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The resurrection of Ricky Hatton

It’s like there’s this fella that sits on my shoulder every day,” Ricky Hatton tells Sport, tapping his left shoulder as he speaks. “He says to me: ’You fucking let people down, you let your kids down. What a disgrace. You were Ricky Hatton. Everyone loved you – man of the people and all that. Now look what you’ve done.’ That’s what I have to deal with every day.” Ricky Hatton sits back in his sofa, letting the words sink in. The point he’s at pains to make is that his return to prizefighting later this month isn’t motivated by money or gaining TV dates for his promotional company, but by a desire to silence the voice in his head which goads him that he needs to get back in the ring to reclaim his battered pride. A similar passion in the former champion’s words were evident when he announced his comeback in September. “In how many years gone by have you seen Ricky Hatton, 12 weeks before [a fight] sat here at the top table, looking like Barney Rubble?” he asked the assembled press, It’s like there’s this fella that sits on my shoulder every day,” Ricky Hatton tells Sport, tapping his left shoulder as he speaks. “He says to me: ’You fucking let people down, you let your kids down. What a disgrace. You were Ricky Hatton. Everyone loved you – man of the people and all that. Now look what you’ve done.’ That’s what I have to deal with every day.” Ricky Hatton sits back in his sofa, letting the words sink in. The point he’s at pains to make is that his return to prizefighting later this month isn’t motivated by money or gaining TV dates for his promotional company, but by a desire to silence the voice in his head which goads him that he needs to get back in the ring to reclaim his battered pride. A similar passion in the former champion’s words were evident when he announced his comeback in September. “In how many years gone by have you seen Ricky Hatton, 12 weeks before [a fight] sat here at the top table, looking like Barney Rubble?” he asked the assembled press,

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Issue 280 | November 2 2012 The resurrection of Ricky Hatton

Issue 280 | November 2 2012

The resurrection of

Ricky Hatton

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18

07

32

68

issue 280, NOVeMBeR 2 2012

Radar

07 The comeback kings...

... queens and jesters. Our pick

of the heroes who made it all

over again. And those who didn’t

08 We’ve been Warned

With a new book on Australia’s

finest ever spin-bowler

12 Meet the superhumans again

In fact, meet them as many times

as you like, with the London 2012

Paralympic Games on Blu-ray

o Features

this coming week

18 The Hitman returns

Ricky Hatton talks exclusively

to Sport about the demons

driving him out of retirement

27 The top 10 endurance races

They’re really, really ridiculously

exhausting. Come and have a go.

If you think you’re hard enough

32 Raising the Ba

Demba Ba, that is. We raise a

few questions of our own for

the Premier League’s top scorer

44 ATP Tour Finals

Our preview of the tennis

27

season finale, as the top eight

men battle it out at London’s O2

extra Time

60 Gadgets

The new iPad mini. A bit like Dr

Evil’s Mini Me, except less evil.

Or so we’re led to believe...

64 Kira Dikhtyar

Former Russian Junior Olympic

gymnast: she’s still Russian, but

now a world-renowned model too

66 Kit

With trainers like this on show,

it’s a page worth running after

68 Entertainment

Ben Affleck’s Argo is so good

it’s worth seeing twice. Much like

Groundhog Day on Blu-ray

| November 2 2012 | 03

ONLY

AT

jdsports.co.uk/diadora

John Gurzinski/AFP/Getty Images

Radar

A brooding destroyer in the 1970s, Foreman’s return

in the late 1980s was treated largely as a big, fat joke.

That’s until 1994, when he knocked out Michael Moorer

(pictured) with a punch that he seemed to launch in

mid-1993, so slowly did it travel – making Foreman

heavyweight champ again at age 46. Celebrated by

flogging cooking appliances to a meat-hungry public.

Michael Schumacher

The most successful F1 driver ever has mustered a

paltry one podium finish over the course of his three-

year comeback since 2010. Sorry Michael; trying to

bump rivals’ cars off the track just looks far less

glamorous when you’re battling it out for 12th place.

Supermum Clijsters returned from a two-year

retirement in 2009, having given birth to her first child

in 2008. Entering the US Open as a wildcard and rank

outsider, she became the first woman to beat both

Williams sisters en route to winning a Grand Slam.

Bjorn Borg

The 11-time Grand Slam winner and peddler of trendy

underwear made a truly pants comeback attempt in

1991, eight years after he’d made a shock retirement

at the age of just 26. Clearly unfit and playing with an

old-school wooden racket, the Swede failed to win any

of the 12 professional matches he played in the 1990s.

“I’m back” – with a two-word press release in 1995,

the greatest basketball player ever sent shockwaves

through the NBA, announcing his return from an

unsuccessful baseball stint at the age of 32. Jordan

went on to lead the Chicago Bulls to a hat-trick of

championship titles between 1996 and 1998.

Chris Lewis

Former England cricketer who once got sunstroke on

his bald head came out of retirement aged 40 to play

for Surrey in 2008. It didn’t go well, but things got

worse later that year as he was caught smuggling

cocaine at Gatwick and sentenced to 13 years inside.

p08 – Shane Warne:

cricket’s big spinning dick

p12 – Football Manager 2013:

kiss goodbye to your job/girl

p11 – ESPN rolls out some more

Attenborough-standard docs

Comeback kids

With Ricky Hatton returning this month, we assess the most epic comeback successes and flops

Retired from Formula 1 in 1979 to focus on running

his own airline, only to return in 1982 because he

needed money to shore up his business. Motivated by

cold hard moolah, the Austrian driver was highly

successful, winning his third F1 championship in 1984.

Mark Spitz

Winner of seven gold medals at the 1972 Olympics, but

‘Mark the Shark’ all but sunk like a stone on his return

to competitive swimming. Wearing armbands and a

rubber ring (probably), the Californian was in his early

40s when he attempted to qualify for the Barcelona

Olympics in 1992, but ended up two seconds slower

than the qualifying time. See also: Thorpe, Ian.

