The Wrap - Special Tennis

1. Ash Barty. An amazing story 44 years in the making. Three Grand Slams now - French (2019), Wimbledon (2021), Australian (2022) ...US?  Australia has not had a three time Grand Slam winner since Evonne Goolagong! Great to see her on stage too. 

Barty is the model of composure and calm under pressure. Flustered by the big ground strokes and power of Danielle Collins early, she adapted and her returns gathered more angle and greater depth. Too much hitting up the middle of the court. The Collins cross court backhand was scintillating. Deep ground strokes puts amazing pressure on the returning player. 

Casey Dellacqua did a top job there. A great friend and a bit of a party girl who enjoys a beer!

Collins had a fair bit of mongrel in her aggressive approach. Her reaction to crowds and the anger in the player's box is an interesting study. Collins must shut that out to win. Barty's team always look as composed as her - no fist pumps, no standing up! 5-1 down and she turns it around for her third Grand Slam victory! Amazing stuff.

2. Nadal v Medvedev. Man v Machine. The outcome of Nadal breaking the tie for the most tennis Grand Slams (20) would be a significant moment in world sport. It could be one of the greatest moments. Not easy... but great! This would make 2022 one of the most memorable Australian Open tournaments of all time.

3. No-Vax. Does anyone remember Djokovic? These distractions try to take from the game. The game wins in straight sets.

4. Tennis Rule Change. I am proposing a new rule in tennis. You break your racquet outside of an accidental string issue and you need to play on with it. That has to stop in the game and it is an easy, quick, polite fix to clean up the tantrums.

I must say, I love a trainer coming onto court or a comfort break/ time out in tennis. The whinging to an umpire is always another transparent tactic in tennis. Shut up and play and remove the excuse? At least the grunting players have been weeded out more recently.

5. Nick Kgyrios and Thanasi Kokkinakis. Honestly, some of the behaviour from the crowd was diabolical...and there was not even a full house. The behaviour was often perpetuated by these players who should have more respect for the game really. Why do true champions never carry on like fools?

To say that the crowds want to watch you when Ash Barty has just had a million more viewers for her game...please. A million plus more. Just when you think there is hope for Nick, he reverts.

6. AB Medal and Women's Cricket. Alyssa Healy will be thrilled for husband, Mitchell Starc, on winning the AB Medal. Hard to think how anyone with a surname of Marsh could be close to winning it - ever. It is one of the most flawed awards in world sport. The absence of Test Cricket in 2021 made it an ODI/ T20 award. 

Poor Alyssa is coming off a pair of ducks in the current Test match. She is really struggling. Despite the media death riding poor Elise Perry (who took the most wickets in the first innings at a very cheap price of runs), it is Alyssa who has been in the worrying slump. She needs to improve and very quickly.

A great finish in the Women's Test at Manuka Oval. Exciting cricket played well (even if a 'sporting' Hansie Cronje declaration was involved).

7. BBL. The Sixers were crushed in the final. Really impressed by Laurie Evans' innings. An unknown who turned the game on its head. This Peter Hatzoglou is a talent. Andrew Tye still has it and the pace of Jhye Richardson changed the finals for the Scorchers.

8. Anthony Milford. Why the Knights would want this bloke for one season I would never know. They need to get a grip on their recruitment philosophy. This has disaster written all over it. Milford needs to front court first then play for the Dolphins next year. Second chances and third chances are fine, but a one year contract?

9. NFL - Brady Retirement. Reports, rumours, innuendo... The most decorated career of all time. A million Superbowl wins, championships, rings, MVPs... the lot! What a champion! I will listen to Tom when Tom says he's done - no one else.

10. NFL - Superbowl LV1 (56). Ongoing since 1966, the Superbowl is back again on 14 February. After almost picking every loser last week, the San Francisco 49ers v the Kansas City Chiefs looms as the most likely Superbowl, but back the others on my form! The Buccaneers had a bad loss, despite the Brady heroics at the end. They should have been competing for it again really.

