SYDNEY Steve Smith has broken English hearts and smashed records with his phenomenal Ashes batting and is being acclaimed as the best Australian batsman since the greatest of all, Don Bradman.
That is rarefied company for the quirky 28-year-old skipper, who led Australia to reclaiming the Ashes with an imperious 239 — his highest Test score — in Australia’s mammoth first innings 662 for nine declared in the third Perth Test victory on Monday.
Ashes-winning skipper Smith has almost single-handedly batted Joe Root’s team out of the series, accumulating 426 runs in just four innings at an average of 142, which allowed his bowlers to do the rest.
Smith, whose idiosyncratic style — moving across his stumps as the bowler delivers — flies in the face of cricket’s purists, has a career average of 62.32 from 59 Tests.
That places him second only in Test history to Bradman, whose average of 99.94 at the pinnacle was forged from 1928-48.
Records have tumbled for the cricket-obsessive Smith, who broke into the Test arena as a leg-spin bowling all-rounder batting at number eight in 2010.
Since then Smith has reeled off the milestones to draw comparison with the greatest batsman the game has ever seen.
He has amassed 22 Test centuries, 14 of them in 29 Tests as captain.
Bradman made 14 hundreds in 24 Tests as skipper.
Smith is only the fifth Australian captain, one of them being Bradman, to have scored two Ashes double hundreds.
Rival skipper Root has tried everything during the current series to dislodge Smith, to get him out of his “bubble,” but to little effect.
Over the 15 days of the one-sided series Smith has batted for more than three full days. He has simply been the difference.
Much has been said about Smith’s unconventional batting technique, in some ways similar to Bradman, who would bring his bat down in a rotary movement.
Smith is similarly unique and possesses rapier-like reflexes. He rarely hits the ball in the air, cutting down risk and making him even harder to set fields against.
“You wouldn’t coach a young player to hold a bat like he does with such a strong bottom hand or move around quite as much,” observed former England captain Nasser Hussain.
“But when his bat comes down in contact with the ball it is the full face and his hand-eye coordination is just phenomenal.”
Former Australia captain Mark Taylor added: “At the moment his bat looks six-foot wide.
“Smith has got an insatiable appetite for runs. You can see when he bats, he gets in that little bubble.
“He’s almost oblivious to everything that’s going on around him, except the ball that is coming out of the bowler’s hand.”
Such is Smith’s attention to detail that he gets his fiancee Dani Willis to act as a bowling-machine operator in their backyard for extra batting practice.
“He sets everything up and I just load the balls,” she revealed.
Smith is a notorious fidgety character while at the batting crease.
Host broadcaster Channel 9 counted 23 different ticks, fidgets and movements by him during his routine preparation before facing the bowler.
Other maverick moments have come to light during the Ashes series.
At a Perth drinks break while Smith was batting in his 399-ball epic, team support staff brought a chair onto the WACA Ground so Smith could sit down — not to rest, but redress.
As with tennis superstar Rafael Nadal’s fastidious obsession with the precise placement of his water bottles by his courtside chair, Smith also has a peculiarity where he is distracted by the sight of his shoelaces.
As Smith sat on the chair, he had the laces re-taped to avoid seeing them.
“I have always had an issue with looking at my shoelaces when I’m batting,” Smith said of his habit earlier this year.
He said the sight of laces “would sort of do my head in a bit.”
“So I ended up getting a physio to tape my shoelaces to my socks. I just like just seeing my shoes and everything to look sort of clean ... just no shoelaces.”
Another of Smith’s oddities is that he changes his batting gloves every 20 to 30 minutes during an innings, and has up to 15 pairs of gloves in his kit.
The new Don Bradman? Quirky Steve Smith rises to exalted heights
The new Don Bradman? Quirky Steve Smith rises to exalted heights
Champions League semifinals: Barcelona-Inter revives memories of 2010 epic and Arsenal hosts PSG
Ring any bells?
Go back to 2010 — when Lamine Yamal was not even 3 years old and Lionel Messi was close to his prime — and Camp Nou was the scene of one of the most memorable matches in Champions League history, between the same teams going head-to-head there again on Wednesday.
Protecting a 3-1 lead from the first leg, Inter — coached at the time by Jose Mourinho — delivered a defensive masterclass against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona to survive with 10 men for more than an hour and lose just 1-0 to progress to the title match.
Memories will come flooding back ahead of the rematch this week, especially with the two protagonists owning the same traits as 15 years ago.
Barcelona is back in the Champions League semifinals for the first time since the 2018-19 season, on the back of by far the best attack in the new-look, 36-team league stage. With Yamal, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski up front, Barca scored 28 goals in eight games — and has netted nine more goals in eliminating Benfica and Borussia Dortmund in the knockouts.
Then there’s Inter, the Italian champion, which conceded just once in eight games in the first stage and held on grimly to oust Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals.