Gave up life as a jockey to become a trainer in 1985,

but was convicted of tax fraud in 1987. Quite literally

got back in the saddle following his release from jail in

1990, resuming his career as a jockey and winning the

Breeders’ Cup Mile just 10 days after his return.

| November 2 2012 | 07

Radar

Join the

senate

I

t’s not often a new golf club opens

within a decent 3-iron of the M25,

so the Centurion Club at St Albans,

which opens next July, is already attracting

plenty of attention.

The club is now taking memberships, and

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members-only, at centurionclub.co.uk

08 | November 2 2012 |

Warne’s

world

C

ricket’s “big spinning dick” is how

Gideon Haigh describes Shane

Warne, but the acclaimed writer isn’t

putting down the great bowler – rather, he’s

referring to the glee Warne took in being able

to spin the ball further than anyone. Probably

ever. Haigh’s book is less a biography, more

an analysis of (or paean to) Warne’s talent

and personality, written by someone who’s

spent a fair portion of his life watching him.

It sometimes feels as if there’s almost as

much Giddy in the book as there is Warnie,

but this is a minor quibble. Haigh is revealing

on Warne’s mentality, relationships with fellow

players and his controversies, but he’s really

more interested in Shane the bowler than

anything else. Where Haigh hits his mark

is in capturing the

irresistible thrill – or

terror, in an Ashes

series – of watching

Warne bowl: “The

feeling when he was

around that anything

might happen and

no plight was

irredeemable.”

On Warne (Simon &

Schuster), £16.99

The 17th and 18th holes:

normally we arrive

here around sunset

Ben Radford/Allsport

WHEN YOUR BRAIN IS SERIOUSLY DELAYED...

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gimmicks

T

here’s an ongoing debate in the

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Claus (Santa’s evil twin brother) or

Phantasio (a magician – and about as

intimidating as Paul Daniels). Even the

successful ones don’t make sense (The

Undertaker is not an undertaker, but he

is ‘dead’. What?). Utterly engrossing.

Out now, DK Books, £25

F

Radar

Paralympic

prowess

rom huge upsets (Oscar Pistorius

not winning the T44 200m final) to

epic rivalries (Ellie Simmonds’ trio

of swims against Victoria Arlen) to titanic

sporting performances (David Weir: part

wolf, part chair, all man), the London 2012

Paralympics were an unqualified success.

So we’re relishing this Channel 4 highlights

set, which also contains the opening and

closing ceremonies, particularly as it’s

presented by the peerless Clare Balding.

On DVD now and on Blu-ray from November 5

| November 2 2012 | 11

Radar

The impossible drives

T

here’s much to love about modern

Formula 1, but the fact that the cars

now look pretty much the same as

one another (and that look is more skateboard

than automobile) is not one of them.

We were reminded of the days when

sports and racing cars were as visually

arresting in their design as they were in

the speed and handling with this wonderful,

limited-edition book, The Impossible

Collection of Cars, published later this year.

Management

made simple

F

ootball Manager 2013 arrives today

with great news for those who love

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homesick Peruvian full-back through one-onone

training sessions. A new ‘Classic mode’

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new strikers and picking the team, while

eliminating some of the detail. This means that

you can get through a season in eight hours

and this fiendishly addictive game (probably)

won’t take over your life.

Meanwhile, ‘Challenge

mode’ sets you a specific

short-term task: hauling

a team out of a relegation

battle, or going on an

unbeaten run. It’s great

to see this classic series

continue to innovate, as

well as go back to basics.

Out now on PC and Mac

12 | November 2 2012 |

Featuring the 100 most head-turning

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Certainly an improvement on staring at

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Radar Editor’s letter

Quick action needed

The FA needs to deal with the Chelsea-Clattenburg issue without any delays

Editor-in-chief

Simon Caney

@simoncaney

14 | November 2 2012 |

H

owever this unholy row

between Chelsea and Mark

Clattenburg plays out – and

there is no way it can end

well – at least the FA has

acted swiftly, so far.

By immediately launching a formal

investigation, the FA is taking the lead

and must now deal with the issue quickly,

as long as the police inquiry allows. Most

importantly, they must be decisive and not

let this case fester longer than necessary.

Obviously, these things can’t be hurried

through without proper care and

attention. But there are a handful of

witnesses to what was and wasn’t said,

and they can be questioned without delay.

A verdict can be delivered without

dragging the whole issue out any longer

than necessary.

Much of the debate around this has

centred on the language that players

Reader comments of the week

I got patriotic goosebumps

reading about all the

Olympians featured in

@sportmaguk The Power

List this morning.

#misstheolympics

@LaurenETurner1

Twitter

Gutted I didn’t make

@Sportmaguk Power List

- still worth a read to

see who is driving the

industry forward

@BenGoldie

Twitter

and referees use when addressing

each other. Certainly, players are often

guilty of a lack of respect towards match

officials (though we’ve never heard of any

racism in that direction). But refs and

their assistants do themselves no favours

sometimes. How to begin to address this?

First, referees too often want to be

friends with players and call them by their

first names when they should instead be

putting some distance between them.

Second, if a player swears at a ref, he

should be booked. And if he does it again,

he should be sent off. And if that happens,

the referee shouldn’t be the one getting

blamed for ’spoiling the game’.

As I say, this latest controversy, which

would beggar belief in any other sport,

cannot end well. There surely seems no

way either side can portray this as a

simple misunderstanding. Just another

week in the insane world of football.

@simoncaney Surely

Barney Francis at Sky

is more important than

Jeremy Darroch with

regards to power in

sport?

@EdwardBowden

Twitter

Agreed with your editor’s

letter about the way

football hates its players

to speak out. It might

actually help the game

if we knew more about

their personalities!

James

via email

Losing battle: football tries –

and fails – to get in the way of

more Premier League drama

Maybe the good folk at France Football

magazine – in charge of the Ballon D’Or

shortlist – felt they ought to include an

Englishman, just because. How else to explain

Wayne Rooney’s inclusion? Our Wayne, when

on form, is a fine footballer, but he has hardly

set the world alight in 2012. Still, it matters

little. There are 23 names on the shortlist, but

once again it’s a shootout between Lionel

Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, two of the

best to have ever played the game. (Didier

Drogba’s on the list too. He won’t win.)