11. MLB - Barry Bonds Hall of Fame Exclusion. A long standing joke in the MLB is the exclusion of Barry Bonds from the MLB Hall of Fame on the grounds of steroid consumption. He was one of a zillion offenders, but was legendary in his home run hitting. There are a few forgetting some of the others involved in this behaviour. They have just accepted David Ortiz into the Hall of Fame and he was done for drugs. Go figure!

12. Dylan Alcott. An absolute champion and great Australian of the Year. Top bloke who has achieved a lot despite so many challenges. Great choice! 15 Grand Slams! 

13. Football. Big game this Thursday in Scotland - Rangers v Celtic. For Ange Postocoglou, a chance for Celtic to hit the front in the chase of the title. Socceroos knocked off Vietnam and Oman this week hopefully. Not out of it all yet.

The Wrap - Open and Shut Cases

 1. Nick Kgyrios. A great showman and entertainer. Perhaps more suited to the doubles scene where fun and laughs abound. You get the impression that while he is very happy and relaxed (barring a few threats in the locker room, screaming, racquet tossing, smashing balls into the crowd...). Unfortunately, like a few of the other younger guys, the thought of winning a Grand Slam is almost impossible and they have been taught by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic to believe it too. Hard work has vanished and fun abounds. The crowds love it, but you get the feeling he will never deliver on his true talent. Zverev bundled out too!

2. Ash Barty. Conversely, Ash Barty is such a star. Quiet and strong. Calm in herself and focused. She is humble and polite and loved by the Australian crowd. Into the Round of 16 and not looking back.

3. Australian Open Contenders. Of the others, Nadal and Medvedev look strong. Precision plus. Denis Shapovolov will be tough for Nadal in the quarter finals. Alex de Minaur looking crisp, but not a title contender. 

4. BBL. Business end of a long season. Great to see the Australian players back playing. The comp has been mediocre really with very few stars on show. Maxwell killed it the other evening. What a brilliant innings. Jhye Richardson was the key difference for the Scorchers v Sixers. His pace was electric and nothing like anyone had seen previously in the  season. The Sixers were made to look second rate.

Siddle as the leading wicket taker (28 wickets) is hard to believe. It says a little about the standard of the batting. Carey on fire. The Strikers looked cooked, but with Travis Head back in there too, they could be the sleeper. 

Daniel Sams has some talent, but under pressure I am a little concerned. He has a clanger in him and did not bowl well at all.

5. BBL Crowds. Abysmal in the sporting capital of the world. Very surprising, but awful scheduling. Too many games and zero International cricket. New Zealand are precious. This will be remembered by cricket administrators worldwide. They will receive no favours in schedules and in big money earning options. 

6. India v South African Cricket. The Indian team will be looking forward to getting home. 2-1 Test series loss. They have now got behind in the ODI series too. A young South African team is standing tall. They are such a talented cricket and sporting nation.

7. NFL. Huge upsets with the San Francisco 49ers beating the Green Bay Packers. Then for the Tennessee Titans to be beaten by the Cinncinati Bengals. I cannot see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs losing at all. Big challenges in the snow of northern America at present. Chiefs v Buccaneers for the Superbowl this year.

The Wrap - 'No Run' No More

1. Novak out. He has had to accept the umpire’s decision. Finally. The opinions of Tomic and Kygrios count for zip as they have no cred and of course enjoy a headline. Surely tennis results entitles you to this. The main concerns are about what his brother and family may think of Australia now! Those family press conferences have truly been bizarre. Had he thought about simply getting vaccinated?

His other more recent form… 

• He establishes a break away tennis player’s union.
• He heavily supports the new approach to the Davis Cup, breaking a long standing tennis tradition for finance.
• He hosts a tennis tournament in the middle of COVID and contracts COVID
• He refuses to be vaccinated.
• The Australia fiasco with family, friends and politicians and mystery new COVID positives, no masks, etc.

Yet he is one of the best ever, but will never be truly revered sadly.

