Digital Sportspage

Aussie Open underway. First major of the year and Djokovic falls to Istomin in round 2. Federer (seeded 17, it's 2017, he's won 17 majors so, according to some, maybe the stars are aligning) to play Berdych in round 3 and Nadal to play against Alexander Zverev, the 19-year-old just about everyone is...

Thanks PK. It should've been "a hundred" but despite his incredible perfectionism and attention to detail, I'm sure Leonard will forgive me. I've no arguments with Dylan's Nobel prize but Leonard Cohen did win the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in Spain a few years ago. I've just listened t...

I said to Hank Williams, "how lonely does it get?"

Hank Williams hasn't answered yet

But I can hear him coughing

All night long

A thousand floors above me

In the tower of song

Really good match on ESPN right now at US Open between Murray and Nishikori. Didn't catch it but has to count as a bit of a surprise, even though it looked a tough match on paper for Murray. Best match I've seen so far was Lucas Pouille's victory over Nadal 8-6 in the fifth set tiebreaker. Pouille ...

Regardless, Djoko is set to win it all again. Yeah, almost too predictably. Nadal said after the Doha final that Djokovic had played perfect tennis, and he touched those heights again in Australia, especially in the first two sets against Federer. After a terrible start, I thought Murray played pre...

Stunning performance by Djokovic, especially in the first two sets. All credit to Federer for managing to emerge from under the rubble to snatch the third and keep things within the boundaries of respectability. As wco81 points out, it's hard to imagine anyone denying Djokovic the title, though the ...

Simon is a great warrior. Possibly my favorite player of recent times (even though, and maybe because, he's the antithesis of the way I "play"). I love the post-match press conferences so if anyone else is interested, here's the link: http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/video/index.html?tabName=interviews_...

Berdych looked very solid from what I saw of his match against Kyrgios, who comes across at times like an immature schoolyard bully. Great talent though. There's a reason why Berdych has been one of the top players in the world for a long time now. Bautista Agut should give him agut run for his mone...

Verdasco goes out...if he could somehow bottle his best form, he'd be a contender for all the titles but... Fed looks great. Tough draw though. Dimitrov up next. A match for the purists. And for insomniacs. I calculate a 2:30 pm local time start in Melbourne, which I think is 5:30 am where I live an...

Hey, remember when almost every Irish football fan called Henry and France cheats because they benefited from a fortunate call in the box? Nah, me neither. ;) No idea what you're talking about. Henry Who?? :| Of course it wasn't a penalty. 100% accidental handball. In the Irish media, I've seen the...

Ireland make the Euro finals, beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 2-0 in Dublin. Martin O Neill was at Nottingham Forest when Clough was the catalyst behind the most incredible story in European soccer history back in the late seventies, so the team seems to be in good hands. He even looks to have Roy un...

Very "arcade" goal by Florenzi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3VtD5D5c74

If you scored a goal like that in Fifa or Pes you'd be demanding an urgent patch or your money back.

The rain delay made things too late for me last night. Just finished watching a recording from 2-1 to Djokovic in the 3rd. When he got the break back in that set, Roger looked to have Novak on the ropes for a while but couldn't take advantage of the break points. In the fourth, he continued to be un...

Djokovic played very well against an out-of-sorts Cilic but Federer was magnificent against Wawrinka. The "new" strategies of serve and volley, and taking the second serve very early were on view. His defence was outstanding too. Also I noticed that a lot of the time when he ran around his forehand,...

Only caught the last five games but what a performance by Vinci. Serena was clearly nervous and Vinci has been around the block and saw that. Great sliced backand and she's a very accomplished doubles player, which showed in her touch around the net, particularly those fantastic half volleys in the ...

Another fantastic night of Tennis at the U.S. Open with K. Anderson pulling the big upset of the day beating A. Murray in four tight sets. Anderson always was game but I didn't think he was mentally tough enough to believe in himself that he could beat the top guys in the world. He did have Djokovi...

Didn't see the Rafa/Fognini match but it's just not going his way lately. I caught some of his match against Schwartzman and he was very hot and cold. And Fognini is extremely talented but in normal circumstances you'd never expect him to overturn a two-set deficit against Nadal. Just looking at the...

Great display by Djokovic, coming back from the disappointment of the 2nd set tiebreaker and 2 sets down to Kevin Anderson in the round of 16. 20-20 in the H2H with Fed and 9 Grand Slams and counting. Must be favoured to make it 10 in New York in a couple of months.

As the game unfolds, I don't see anything that Federer can do to get into Djoko's strong armor. He's giving easy forehand points as I feared all of the sudden. He needs to come to the net more often I think, easier said than done with such a great passer like Djoko. It's a tough hill to climb for h...

Fed is definitely not serving as well as in the semis. Both players with early break point opportunities in the 3rd, with Fed looking to make the most of the initiative but kudos to Djokovic for more than keeping things together. We've had two sets and both players have had set points in each...inc...

Fed is definitely not serving as well as in the semis. Both players with early break point opportunities in the 3rd, with Fed looking to make the most of the initiative but kudos to Djokovic for more than keeping things together. We've had two sets and both players have had set points in each...incr...

This final is really coming to the boil. These guys have an incredible capacity to play their best tennis in the most high-pressure situations.

There's obviously the question of the history of the game and who's going to be remembered and what matches are going to be remembered years down the line and whether there's life after tennis for Federer, etc. etc. I'm very interested in that too but I have to confess that my main interest in this ...

Clinical performance from Djokovic against the brave Gasquet, who kept fighting to the end and played a great tournament, beating Dimitrov, Kygrios and Wawrinka. Roger was awesome. As 10s suggests, the serve was the key factor. Andy Roddick, commenting for the BBC, recalled watching 50 aces fly past...

Federer looking supreme on a surface that really lets him do almost anything that comes into his head, including this against Sam Querrey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-qAUO6VYq0 McEnroe, commenting on the BBC a few days ago, questioned whether his unrivalled capacity to mix things up would be e...