There was some debate on Twitter last

week about our annual Power List and

the lack of women on it (five in the top

50). Despite the criticism, we stand by

the list – which was a reflection, as we

saw it, of sport in this country. That

doesn’t mean we necessarily agree with

the current state of play, but maybe

highlighting it can do some good.

....‘sweating like Samit

Patel chasing a runaway

malteser’. Thank you for this

image. It’s Tuesday and I’m

still giggling about it.

Richard

via email

www.sport-magazine.co.uk

@sportmaguk

facebook.com/sportmagazine

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Production manager: Tara Dixon (7963)

Contributors: David Lawrenson,

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Helen Prowse and Alex Wasowicz

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THE YEAR

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Frozen in time

16 | November 2 2012 |

No diving

Whenever we run a shot of English football

fans watching English football in England on

this spread, you can guarantee that vast

swathes of the crowd will be making vile

gestures with their hands and spitting pure

bile at the closest opponent. But not here.

Not a single one of these Evertonians at last

weekend’s Merseyside derby is showing hatred

or hostility, which is odd. They all appear too

confused to kick off. But confused by what,

exactly? The sight of Luis Suarez taking a dive,

it seems. Really? Have they not heard?

| 17

Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

Ricky Hatton

The

Devil

&

Ricky

Hatton

The Hitman on a comeback fight to silence his demons

It’s like there’s this fella

that sits on my shoulder

every day,” Ricky Hatton

tells Sport, tapping his

left shoulder as he speaks. “He says to me:

’You fucking let people down, you let your

kids down. What a disgrace. You were Ricky

Hatton. Everyone loved you – man of the

people and all that. Now look what you’ve

done.’ That’s what I have to deal with

every day.”

Ricky Hatton sits back in his sofa, letting

the words sink in. The point he’s at pains

to make is that his return to prizefighting

later this month isn’t motivated by money or

gaining TV dates for his promotional company,

but by a desire to silence the voice in his

head which goads him that he needs to get

back in the ring to reclaim his battered pride.

A similar passion in the former champion’s

words were evident when he announced his

comeback in September. “In how many years

gone by have you seen Ricky Hatton, 12 weeks

before [a fight] sat here at the top table,

looking like Barney Rubble?” he asked the

assembled press, emphasising his reignited

love for boxing.

Fred Flintstone’s neighbour isn’t the

man we’d pick out as a notable adonis, but it

was obvious how trim and fit Hatton looked.

He cuts a similar figure when Sport meets

him at the health and fitness club he owns in

Cheshire, several weeks into his training camp.

But before we can peer into his future, we

must understand Hatton’s past, beginning

with a fight that’s haunted him for more than

three years.

“I knew I was beat a week before

the fight,” he says of his last professional

contest: a brutal two-round knockout loss

against Manny Pacquiao in 2009. “When I

got out to Vegas, six weeks before, I was

absolutely flying. I was knocking lumps out of

my sparring partners. Then two weeks before

the fight, they were knocking lumps out me.

I was running up Mount Charleston every

day, doing pads every day, then sparring.

I was going to the well each day. Then – I think

it was in my third-to-last sparring session

– a little super-featherweight hit me on the

chin. Although he didn’t wobble me, it was

more of a balance thing, he still knocked me

down – and I’m getting in there against Manny

Pacquiao! I thought: ’Fuck me, Rick.’”

Rumours swirled in the build-up that

Hatton’s training had gone badly wrong.

Did he not consider pulling out?

“Friends and family in my camp were

telling me: ’Pull out – [your trainer] Floyd

Mayweather Senior has trained you into the

ground.’ But I thought, no, no, no: there’s

20,000 fans coming over, this is my chance.

As I was walking to the ring, I was thinking I’d

Photography by James Lincoln

blown it – but also, in the back of my mind,

I thought: ’If I can just hit him that one shot

in the ribs on that one left hook, it’ll all be

over, Rick, and everything will be okay.’

Obviously it wasn’t.”

It was this loss that Hatton says played a

key part in a spiral of depression, booze and

a retirement decision that he was never fully

comfortable with. It hit rock bottom publicly

when video footage of him snorting cocaine

appeared as a story on the News of the World

website. Hatton, as part of a public apology,

admitted to “dabbling” in drugs, but said that

depression and alcohol excess related to

that were his two real problems. He checked

himself in for rehab at the Priory clinic in

September 2010. Away from the hidden

cameras, however, he’d been even darker

places – later admitting he’d felt suicidal.

“I was waking up in the morning

with a knife in my bed. My fiancée,

Jennifer, would come downstairs and I’d be

on the sofa with a knife on the floor,” he told

the press later. “I never had the courage to

go through with it, but there was always the

feeling that one time I might.”

A loss hits most top sportsmen – particularly

boxers, with the primal nature of what they

do – hard. Yet defeats seemed to crush Hatton

more than most. This, despite the fact that

world titles in two weight divisions >

| November 2 2012 | 19

and a record of 45 wins weighed against just

two losses (against all-time greats Floyd

Mayweather Junior and Manny Pacquiao)

justifies acclaim rather than despair.

“Some people fight the likes of Pacquiao

and Mayweather and they’re just happy to get

their big payday,” Hatton explains. “I wasn’t

there to make up the numbers. I believed I was

gonna win, so it was very hard for me to deal

with [defeat]. I’m a determined young man.

“I think that’s when depression first kicked

in, after the Mayweather fight. Then I made

my comeback and my performance wasn’t

the best. I ended up having to leave [trainer]

Billy Graham and sadly that resulted in a

court case. So I think the Mayweather defeat,

not performing well against Juan Lazcano,

splitting with my trainer who was my longterm

friend... that’s when it all started.

“The Paulie Malignaggi fight [Hatton’s last

win] picked me up a bit, but I was down again

after the Pacquiao fight. Then I retired and

basically it ran away after that. I had a real

death wish, a me-against-the-world attitude.