Inter won the 2010 final, against Bayern, for a third European Cup title so its run toward the final this season has echoes of that title-winning campaign.
Arsenal vs. Paris Saint-Germain
While the Barcelona-Inter Milan semifinal is awash with history, this one seems relatively fresh.
Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain have met just three times in the Champions League and never in the knockout stage. One of those occasions was this season, when Arsenal won 2-0 at Emirates Stadium.
And it’s at home that the Gunners play on Tuesday in the first leg, hoping to reproduce the exploits that saw them beat defending champion Real Madrid in both legs in the quarterfinals.
Their opponents, however, are aiming to eliminate an English opponent for the third straight round, after seeing off Liverpool and — less impressively — Aston Villa.
With its “galacticos” — Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Messi — long gone, PSG is bidding to win a first Champions League title by going with talented up-and-coming players instead.
Arsenal is also striving to become European champion for the first time, having not reached the semis since 2009.
Casper makes it 2-0 to Ruud family after beating Korda in Madrid
- Christian Ruud defeated former world number two Petr Korda in their only meeting on the ATP Tour at the Miami Open in 1999, a stat which surprised world number 15
- “Honestly I thought he had lost to Petr before, so I was out here seeking revenge for the family, but this is an even better statistic for us,” he said after his 6-3 6-3 win on Sunday
Casper Ruud said gaining revenge for his family was on his mind during his win over Sebastian Korda at the Madrid Open on Sunday but the Norwegian could only grin sheepishly after learning his father Christian had actually beaten Petr Korda 26 years ago.
Christian Ruud defeated former world number two Petr Korda in their only meeting on the ATP Tour at the Miami Open in 1999, a stat which surprised world number 15.
“Honestly I thought he had lost to Petr before, so I was out here seeking revenge for the family, but this is an even better statistic for us,” he said after his 6-3 6-3 win on Sunday.
“We’ll try to keep it alive for as long as possible. It’s fun that you see certain situations like this where father and son have played and are doing well.
“I’m sure Sebi and I will play many more times in our career and I’ll try my best to keep him behind me but at some point I’m sure he’ll catch up or get a win over the Ruud family.”
Victory was Ruud’s 150th win on clay and the twice French Open runner-up will continue his preparations for the May 25-June 8 Grand Slam when he meets third-seeded American Taylor Fritz in the Madrid round of 16.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr is chasing silverware in the Asian Champions League Elite
- With all playoff games taking place in Jeddah, there is home advantage and big crowds supporting the three domestic clubs that are laden with high-profile international stars
- In the summer transfer window of 2023, Saudi clubs spent almost $1 billion and it’s making a difference in Asian competition
Big-spending Saudi clubs including Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr are dominating the Asian Champions League Elite, accounting for all but one of the semifinalists in action this week.
In three quarterfinals played on the weekend, the three Saudi Pro League teams won with a combined scoreline of 14-1. At least one is guaranteed a place in the final on May 3 as four-time champion Al-Hilal meets two-time finalist Al-Ahli in the first of the two semis at Jeddah.
On Wednesday, Al-Nassr takes on Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale, the only non-Saudi club still in contention for the continental title. Kawasaki edged 2011 champion Al Sadd of Qatar 3-2 after extra time on Sunday to advance to the semifinals for the first time.
With all playoff games taking place in Jeddah, there is home advantage and big crowds supporting the three domestic clubs that are laden with high-profile international stars.
In the summer transfer window of 2023, Saudi clubs spent almost $1 billion and it’s making a difference in Asian competition.
Al-Nassr thumped last season’s runnerup Yokohama F.Marinos of Japan 4-1 on Saturday, with goals coming from Ronaldo, former Liverpool star Sadio Mane and two from Jhon Duran, who signed from Premier League club Aston Villa in January in a deal reportedly worth more than $80 million.
“When you come here, the teams are playing Premier League-level football,” Yokohama’s interim coach Patrick Kisnorbo said. “I don’t think it’s a technical issue but sometimes these things happen. We have to move forward.”
The journey to Jeddah was also a punishing one for teams in the middle of domestic seasons in East Asia.
“Our local league is our priority,” Buriram United coach Osmar Loss said after his Thai club lost 3-0 to Al-Ahli on Saturday. “It’s a long trip to Jeddah and back and I needed to protect our main players.”
In the most lopsided of the quarterfinals, South Korean club Gwangju FC, making its first appearance in the tournament, was thrashed 7-0 by Al-Hilal on Friday.
Al-Hilal now faces Jeddah club Al-Ahli on Tuesday in a bid to reach its 10th title match in the Asian competition. Al-Ahli, fourth in the domestic league, had a 3-2 win over Al-Hilal in February with all three goals scored by England striker Ivan Toney.
