'd managed to finish at all. The champagne flowed with genuine enthusiasm and pleasure from all concerned.

Compared with the recent Hamilton shows of puerile petulance, this was a return to the real spirit of this great and dangerous sport. Hamilton may be a fine driver but he's not a good sportsman; Ricciardo, Vettel and Rosberg appear to be exactly what Hamilton is not - both great athletes and great sportsmen.  

More power to their elbows.

NADAL - KING OF CLAY.

And so the French Open Tennis Championships are over after 2 incredible singles finals.

On Saturday, Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep fought an amazing battle before Sharapova came out as the winner. After just over 3 hours of brutal conflict, the giant Russian beat the comparatively diminutive Romanian, more by sheer willpower than anything else. It was only during the presentations that Sharapova's true physical presence became apparent, as she stood alongside the great Chris Evert; Sharapova was revealed as being at least half a foot taller and wider than the champion of yesteryear and her legs were like tree trunks beside those of the 'tiny' Evert. That said, Halep, while lacking inches in height, lacked none of the bulk of modern players and she will be a genuine contender for Grand Slam titles, and the number 1 spot, for many years to come.

The men's final, between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovich was almost a let down, though another amazing match. After winning the first set and looking likely to give the champion a real run for his money, Djokovich almost faded away, losing the next 3 sets and rarely looking like a probable winner. He had his moments but it was Nadal who held the whip hand, increasingly so after he levelled the match by winning the second set. Nadal simply ground his opponent into the red clay of Roland Garros.

Nadal is, without doubt, the greatest clay court player ever. Throughout his career, clay has been his surface and he has been virtually unbeatable, whoever the opposition. His ninth French Open title brings his overall Grand Slam total to 14 wins and he threatens to attack Roger Federer's record of 17; will he get there ? If he does, will it make him the greatest player ever ? In my view, no. Federer won 4 Australian, 5 USA and 7 Wimbledon to go with his 1 victory in France; Nadal has 2 Wimbledon, 2 US and 1 Australian alongside his 9 French titles, his record being heavily dominated by his own domination on clay. Federer won 3 of the major events in one season on three occasion, Nadal has managed this once; indeed, but for Nadal, it seems likely that Federer would have achieved multiple "Grand Slams", winning all 4 events in a calendar year. Between 2004 and 2007, Federer won 11 of the 16 Grand Slam events on offer, and was twice the runner up to Nadal in Paris. Nadal's history has no such sequence of success, his overall record being heavily biased by his astonishing success at one tournament.

One thing that is clear is that, good though he is, Andy Murray is not quite in the same league as today's 'Big 2'. That doesn't mean he won't retain his Wimbledon crown but it certainly isn't going to be easy. On grass, even the old man, Federer, comes back into the equation and the big servers will also have their say. Bring it on !

MAURESMO TO WIN MURRAY SLAMS ?

Andy Murray has appointed Amelie Mauresmo as his new coach, replacing Ivan Lendll.

The question has to be "Why" ? Murray, as a double Grand Slam winner, needs little more than advice from the side lines on opponents vulnerabilities, his own style of play against specific individuals and a bit of psychological boosting. The first 2 he surely has from his existing team of coaches and helpers, the last is what he employed Lendll for. Lendll, of course, was a multiple finalist before winning a Grand Slam event, as was Murray, but he did go on to win 8 such events, making him one of the most successful players in tennis history. There was some logic to his appointment as Murray's coach.

Mauresmo, very good player though she was and a World number 1, struggled mightily when it came to winning Grand Slams. After reaching the final of the Australian Open when aged 19, Mauresmo had to wait another 7 years before she again experienced a Grand Slam singles final, finally winning the Australian championship in 2006 when Justine Henin was forced to retire through injury. That year, she also succeeded in winning the Wimbledon title, also against Henin, though on this occasion it was a full three set match. Nonetheless, Mauresmo's Grand Slam record is hardly that impressive and she has no obvious track record as a coach since her retirement in 2009. She did, admittedly, coach Marion Bartoli prior to her 2013 Wimbledon triumph but only became Bartoli's coach shortly before the tournament. Her other charges, Michel Llodra and Victoria Azarenka, were not noticeably improved by her presence.

Mauresmo has no personal understanding of the male game or psyche, and has little personal success at Grand Slam level; she was considered to be psychologically frail when it came to important matches. What does Murray think that Mauresmo can bring to his game ? How can she possibly be the right choice ? Or am I simply missing the point ?

IS QATAR WORLD CUP DEAD ?

No one in their right mind can surely have thought that the award of the 2022 football World Cup to the stupidly hot and incredibly minor country of Qatar was anything but suspicious. The allegations now published by the Sunday Times, to the effect that large bribes were paid by the Qatari representative to FIFA in order to secure the tournament for that country, add fuel to the already lively flames.

Whether or not there has been corruption, the stink is there. The evidence is mounting that there may well be more than simple stink. There is also the lunacy of having to play a World Cup in the middle of most European domestic seasons as that is the only time when temperatures in Qatar are even close to what might be considered reasonable for running around and kicking a ball.

Qatar never should have been awarded the tournament. However, there now has to be a worry that the latest revelations are part of an orchestrated scheme to have it taken away from them. While this seems unlikely, whether or not it is, the allegations have to be investigated; regardless of the outcome, the tournament should be moved and Sepp Blatter, the longstanding boss of FIFA must finally go. His number is up.