I was on a runaway train, so the fact that

I’m sat here now, talking about a comeback

and being so happy and positive – it’s a win

already, before I’ve even laced the gloves up.”

His present, happier state of mind began

with Hatton immersing himself back into

boxing. First, in looking after a promising

promotional stable. But, more pertinently,

when he began training fighters himself.

“I was in the gym every day, keeping fit,

losing weight, passing on my knowledge,”

he says. “ I had to get tapes of an opponent

out, study him, get a gameplan – which is

something I hadn’t done since I was fighting

myself. Bit by bit, I got me hunger back and

that’s where I am. It’s a burning desire now.”

His fire may be rekindled, but did Hatton

feel nervous about putting the gloves on and

engaging in hard sparring again for the first

time in so many years?

“Very much so,” he admits. “It was weird,

I put me headguard and protector on and

thought: ’Jesus! I never thought I’d be doing

this again.’ I was dead excited and a bit

apprehensive, but when the bell went, all

those nerves drifted away. I surprised myself

with how sharp I was. It was like I’d never

been away.”

Despite torturing his body into top condition

under his new trainer – noted disciplinarian

Bob Shannon – Hatton says his preparation

has never come easier. “Nothing has been

hard, because I’ve been so enthusiastic. Going

from my personal problems with depression

and feeling suicidal to now feeling as good as

I am, as happy in my home life and everything...

suddenly, getting up for running is easy,

dieting is easy, sparring is easy. When it

starts getting hard work, instead of thinking

’I’ve had enough of this again’, I have the eye

of the tiger, if you like. I feel like I can walk

through walls at the minute.”

“The hunger I had before I fought

Kostya Tszyu – you’d have needed

about four Kostya Tszyus that night

to stop me because I had that real

nastiness about me,” says Hatton on the

night he wore down an excellent champion

to record his greatest win. “But I reached

a stage in my career where you look in >

20 | November 2 2012 | Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand

Ricky Hatton

your bank account, you look at the world

title, you’ve boxed in Vegas and boxed at

Manchester City and – without even noticing it

– I maybe had lost that bit of hunger. Now I’ve

got it back and more, because I’m coming back

not just to win a world title. I’m coming back

to put all the demons to rest, all the wrongs

that people have done by me – and the list is

a mile long of people that have let me down –

how I’ve let meself down, plus the manner of

me last defeat. I’m pushing all that frustration

into a big ball to fire at me opponent on

November 24. Forgive me for saying, it’s

made me a real nasty fooker again.”

Nasty or not, Hatton is reticent when asked

about the people he feels have let him down.

It’s alleged his father Ray was arrested for

attacking Ricky in September, so his decision

not to discuss names is understandable.

However, coupled with Sky TV not renewing

a deal with Hatton Promotions this year, it’s

easy to speculate as to at least a few of the

people Hatton might feel disappointed with.

“I don’t want to point the finger at Sky

or family issues or this, that or the other,”

he adds when pressed. “But generally I

feel everyone’s been on the Ricky Hatton

roadshow – and there seems to be a mountain

of people that have let me down. Maybe that’s

a little bit of my depression still coming out

and feeling sorry for myself, but it’s how I feel.”

In person, however, Hatton seems good-

humoured as ever. Recounting despair and

bitterness doesn’t seem to suit his warm, flat

Mancunian tones, and he’s far happier to

assess whether – at 34 – he’ll be a different

fighter to the all-action tyro he was in his 20s.

“You’ll have the same Ricky Hatton

that everyone has always loved,”

he says. ”I’ve always been an aggressive

fighter, but being a trainer has opened my

eyes a bit. Ultimately, I look back at my career

and my over-aggressiveness got me knocked

out against Mayweather and Pacquiao.

”If I get stopped a third time, I get the

match ball, don’t I?” he laughs. “And I don’t

want that hat-trick! I’ve got that nastiness

every boxer needs, but also a wiser head.

Through my training and my experience, I can

control that aggression now.”

Whether you think Hatton is deluded in his

comeback attempt or not, he isn’t fooling

himself about his past mistakes. Losing his

composure in the ring was a factor in his

losses against those two exalted fighters.

He also claims he’s learned his lesson about

his fitness outside the ring, saying that

blowing up in weight between fights has to

change. “Losing two and a half or three stone

when I was 24 years of age was absolutely

diabolical. I can’t do it at 34. It’s about being a

lickle bit older – you learn from your mistakes.

People will forgive you if you make a mistake –

they won’t forgive you if you do it again. That’s

what I believe and I want to show that. I want

to be a better boyfriend, a better father,

I want to be someone kids look up to again.

The last thing I want my kids to read is:

’Oh yeah, Ricky was a great champion, but

didn’t he flush his life down the toilet?’” >

22 | November 2 2012 |

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Ricky Hatton

It’s worth pointing out that many people

have struggled with alcohol and depression

without losing the respect of others; that the

tabloid press are less forgiving than loved

ones or fans often are. Hatton nods.

“But I need to get rid of this fella first,” he

adds, tapping his left shoulder once more.

At least, even if his inner voice is still critical,

he admits to being moved by the public

reaction to his comeback.

“I had to choke back the tears just at

my press conference,” he says. “There

was every chance I could have been bleedin’

dead – that’s how bad it was for a time.

Then I announced my comeback and said:

’Don’t worry, in a few weeks we’ll announce

the opponent.’ And before we even got a

chance to, it was sold out. More than winning

any world title, I’ve always said that my

proudest achievement was my fans and

the support that they give me.”

A packed Manchester MEN, Blue Moon

playing, the crowd chanting as Hatton

emerges – the atmosphere will feel electric.

But Hatton knows better than anyone that

there’s work to be done in the ring. His

opponent is Vyacheslav Senchenko, a solid,

35-year-old Ukrainian and former WBA

welterweight champion who’s lost only one

fight in 33 bouts. He’s no Floyd Mayweather,

but he’s a seasoned, world-rated fighter.

“My team advised me against it,” Hatton

says about his choice of opponent. “But this is

the level I want to fight at. I haven’t called out

Amir Khan or Kell Brook yet. I do want to fight

them, but I think I need to make a believer

24 | November 2 2012 |

out of people first. I’ve

had three years out.