With other former Premier League stars such as Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino on the scoresheet against Buriram United, coach Matthias Jaissle believes Al-Ahli is well placed to advance to a third final and then to capture a first title.
“I congratulated the players for making it to the semifinals but from now on, they have to focus on what’s best – rehabilitate, rest, and get back to the best physical level to perform against Al Hilal,” Jaissle said. “Everyone knows it’s going to be an intense match and we need to be in top shape.”
Moyuka Uchijima is living a dream – at least that’s how she described it
- With a little help from Kei Nishikori, Moyuka Uchijima hits new heights in Madrid
- Ons Jabeur’s conqueror reaches maiden WTA 1000 last-16
Moyuka Uchijima is living a dream – at least that’s how she described it.
In the last few days at the Madrid Open, the Japanese world No. 56 defeated her favorite player Ons Jabeur in the second round before claiming the first top-10 win of her career over world No. 3 Jessica Pegula on Sunday.
This time last year, Uchijima was ranked 130 in the world, which wasn’t high enough for her to get into the draw in Madrid.
She was instead grinding on the lower-level ITF circuit, and about to go on a 15-match winning streak, sweeping three consecutive titles – in Japan, Slovakia, and Spain – in as many weeks.
That run earned her a place in the top 100 for the first time, and the 23-year-old hasn’t looked back since, rising to a career-high 51 in the world earlier this month.
With wins against Robin Montgomery, and 2022 Madrid finalists Jabeur and Pegula, Uchijima punched her ticket to the last-16 stage at a WTA 1000 tournament for the first time. She’ll take on 21st-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova for a place in the quarterfinals on Monday evening.
“I'm just really, really happy. It's my first Masters 1000 round of 16, and I still cannot believe it, I'm in a dream kind of,” Uchijima said in an interview with Arab News and wtatennis.com.
“I know Jessica is a really, really great player, so I was just really happy to share a court with her, but to get a win is something really, really special for me.”
Uchijima entered her third round against Pegula with a 0-6 record against top-10 opposition, including a tight third-set tiebreak loss to Coco Gauff in Indian Wells last month.
She lost in similar fashion to a 15th-ranked Mirra Andreeva at the Australian Open early in the year.
Those two close defeats gave Uchijima the belief she was at the same level as these top players; she just needed to get over that final hump and close out victories.
She did just that against Jabeur and Montgomery, rallying back from a set down, and was clinical in her straight-sets win over Pegula.
“I just try not to think about the score, because when you think you have a chance, then you start to get nervous,” explained Uchijima. “So this week, I'm just trying to, even first round, I was getting killed by Robin Montgomery, she is also a great player; I just try not to think during the point too much and just enjoy the moment and just try to do what I can do at that moment.”
She added: “Ons is one of my favorite players, and I'm always watching her on TV.
“And Jessica as well. Obviously, they've always been on top in the WTA Tour, so it's kind of a dream that I'm playing against them and actually able to win some matches.”
Jabeur, the Tunisian former world No. 2, plays a unique brand of tennis that Uchijima finds particularly exciting to watch, albeit when she’s not on the receiving end of it.
“It's just she's different,” said Uchijima.
“She plays a style that is different than a lot of players, so I hate to play against her because she uses a lot of drop shots, so I have to run more, but to watch is really, really interesting because you don't see a lot of players like the way she plays, so it's just really fun to watch.”
Uchijima was born in Kuala Lumpur to a Japanese father and Malaysian mother. She moved around with her family for a few years before settling in Tokyo when she was around eight years old.
On her way to elementary school every day, she would pass by a tennis court at her father Kazuto’s workplace. Uchijima did swimming and basketball at the time, but when she picked up tennis, she enjoyed it way more than the monotony of swim practice and the running drills in basketball.
She forced her sister, who did ballet and gymnastics, to join her during tennis practice and was doing it for fun until she realized she was actually good at it by the age of 13.
Uchijima’s current training base is Guangzhou, where she gets to spend her preseason hitting with the likes of Zheng Saiai and Zhu Lin.
“A lot of those girls, they've been top 30, top 20, so they gave me a lot of tips, and they always support me from wherever,” she said.
“We are far away from each other, maybe not playing the same tournament, but if we play the same tournament, we still support each other, and yeah, of course, my coaches, they're helping me a lot.”
This week in Madrid, Uchijima received some priceless advice from her compatriot Kei Nishikori, who she grew up watching and idolizing. The 35-year-old Nishikori is a former world No. 4 and the only man representing an Asian country to reach a Grand Slam final (US Open 2014).
He contested the men’s tournament in Madrid this week, losing to Denis Shapovalov in the second round, and Uchijima cannot believe that after all these years, she gets to be at the same event as her idol.
“We went to the Olympics together last year, so I got to know him more there,” said Uchijima.
“I was watching him on TV, so it's just crazy, you're actually living the same life, same place.