2. Sightscreens. Why have sightscreens become such a circus? Greg Chappell scored tons galorewith blokes hanging off the sides at crowded cricket grounds. We went through a phase when the advertising wouldn’t turn around in time for a new over. They now take up three hundred seats and represent one of the biggest overreactions ever. Joel Garner added 1.5 metres to the height of most sightscreens worldwide. It is a fiasco.

It probably started about the same time as oversized cheques and dancing up and down on the victory dias like an EPL player. I must say Tassie need to get the sky high confetti and coloured paper right.

3. 4-0 Debacle. A close game loomed, but only England can fall in a heap like they did. 4-0 is a humiliation. At least the Barmy Army trumpeter has mastered the Pet Shop Boys 'Go West'. A KPI achieved for the tour.

The shots by Stokes to be caught by Lyon and the effort of Ollie Robinson at the end speak of a poisoned mindset. Not up for it, despite being 0/68 at the start. Mark Wood could be anything. With Joffra Archer and Ollie Stone, England will be formidable. Not sure how long Anderson and Broad will prevail, but both should have played every test.

Great to see Green finally get some runs - and Carey whose second innings 49 and a stunning catch late in Hobart was superb. Marcus Harris and Dave Warner may not be around too much longer... in these "unprecedented times".

When a team has their No. 5 and 6 performing well, victories seem to flow! Head was a great selection for man of the series.

4. Coaches. Justin Langer’s mates are circling to keep him as Australia’s coach. Steve Waugh, Warne, Hussey, Ponting, Gilchrist…. He's given most of them jobs at one stage or another and gets a lot of advice from them all from the width of the slips to batting techniques. 

Again a circus, but they need a quick decision to put the nonsense to sleep. How players dictate here is unbelievable. Too many high performance managers. More high performance players and mindsets required. He's winning everything and we have these Cricket Australia blokes who have no idea other than to pander to players. I remember this got us into trouble some time ago in South Africa.

5. Hair Today... Never knew Rory Burns had long hair. Have not seen much of him this summer, so at least he's had time to shampoo the mop. Can only think of a few long haired blokes to play Test cricket - Jason Gillespie, Ishant Sharma, Chris Gayle, KP, Dohni, Andrew Symonds (?)…then there were the mullets (Fleming, Mark Waugh, Bruce Reid) and the turbans (Bedi, Sidhu).

6. Umpiring Worldwide. The DRS has taken the local umpire out of the equation. Debacles like those in the past with Gatting, Colin Croft, etc are behind us with COVID and DRS making umpires more accountable. Reiffel, Tucker and Wilson is a great team. Unflappable.

7. Australian Batting. Underneath it all, Australia’s batting continues to be of serious concern. Sadly, our current lack of batting resolve will never allow us to dominate as #1 Test cricket nation or for very long. We can’t seem to assert ourselves. Head has been exceptional. 

Less “no run” loud calls and exaggerated leaving of the ball. These cloud the mind when once they freed it. Smith and Marnus have become comical caricatures this summer. Marnus needs to shut up and stop being a clown. Neither are captain material with this approach. He should keep those ‘best batsman in the world’ headlines somewhere safe. It seems a long way away into the future. His dismissal in the first innings entertained a few in the commentary box, but impressed no one really. Poor value on his wicket for Australia’s number three. Warner and Smith have disappointed.

8. EPL. Man City are a lock now for the EPL premiership, having deposed of Chelsea. Kevin ‘Heaven’ deBruyne hit an awesome goal.

9. Australian Open. Not sure who wins now, but what a circus. Lots of spoiled individuals who need to focus on the tennis. Spare us your indulged approaches and be real.

10. South Africa had a top series win v India. A 2-1 series win is exceptional after being 0-1 behind. They aimed up with not a lot of talent or experience. Kohli and others screaming at broadcasters through the stump microphones makes little sense. Of course the ICC had the wet lettuce leaves out for the transgressors! No one must offend India.

11. NFL. Woeful loss by the New England Patriots today to the Buffalo Bills in the post season. They need some serious recruiting. Despite the greatness, the fans have lost patience with the supercoach, Bill Bellichick. The currency is silverware.