People ask: ’Do you

want to fight him or

him?’ Well, I’m not in a

position to call people

out yet. Hopefully I’ll

go crash, bang, wallop

on November 24, then

I can say: ’Now ask me

the same question.’

“But it’s worth more

than that,” Hatton says

of his return to the ring.

“It’s about someone

who was loved so much

to being, I feel, a bit of

a joke. So it’s not just

whether I come back and win a world title –

whether I fight Amir Khan or Kell Brook.

“It’s about the fact that I can return after

three years, shift all that weight, come back

from the Manny defeat, fight at the MEN, sell it

out, and do people proud again. The manner of

what happens on November 24 will give people

– me and other people – a better indication of

where I’m heading.

“It’ll either be: ’Rick, you give it a go, fair

play, but hang them up back up again.’ Or it’ll be:

’Fucking hell! You better watch out guys.’”

Alex Reid @otheralexreid

Ricky Hatton v Vyacheslav Senchenko will

be shown live on Primetime, Channel 498

on Sky and Virgin-On-Demand, on Saturday

November 24 for £14.95. To order, call 0871

200 4444 or go to primetimeboxing.co.uk

Follow Ricky Hatton on twitter @HitmanHatton

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The Toughest Endurance Races

HERE COMES

THE PAIN

Hey you. Yeah, you right there. Think the fact you ran a marathon

without passing out makes you big time? That’s not big time. Nope.

These 10 races here are big time. As chosen by the authors of

The World’s Toughest Endurance Challenges, these may well be the

toughest physical tests on the entire planet. Come and have a go...

PATAgONIAN ExPEdITION RACE

There are few places on earth like Patagonia, the region shared by Chile and

Argentina. Reaching out towards Antarctica from the tip of South America,

the environment is spectacular, the conditions extreme. Against this backdrop,

teams attempt to overcome a 600km course (it varies year on year) that exposes

them to the best – and the very worst – of the region. Teams can complete the

race by running, mountain biking, kayaking and using rope work to traverse the

untamed terrain. Sound like some corporate jolly? Think again. The PER is a serious

race in a very tough environment that challenges competitors in a way like no other

– and they can expect to cover hundreds of kilometres without seeing another soul. >

patagonianexpeditionrace.com

| November 2 2012 | 27

Photo by Walter Alvial

Photos by Phil Stasiw, Gil Serique, Vitek Ludvik/Red Bull Content Pool

The Toughest Endurance Races

the Jungle maRathon

Most ultramarathons push athletes to their mental and physical limits. The Jungle Marathon

pushes athletes way beyond them. A 240km race over seven days, athletes tackle a course

that runs through the heart of the jungle. And this really is the beating heart of the Amazon.

Poisonous trees line the route, trails frequently cross rivers (containing all sorts of critters –

not to mention piranhas), and the local wildlife takes a close interest in proceedings. And that’s

just during the day. The jungle comes alive at night, and athletes challenge their bodies and minds

as they race through the pitch black on one infamous stage. Unique in its location, the Jungle

Marathon is a true test of physical and mental resolve.

junglemarathon.com

the eXtReme WoRld Races

south pole Race

Antarctica is an unforgiving continent.

Temperatures can fall to as low as −50°C,

hurricane-force winds frequently sweep

across the barren polar plateau, and

snowstorms can reduce visibility to zero.

Perfect location for a race, then. Following in

the footsteps of the likes of Amundsen and

Scott, the EWR South Pole Race is a 745km

trek to the very bottom of the earth. Teams of

three attempt it, all battling the environment,

as well as the physical and mental fatigue that

blights their journey to the finish line. >

extremeworldraces.com

28 | November 2 2012 |

Yak attack

Brutal climbs, trails that skirt the edges of sheer cliff faces and

snow-covered tracks that challenge the abilities of some of the world’s

toughest mountain bikers. The Yak Attack is an epic 400km test of

strength, nerve and skill, as riders tackle a route through the greatest

and most unforgiving mountain range on the planet: the Himalayas.

Competitors can expect to climb 12,000 metres (the race takes in

the highest mountain pass on earth); continue riding despite bouts of

frostbite and snow blindness; and deal with the inevitable effects of

oxygen depletion thanks to racing at altitude. It’s billed as experiencing

Nepal ‘up close and dirty – no luxuries’. So stop yakking and get on with it.

yak-attack.co.uk

Red Bull X-alps

The Red Bull X-Alps challenge is simple: hike or fly from Salzburg to

Monaco (east to west across the European Alps) using only two feet and

a paraglider. The execution is anything but. Launching into the Alps,

competitors face challenging flying conditions with the mountain

weather changing constantly. Back on land, things don’t get much

easier. Competitors have been known to cover as little as 40 per cent

of the race in the air, running up to 50 miles in one go. At the same time,

they have to traverse sheer mountain faces in the midst of snowstorms

and whiteouts while carrying all of their own equipment. Needless to

say, the number of finishers is small – and there is a strict cut-off time

for those finishing behind the leader.

redbullxalps.com

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Photos by Ahren Trumble, Racing The Planet, Kai-Otto Melau/

NXTRI, Vladimir Brezina, Chris Milliman

The Toughest Endurance Races

30 | November 2 2012 |

4 deseRts

Four deserts, four races. Each is 250km long and takes place in

some of the planet’s most inhospitable regions. The 4 Deserts

is a series of self-supported ultramarathons (athletes have to

carry everything they need for the duration of the event – though

there are water stations en route) that push the fittest athletes

to their very limits over seven gruelling days (per desert). Each

desert (the Gobi, Atacama, Sahara and Antarctica) and each

race brings demands that are as unique as they are extreme.

Only a handful of people have completed them all.

