The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Ecclestone dismissive of Austin contract offer
- Tsonga sends Nadal packing after power show
- Passion has been missing, admits Nadal
| Ecclestone dismissive of Austin contract offer Posted: 24 Nov 2011 05:09 PM PST SAO PAULO, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Organisers of a planned U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, have told Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone that they will pay a sanctioning fee for next year's race if he revises an "unrealistic and unfeasible" contract. The 81-year-old Briton responded on Thursday by casting further doubt on the event going ahead. Ecclestone has already made clear that he has lost patience and last week gave the city's Circuit of the Americas a deadline of this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix to pay the required fees and sign a contract. "We have been ready to send Mr. Ecclestone a sanctioning fee check for some time now," said Bobby Epstein, founding partner of Circuit of The Americas, in a statement. "He hasn't received it yet because the new contract presented to us two weeks ago contained unrealistic and unfeasible demands. "We have signed and returned a contract similar to what we anticipated receiving. This race should be a reality, but if we are going to make the 2012 race date, we must receive a counter-signature in the coming few days." Asked by Reuters at the Interlagos circuit whether he thought the Texas race might now happen, Ecclestone was dismissive. "I doubt it," he said, with a copy of the Austin statement in his hands. "The truth is they're not complying with the terms and conditions of the contract. And as we make the contract, we will award the event or not award the event. They are not awarding anything to us. "It's normal," he added. "They have been messing around now for four months, there's two partners arguing and two different groups arguing with each other and in the end none of them have got the money." Asked whether his contract was really "unrealistic and unfeasible", Ecclestone replied: "Yeah, well they shouldn't sign it. My advice to them is don't sign it. And they probably won't get the opportunity." The race would have marked a return to the United States for Formula One, which last staged a race at Indianapolis in 2007. Since Austin was announced, Ecclestone has also done a deal for a race in New Jersey against a backdrop of the Manhattan skyline for 2013. Construction was halted at the Austin circuit this month while the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has ruled out the state paying any public funds in advance of the race being held. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Tsonga sends Nadal packing after power show Posted: 24 Nov 2011 05:08 PM PST LONDON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Rafa Nadal bowed out of the ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday as for the second time in 48 hours, the Spaniard had no answer against an inspired opponent, this time in the imposing form of French powerhouse Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. While Roger Federer's thrashing of Nadal was a masterful demonstration of the sport's classical arts, Tsonga's 6-7 4-6 6-3 victory in the final match of Group B was a sustained barrage of heavy artillery that eventually overwhelmed the former world number one. Tsonga, 26, joined group winner Federer in the semi-finals after the Swiss maintained his 100 percent record with a 6-1 3-6 6-3 defeat of American Mardy Fish in a dead rubber. Defeat extended Nadal's mediocre record at the season-ender. In the five years he has qualified he has only made the final once, losing to Federer at the O2 Arena last year. This year he never looked like adding the prestigious title to his 10 grand slams from the opening day when he laboured past tournament debutant Fish in three sets. "I think I didn't play well tonight," the 25-year-old, who since winning the French Open for a sixth time in June has not won another title, told reporters. "The first two sets I didn't play bad, but I didn't play well, and to win these kind of matches you have to play well. I played without anything special tonight." While Nadal was clearly disappointed with the level of his performance it would be harsh to take anything away from Tsonga who produced one of the best performances of his career to reach the semi-finals of the event for the first time. "Tonight, I just played amazing tennis," Tsonga told reporters, adding that he spent the day before the match looking at the video of his run to the Australian Open final in 2008 when he also beat Nadal. "I was looking at that and I thought, 'Wow!' Before I had lots of energy and I was running faster, hitting harder, but I was crazy on court. This year, maybe I've improved this, but I'm better in my head." Crunching huge groundstrokes off both wings and storming the net