The Wrap - No-Vax Djokovic

1. Test Cricket. A great Test result v England to retain a 3-0 advantage. The SCG can serve up a great show... (and this is only the more recent games and only cricket...). Omitting the Dyson catch, the Boon hundreds, Kim Hughes, Greg Chappell runs, Lillee wickets...

• 1992 - Young Sachin Tendulkar hitting 148 not out at the SCG.
• 1992/1993 - The amazing Brian Lara 277.
• 1993/1994 - The Fanie De Villiers bowling South Africa to victory (the Damien Martyn test).
• 1994 - Warne v Cullinan flipper dismissals.
• 1998/1999 - Darren Gough hat trick (Healey, MacGill, Miller)
• Warne/ MacGill spin clinics
• 2003 - The Steve Waugh last ball century in 2003.
• 2004 - Tendulkar (248no)/ VVS Laxman power on as India hits 700.
• 2006 - Ponting twin tons v South Africa to chase down 280 and win.
• 2008 - The Australian victory v India when Michael Clarke spun three wickets in the last overs.
• 2008/2009 - The Mitchell Johnson v Graham Smith victory when he batted with the broken hand and was bowled late in the day.
• 2012 - Michael Clarke triple hundred.
• 2017 - The David Warner century before lunch v Pakistan.
• 2021 - The India "drawn victory" with Pant.
• 2022 - The mighty draw with England nine wickets down late in the afternoon.

The worrying thing for the SCG is that five of the last eight tests there have been drawn, albeit a few that went down to the wire. All without a drop in deck. They need to start getting results. 

2. Alex Carey. Looks a composed competitor, but having spilled a few catches of late (especially when diving to his right hand side) and a ridiculous golden duck, he is on the ropes. When the keeper is putting them down, the tone of the whole team is impacted. It is noticed. Tim Paine in Hobart suddenly loomed as an option, especially with COVID lurking. Any more of that nonsense will see him deposed. He needs to pay attention.

Having said that, he has a few friends with the dropped catches. Marcus Harris dropped a sitter as well at short leg, which since Boon has been the station for the bloke at greatest risk of being dropped as a Test batsman. A good set of hands is assumed in the Australian set up. If you are not good, get good!

3. Scott Boland. A remarkable opening to his test career, remembering we are playing against a weaker test nation in England here. He hits a line and length very regularly and gives very little away, yielding fantastic outcomes. Glenn McGrath made an art form of it all. The great James Anderson is also looking better than ever with his contained run up, despite the critics (he got 40 wickets last year, the most of any English bowler). 

Nathan Lyon has now edged over 415 test wickets, passing the legendary Wasim Akram. He is in the top fifteen wicket takers of all time.

4. Cameron Smith. What about his score at the Plantation Course in Hawaii. -34 to win it is amazing. A PGA Tour record. Jon Rahm is always there or thereabouts. Hopefully no more COVID for Jon. Four PGA titles for Cameron Smith and you get the feeling there are a few more to come.

5. No-vax Djokovic. A bureaucratic bungle like no other? Another spoiled tennis player? Government turmoil? The Melbourne crowd will have plenty to say regardless. Rafa Nadal will never have had greater support. Has he heard of vaccinations? I wonder if he had one for polio? If we all developed a yellow spike growing from the middle of our foreheads without vaccination, would he still refuse? Polio vaccination was very popular worldwide (and still is) when it landed to prevent physical deformity.

6. Champions. Meanwhile, two of the true competitors and those with the right mix of competition and results win tournaments - Ash Barty and Rafa Nadal. Funny how champions are defined in that sport. I note that Kygrios is in and out and getting plenty of media. Not sure why.

7. NFL. You have to love "Black Monday", the day after the end of the season when coaches are sacked en masse. We are not too far away from this in NRL and AFL. The sideline behaviour of Antonio Brown for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was diabolical at the business end of the season. It reminded everyone of that old story involving Mark Blackburn at St George, tossing his jersey away. The Patriots sneak into the play offs, but need a miracle.