4deserts.com

manhattan island

maRathon swim

The stage is iconic, the act nothing less

than brutal. The Manhattan Island

Marathon Swim is a 45.8km slog around

Manhattan Island. Competitors swim in

the three different rivers (the Hudson,

Harlem and East) that skirt the heart of

New York City. River traffic is a given, as

is the various flotsam and jetsam. Athletes

are current-assisted (no attempt to swim

against the current has been successful)

but the cut-off times remain severe, with

every competitor having to complete the

course in a little over nine hours.

nycswim.org

BadwateR UltRamaRathon

This 217km race starts out in California’s Death Valley (86m below sea

level), and follows a road through the desert before reaching a finish

line at the trailhead at Whitney Portal (2,548m above sea level). If the

cumulative ascent of 3,962m is not hard enough, throw in daytime

temperatures hot enough to melt you (55°C) and an official cut-off

of 48 hours from the start – and it is easy to see why this race has

legendary status as the ‘world’s toughest foot race’.

badwater.com

noRseman xtReme tRiathlon

Most people know what an Ironman is: a triathlon comprising a 3.8km

swim, 180km bike and 42.2km run – all in one day. The Norseman,

however, is something else. The distances are the same, but the

challenge is much tougher. The day starts at 5am, when competitors

jump off a ferry into a Norwegian fjord. After swimming to shore

(sometimes with the current, sometimes against it), the biking begins.

Changeable weather and relentless climbs take their toll before the run,

which starts flat(ish) but ends in the heavens, atop the Gaustatoppen

mountain. Only the fastest 160 competitors are allowed to tackle this

climb – and there are regular medical checks in the miles leading up to it.

nxtri.com

Race acRoss ameRica

Many people dream of cycling across America; few are

capable of racing it. Regarded as the world’s toughest

endurance bike race, it asks competitors to race

4,828km (nearly 1,500km further than the 2013

Tour de France) from California to Maryland, tackling

51,800m worth of climbs in under 12 days. Teams are

allowed, but the solo riders are the stars. The record?

A ridiculous eight days, nine hours and 47 minutes.

raceacrossamerica.org

The World’s Toughest

Endurance Challenges,

published by Bloomsbury, is

out in November. For more

information on the book, visit

challengeguides.com

Demba Ba

The Ba has

been raised

32 | November 2 2012 |

Ben Duffy

Olympique Lyonnais, AJ Auxerre,

Watford, Barnsley, VFB Stuttgart,

Paris Saint-Germain, Lille, Arsenal,

Charlton Athletic... if you were the

chairman or owner of any of these

clubs in the past five years, step

forward, bend over and kick yourself

firmly up the backside. Legend has it

that each and every one of those teams looked closely, at

one time or another, at a young footballer named Demba

Ba – and each and every one of them decided that he

wasn’t quite what they wanted or needed.

But then, why would they? Who needs a goalscorer who

scored 16 in 36 games for his club last season? And who

would want a man who already has seven in nine Premier

League appearances to his name this season? Who would

really want the top division’s leading striker in their team?

Goals are overrated anyway.

Now, it might make some kind of sense if Demba Ba

had been overlooked when he was just another young

footballer with raw potential, but he’d already turned 20

– and in a game where many clubs have identified their

future stars before they even turn 10. The answer came

back time and again: non, no, nein.

It took Ba until he was 22 for a team of any real

European standing to take a chance on him, and even

then 1899 Hoffenheim were languishing in Bundesliga 2.

But, with his foot finally in the door, he grabbed the

chance and began to make up for lost time. Today, then,

as Sport sits down with him on Tyneside for an exclusive

interview, the opening question asks itself...

So what kept you, Demba? Why did it take so long for you

to break into professional football?

“Why? Well, the problem was that nobody wanted to take

me – that is why. If I could have had a team when I was

15 and gone through an academy like everyone else,

I would have been happy. But I went from trial to trial to

trial and I would always end up with a negative answer,

for whatever reason. It wasn’t that I chose to leave it late.

It wasn’t that I decided late that I wanted to play football,

believe me. I was out there trying and trying, but always

being told no.”

There must have come a point when you thought it

wouldn’t happen – when you thought you might have

to look at doing something else?

“Never. Never. I was disappointed every time, of course.

But there were always positives that I could take and

work on. And I was always saying to myself: ’If not here,

then somewhere else.’ Everything happens for a reason,

and I’m very happy with how my career has gone.”

When you play now, are you out to prove those teams

wrong – that they made a mistake in rejecting you?

“No, no – the only point I want to prove is to myself.

The only thing I want to do is give the best and get off the

pitch without any regret. I have nothing to prove to them,

or anyone but myself.”

Stoke City’s decision not to sign you was different

in that they claimed your left knee was a “ticking

time bomb“. How much of a surprise was that to you?

“Yes, when I heard them say that I look at my agent and I

say: ’Quick, get out the office, it’s going to blow!’ But like

when I was doing my trials and going from rejection to

rejection to rejection, I just took the view that if that’s

what they thought, then so be it. If I didn’t join Stoke City,

I’d give my services to someone else. Since that day I’ve

played something like 50 games and I’ve scored, well,

you’ve seen how many goals I’ve scored – I don’t have

to prove my fitness to anyone.”

Ten months later, you scored a hat-trick for Newcastle

away at Stoke. Did that feel like payback?

“No. I mean, it felt special because it was a hat-trick,

but I am not sure it meant any more because of what had

happened. For example, it was nothing compared to the

hat-trick I’d scored against Blackburn a few weeks earlier.

That was my first hat-trick in the Premier League – I was

at home in front of 50,000 fans and the feeling of that was

way, way better than the hat-trick at Stoke.”

What does it feel like to score a goal?

“Wow... it’s difficult, you know? Sometimes you’re so happy

when you score, you cannot control your gestures – you

don’t know what you are doing. You just go mad, you know? >

| 33

I can’t describe in words how it feels – you

just have to experience scoring in front of

50-60,000 people in an important game.

Whooaaa! I mean, it is just a crazy feeling.”

Would you rather score and lose, or not

score and win the game?

“The second one, of course. To score and

win would be best, but if I had to chose then I

would say the second option because football

is about winning. It is not about one player,

it’s about the team working together to win.”

But doesn’t a striker need to be selfish –

or let’s say single-minded – to succeed?