“I don't have a lot of experience here, playing in Madrid, where this a little bit of altitude, and a little bit different conditions, and Kei played here many, many years, and I think he was runner-up here (in 2014), so he gave me some tips. Actually, after the first round match, he gave me some tips, so I guess it's working.”
Years after Li Na and Nishikori paved the way, Japan’s Naomi Osaka exploded onto the scene, winning four Grand Slams and becoming Asia’s first ever singles world No. 1.
More recently, China’s Zheng Qinwen reached the Australian Open final in 2024 and clinched the gold medal at the Paris Olympics. Filipina teenager Alex Eala made a historic run to the semifinals in Miami last month.
Asian tennis is booming and Uchijima is keen to write her own chapter in its story.
“I think it's a really, really great thing,” she said.
“For me, I grew up watching Kei Nishikori and Naomi, for the most part, but yeah, Alex in Miami, what she has done was really, really incredible, and of course, I got a lot of motivation from her, and also from Olympics last year, when Zheng Qinwen won the gold, first Asian to win a gold.
“So yeah, of course, I got a motivation from her that even we can do it, so I don't know, hopefully, I can be a little part of it, and give some dreams for the younger players, not only in Japan, maybe in Asia. Because that's how I look up, watching Kei and Naomi, so I can hope I can do the same for the younger generation.”
Uchijima grew up playing on hard courts and artificial grass in Japan but says she started to find her game on clay last season and realized the red dirt is probably the most suited to her playing style.
With a quarterfinal spot on the line for Uchijima on Monday, she’s focusing on the task at hand and doesn’t want to get distracted by her achievements so far at the Caja Magica.
“It gave me confidence, but there's a lot of things still I can improve from today's match, so just trying to improve day by day,” she said.
After competing at a lower-level tournament at a different site in Madrid 12 months ago, Uchijima’s time at the WTA 1000 in the Spanish capital this week has been a significant upgrade.
“Good food, good courts, a good facility – I'm just enjoying it and everything,” she says with a smile.
Joaquin Niemann wins LIV Golf Mexico City with stellar final round
- Niemann began his day two shots off the lead, but three birdies on his first seven holes put him in an enviable position
Joaquin Niemann was virtually flawless Sunday, firing a 6-under-par 65 at Club de Golf Chapultepec to earn his third championship of the season at LIV Golf Mexico City.
Niemann began his day two shots off the lead, but three birdies on his first seven holes put him in an enviable position. He added birdies on Nos. 10, 12, 16 and 18 to finish three strokes in front of the field at 16 under for the tourney.
The win came in front of family and friends.
“Yeah, it’s special,” Niemann said. “My mom came all the way. I think the first time my mom has seen me win, so that’s pretty cool. So yeah, I had my mom here, Didi, my wife, my friends, my team. It’s been a really good couple months, so yeah, happy.”
The Torque GC captain from Chile had one bogey, on the 14th.
Following his third tournament win, Niemann remains in the lead for the individual season-long championship, a title that narrowly evaded him in 2024 as he finished second to Jon Rahm.
He also locked in a spot at the US Open in June.
“Yeah, it’s nice,” Niemann said. “I feel like I wanted to be there (at the US Open), so yeah, it’s great to keep doing what I’m doing, hitting the ball great, making putts, and yeah, hopefully keep it rolling.”
The 26-year-old was barely pressed late, with the best charge coming from the incredible round turned in by Ripper GC’s Lucas Herbert, a 10-under 61 beauty that featured an eagle and eight birdies.
Herbert essentially ran out of runway to complete the comeback, coming into the day too far behind the leaders to catch up. However, he did help Cameron Smith’s (72) Ripper squad finish in second in the team standings, behind Jon Rahm’s (68) Legion XIII.
“Just one of those rounds where everything comes together,” Herbert said. “I thought I played pretty decent the last two days, I just didn’t get many breaks, and I just felt like today every time there was a line ball sort of thing I got the right kick and I’d make a putt where I needed to or just anything — just that sort of stuff. It just kept the momentum going through the round.
“Look, I played great, really enjoyed feeling everything I felt the last few holes, but it’s just one of those rounds where it all just clicks for you, and it was a pretty cool feeling to do it at an event like this.”
Bryson DeChambeau, leading the pack coming into the day, was attempting to go wire-to-wire but came up well short with a final-round 71 and had to settle for a tie for second with Herbert at 13 under.
Rahm was fourth among individuals at 12 under, while Smith and Legion’s Tyrrell Hatton (68) finished in a tie for fifth (11 under).
“It’s pretty hard to make it more special than this moment right now,” Niemann said. “I mean, this place is amazing. It was a good battle with Bryson, with Cam, so I’m happy to be in this position right now.”
Torque finished the tournament in third place, while 4Aces was fourth.