to pound down smashes and some silky volleys, Tsonga continually worried the Nadal serve without being able to engineer the break his play deserved. Nadal hung on but Tsonga produced a superb tiebreak, moving 6-2 ahead before sealing the set with an ace. The second set was a similar story, although this time Tsonga suffered a brief dip in the 10th game and Nadal pounced on his fourth set point to set up a late-night decider in front of an entralled 17,500-capacity crowd. The majority inside the cavernous arena would have expected Nadal to complete the comeback but as he later put it, the third set turned into a "disaster" for the Mallorcan. Tsonga broke Nadal's serve at 1-1 when his drop volley proved elusive for the Spaniard and he repeated the trick to forge into a 5-2 lead. Three double faults halted his charge to the finish line but Nadal surrendered his serve, and the match, cheaply in the next game. "The third set was disaster," Nadal, who still has the consolation of a Davis Cup final next weekend against Argentina, said. "He'a dangerous player. Best of luck for him. Jo deserved it more than me." The composition of the semi-finals will become clear on Friday when world number one Novak Djokovic takes on fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic and David Ferrer, who is already assured a last-four berth, faces Tomas Berdych. Defending champion Federer warmed up for the semis with a one hour 47 minute workout against weary American Fish who gave a spirited display despite already being knocked out after defeats against Nadal and Tsonga. Fans with expensive day session tickets must have feared the worst when Federer cruised through the first set in half and hour but they were given value for money as Fish made a match of it thereafter. "Bottom line is I'm going away 0-3, which is hard but I had a great experience just being part of this," said Fish. "It gives me a lot of ammunition to come back next year." Federer is now just two wins away from a record sixth title at the season-ender, moving ahead of the five he shares with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Passion has been missing, admits Nadal Posted: 24 Nov 2011 05:07 PM PST Former world number one Rafa Nadal admitted he has struggled of late to rekindle his passion for tennis on Thursday after defeat by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga sent him spinning out of the ATP World Tour Finals at the group stage. The 25-year-old Spaniard ended 2010 as the dominant force in men's tennis after completing his career grand slam but apart from a sixth French Open crown in June, this year has been a disappointing one by his sky-high standards. His 7-6 4-6 6-3 defeat by French powerhouse Tsonga came just two days after he was thrashed in an hour by great rival Roger Federer and the zip and spark is clearly missing from his game. Nadal, who has played just three tournaments since losing to Novak Djokovic in the U.S. Open final, one of several painful defeats this year by the Serb world number one, offered an explanation in a packed news coneference. "Seriously I could talk for one hour about that," the 10-times grand slam champion said. "It's because of lots of things. Because probably I was little bit less passionate for the game, probably I was a little bit more tired than usual. "I'm happy how I practised the last three weeks. But to compete I wasn't in the right way. We can find excuses, we can find problems, but it's not the moment to say that." "In your career you have moments where you come back, then you go down. Today is not my best moment." While one grand slam title and defeats in the Wimbledon and U.S. Open finals would be rated as a massive achievement by mere mortals, 2011 will certainly not be one he looks back on particularly fondly. However, he said after trying to win the Davis Cup for Spain in Seville next weekend he would get himself ready to come back firing at the Australian Open in January. "I'm going to continue with the right practice like I had the last three weeks," he said. "That's the only way to try to arrive to the 2012 season. I'll try to arrive in 2012 in very good condition. I'm going to do all I can to be perfect for the beginning of 2012. "This end of the year wasn't easy for me. That's hard to accept. But at the same time that's given me little bit more desire and a little bit more of a goal for 2012." Nadal said he was not worried about his form going into the Davis Cup final against Argentina, a tie that will be played on his favoured clay. "On clay I have more time to think. The movements are a little bit easier for me," he said. "I will try my best every day to try to win the Davis Cup for my country. I'm lucky, the team, not only myself, if I'm not in the right conditions, the captain can choose another player." Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Star Online: Sports To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 ulasan:
Catat Ulasan