“To a certain degree, yes. But you cannot win

a game without your teammates, and I always

remember that. We play football to win, and

we win as a team.”

You began life as a defensive midfielder

before being turned into a striker. Did you

enjoy that role?

“Well, I certainly got a lot more touches of the

ball playing that role. The downside was that I

had to do a lot of running backwards, although

I’ve since learned that you still do a lot of that

even when you’re playing as a striker.”

How hard was it to reinvent yourself as

a striker?

“Not as hard as you might think, because

we all grow up watching strikers play and

watch how they run – and you tend to absorb

more than you might think. I watched a lot of

Thierry Henry, for example, and I studied how

he made his runs with and without the ball.

After a while it became automatic for me to

do the same thing. Plus, I was given some

advice that has stuck with me: someone once

told me that when you make your run, you

should never go wider than the width of the

18-yard box. If you go out any wider, then you

will not score. And that has been true for me.”

What’s your greatest strength as a striker?

“I always say the biggest quality for me is

not on the pitch – it’s mentally. Everything

that has happened in my career – rejections,

injuries – I have had to be very strong in the

head to overcome them. If you ask what my

strength is on the pitch, I like getting on to the

ball, playing football. I like beautiful football,

passing it around. But sometimes I just like

to be powerful. I’m okay with that side.”

How much of a culture shock was it to move

from London and West Ham to Newcastle –

a country within a country?

“I was living in Heidelberg in Germany when

I was playing for Hoffenheim, and Heidelberg

was a tiny place – beautiful but tiny. My whole

family lives in Paris, so to go from Paris

to Heidelberg was a big shock for me. Then,

when I went from Hoffenheim to London

and West Ham, I thought: ’Oh, this is the

city for me, this is the city I want

to stay in.’ But then, after a few months,

I had to go to Newcastle and I was a

bit sad. Not because I didn’t want to go to

Newcastle, but because I loved London and

felt very comfortable there. But that is

football. You get used to moving around and

going where the game takes you.”

“The biggest quality

for me is not on the

pitch – it’s mentally”

Ba made: playing for

Hoffenheim in 2008

(left, top); scoring for

West Ham against

Wigan (left); and

completing his hat-trick

at Stoke last season

Demba Ba

How are you getting on with the Geordie

accent?

“Well, they talk to me, but often it just sounds

like noise – so I make it up in my head and

guess what they’re saying to me. I’m getting

more used to it, but I do just nod a lot.

The thing is, I speak African English to them,

so it’s hard to understand me sometimes.

But I still think African English is easier

than Geordie.“

Is it true you’re in awe of Peter Beardsley

[pictured, below], the Newcastle reserve

team coach?

“Yes, a little. I didn’t know who he was or what

he had done when I first arrived here. Then I

watched videos of him play and I go back to

Hatem [Ben Arfa] and say, I found someone

more skilful than you: Peter Beardsley. And

then I show him the video of Beardsley playing

and he sees what an amazing player he was

– small, but quick and with very quick feet.

He played a very different game to me, but

he is always there to talk to about the game

and share what he knows.”

Who is the toughest defender you’ve

encountered in English football – who

has given you your hardest game?

"I won’t say I have a single defender who

really terrorises me on the pitch, it’s

more... we played Liverpool away last

season and I was alone up front, like

one striker, and I had to fight with Daniel

Agger and Martin Skrtel. That was tough,

two versus one the whole game. Of course,

there’s a lot of very good defenders >

| November 2 2012 | 35

Stuart Franklin/Bongarts/Getty Images, Chris Brunskill/Getty Images, Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images, Mike Cooper/Allsport

Demba Ba

“I love to train.

I train a lot.

Even when I

don’t have

training,I'm

training”

in England, but there’s no one I have played

who afterwards I have thought: ’This guy

terrorised me, I don’t want to play against

him again.’”

Okay, so who is the best defender you

have faced?

”Fabricio Coloccini. I play against him every

training session – and it’s not that he’s

particularly physical or hard in a duel, but

he’s so intelligent. He doesn’t even need to

go into a tackle to get the ball – he just looks

and he takes it. I’m just glad I don’t have

to face him properly, because I don’t think

I would touch many balls.”

What is Alan Pardew asking from you

this season?

”He asked for a lot, because now I am here

in my second year. He always says I am an

important player in his team. He wants

me to be a leader on the pitch – not only a

goalscorer, not only a striker, but a leader

as well. He wants me to step up and start

talking and lead the team more.”

Has he put a figure on how many goals he

wants from you?

”No.”

A BA IS BORN The life and clubs of Demba Ba

1985

Born in Sevres, a

suburb of Paris,

on May 25.

36 | November 2 2012 |

1998

As a junior, Ba

joins Port

Autonome du

Havre, moving

to Frileuse in

2000 and on to

Montrouge in

2001, where he

stays for three

years. We haven’t

heard of them

either.

Have you?

”No.”

Not at all?

”No. It is going not too bad so far, but I haven’t

set myself any kind of target. I just want us

to win games and, if I score as well, I will be

very happy.”

Your manager has said that you play better

when you’re angry or have a point to prove.

Do you agree with that?

”I think the best of my game is when I feel

happy and sharp. The most important thing

for me is to be happy in my head – then I can

play my football well, you know?”

After you had scored 15 goals playing

centrally last season, Pardew played you

wide on the left when you returned from the

Africa Cup of Nations – and the goals dried

up. Did that make you happy or angry?

”It didn’t make me happy at all, but it is for

the team. I was playing on the left and we

were winning games, so there was no reason

to change the system. Of course, I was not

too happy with the position because that is

not where I am best – but what you read in the

papers about me being unhappy or angry, that

2004

In a year of trials,

Ba trains with

Auxerre, Watford

and Barnsley.

Watford invite him

back to train with

the professionals,

but release him

after five months.

2005

Joins FC Rouen in

the French fourth

division, scoring

22 goals in 26

games.

2006

Despite interest

from Nantes, Lille

and RC Lens, joins

Royal Excelsior

Mouscron in

Belgium. Breaks

shinbone early on

and is out for

eight months.