8. Parramatta. Their recruitment of Curtis Scott to train on with them has now been derailed by domestic violence allegations. Hopefully all is resolved positively, but this aside, the club need more thorough background checking and monitoring of some of their players. This is an extremely worrying part of their culture in recent times, especially when you see behaviours like those of Michael Jennings and Blake Ferguson recently. Is money the only reason why players are moving on? Patient sponsors lose patience in time.

9. Kyle Flanagan. Poor old Kyle. The Bulldogs are denying any efforts to move him on, but it is hard to see where he may play. Not quick enough... a bit like Daniel Mortimer who reinvented himself, but won a premiership with Sonny Bill Williams with the Roosters.

The Wrap - The Glou

1. The Ashes. A 3-0 result already. Stunning work from Scott Boland and terrible work from the English batsmen. What a disaster! They were backing in COVID that last night to save face. They could not even get that to work for them. Their record in Australia is horrific. Whenever they have done well, they have had batsmen who dominated...David Gower, Chris Broad (BC Broad), Alistair Cook. Geoff Boycott, Michael Vaughan, Ian Bell and Graham Gooch. 

The current coaching staff seem to be completely lost. Really poor selections throughout and a complete lack of batting strength. James Vince would do better. England will be a shipwreck when Broad and Anderson retire. 

2. The BBL. Looming into a fiasco with the English Cricket Board having a sook and getting their players back home early. Typical England. Bring back all of the players and let's see how many will be selected in the final team. No where near all of them.

The Renegades are truly terrible. The Strikers are not much better. The Stars have been so COVID impacted it is ridiculous. The players to watch - Ben McDermott (Hurricanes); James Bazley and Xavier Bartlett (Heat); Jake Fraser-McGurk (Renegades); Olly Davies, (Thunder); Josh Phillipe (Sixers) and Peter Hatzoglou (Scorchers), to me look better prospects than most.

Safest hands in the business? Chris Green, Sydney Thunder and Jordan Silk, Sixers.

Biggest and cleanest striker of the ball? Colin Munro, Scorchers - by a mile.

3. George Bailey - National Selector. George has a lot to say for a bloke new at his gig. A nice guy but he looks like he wants to be mates with everyone and give everyone a go. Fair weather selection philosophies. Will be interesting to see when we actually start playing tougher opponents eg. India and Pakistan. Pakistan are on the up. They will not fall for off spin. How he can comment on playing two spinners at the SCG without seeing the deck is beyond me. 

4. Blake Ferguson. If true, Blake is back to where the nonsense all started in Canberra... on top of a roof with the finger stuck up. This time to a country where breaking rules is not permitted. The compliance and respect needed in Japan is so obvious when you land there. He could go for a long holiday behind bars there. Fancy doing that on the eve of a new season and new opportunity. That Parramatta Criminal XIII is a crowded house.

Joey Leilua is another bloke whose behaviour after winning a boxing bout and carrying on post match was hard to believe. Joey needs to learn that he is not the universe boss. The younger sportsman needs to learn his place and excel with advice.

5. New Years Eve - NRL and AFL PR Disasters. No reports of drunken blokes under trees or dodgy harbour cruises yet... or indiscretions with dogs. Won't be long I am sure before we get more. If competition points were deducted, all would be cured. 

6. Celtic. Ange Postecoglou has recruited three Japanese players who will find the cold of Scotland to their liking. An unusual dimension to a traditional European club. They are six points behind Rangers and need a point of difference.

7. NFL. Interesting stage of the competition. Some critical games this weekend. The Buccaneers won from a wild card position last year (like winning the comp from position 8 in the NRL), so there is hope for all. Big weekend for the New England Patriots.

8. NBA. Amazing outcome from Chicago's DeMar DeRozan who made two consecutive "buzzer beaters" to win two successive games for his NBA team across the weekend. What odds for that? Incredible. LeBron has done incredible things as a player. Better than Jordan? I think so...