Returns for final

seven games of

the season –

scores seven.

The cross Ba: Pardew

says his striker plays

better with a point to

prove – and his brace

against Reading proved

enough for a point

2007

Joins Hoffenheim

in German second

division, despite

reported interest

from PSG, Lille,

Arsenal, Charlton,

Valladolid and

Deportivo La

Coruna. Scores

12 in 29 to help

secure promotion

- leaves with 37

in 97 overall.

is just what they write just for the image. If I

have to do it again, I will do it. I won’t be happy,

but that is not what’s important for the team.“

Okay, final question: where are you off

to now?

“Now? I’m having some pictures taken and then

I’ll just go home and maybe do some training.”

Training? At home?

“Yes, I love to train. I train a lot. Even when I

don’t have training, I’m training. I have my

gym at home and proper-sized goals in my

garden. My garden is big and shaped like the

football pitch – that’s why I took the house,

so that I could put up a big goal and keep

on practising.”

Who goes in goal?

“Nobody. Nobody in goal. I don’t need a

goalkeeper when I’m practising. They would

just get in the way.”

Nick Harper

Demba Ba wears the latest adizero F50 Trx boots

– the fastest boot in football. They are designed for

eye-watering speed on firm ground, offering

excellent stability at high speed and maximum grip

to aid acceleration. www.adidas.com. RRP: £155

2011

After Stoke City

decide against

signing him on

medical grounds

(see main piece),

Ba joins West Ham

United. His seven

goals in 12 games

cannot save the

Hammers from

the drop, and Ba

moves on.

2011

Joins Newcastle

United, where he’s

scored – at the

time of writing

– 23 goals in

43 Premier

League games.

Download the free Sport iPad app from the Apple Newsstand

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5,358

tweets

When Juan Mata slotted home

Spain’s fourth and final goal of

their Euro 2012 final against Italy,

15,358 people reacted in exactly

the same way – they tweeted. That moment

saw Twitter’s previous tweets per second

record (10,245, set during the closing stages

of a thrilling 2012 Super Bowl) smashed, and

showed sports fans are no longer satisfied

with being passive observers. They now want

to be part of a worldwide conversation about

what they’re watching.

A few weeks on from Spain’s scintillating

performance, and sport was back at the top of

the Twitter agenda with the start of London

2012. Over 16 days of Olympic competition,

more than 150 million tweets were posted –

to put that into perspective, there were more

tweets about London 2012 in a single day than

during the entire Beijing Games in 2008.

Sport and Twitter

A mAtch mAde in heAven?

Twitter is where sport happens these days.

Can’t see a match? Follow it there.

Want a player’s reaction to a contentious

refereeing decision? Find his Twitter feed.

We investigate why sport and Twitter

have become so inextricably linked...

It’s not just sporting events that drive

Twitter usage, however – it’s the protagonists

as well. Since Twitter’s launch in 2006,

sportspeople have flocked to the website,

desperate to be assigned the little blue tick of

verification that assures followers they are

the real deal. And no matter how many Kevin

Pietersen/Ashley Cole/Joey Barton moments

hit the headlines, they just keep on coming.

Changing the gaMe

“I’ll be honest; I didn’t think sportspeople would

take to Twitter as much as they have done,”

says Jamie Cunningham, chief executive and

founder of Professional Sports Group (PSG).

“But it’s become a complete game-changer.”

With Tom Daley (who has nearly two million

followers) the standout name on his client list,

Cunningham has seen first-hand the impact

Twitter can have on an athlete’s profile. >

| November 2 2012 | 41

Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Sport and Twitter

“Right now, for sportsmen with genuinely

interesting personalities and abilities, Twitter

is a game-changer because you can’t make

it up – you can’t pretend you have a million

followers. You either do or you don’t.

“You discover who the sportsperson is very

quickly – you discover their personality. There

are a lot of very bland people on Twitter, but

the ones who have the big figures are the ones

who have engaged their audience and make it

interesting to hear from them. We all know the

sportsmen who have numbers of more than

a million – that either reflects their massive

personalities or their engagement with fans.

It’s about who they are and why fans like them.”

There is, no doubt, an element of competition

in it for some athletes – or, more specifically,

for their management teams. Indeed, during

our chat, Cunningham emphasises that

although Usain Bolt has 326,000 more

followers than Daley, the Jamaican is “nowhere

in China” compared to the diver, who has also

amassed almost two million followers on the

Chinese version of Twitter, Weibo.

LONDON

2012 ON

TWITTER

42 | November 2 2012 |

1,770,209 1,

followers

From the horse’s mouth

But for the athletes themselves, it goes beyond

the realms of a morale-boosting ego stroke.

“It’s about getting messages across,” says

an athlete representative from the tennis

industry. “You see a lot of it now, where maybe

newspaper stories are incorrect and the

athlete responds directly, saying it’s nonsense.”

That’s something Andy Murray put into

action earlier this year, slapping down a story

threatening to raise tensions in the Murray

house. “Just to clear this up, my girlfriend has

never once pushed me to get married,” he

tweeted. “I made a joke, surprisingly the papers

make a big deal of it.” If only the British number

one had been on Twitter at the time of his

“anyone but England” World Cup remark, eh?

“It’s really given sportspeople a voice,”

agrees Lewis Wiltshire, who became Twitter

UK’s inaugural head of sport around seven

months ago. But more than that, Wiltshire

says, it’s given them the ability to show off the

areas of their lives and personalities fans

otherwise don’t see.

The biggest moments of competition, as measured by

Tweets per minute (TPM), were:

1. Usain Bolt (@UsainBolt) winning gold in the 200m: 80,000+

2. Bolt winning gold in the 100m: 74,000+

3. Andy Murray (@andy_murray) winning gold in the men’s tennis

singles: 57,000+

4. Jamaica winning gold and setting the world record in the

men’s 4x100m relay: 52,000+

5. Team USA beating Spain to win gold in men’s basketball: 41,000+

Character in 140

characters: Barton

is notoriously vocal

and uncensored

“Rio Ferdinand giving us an insight into his

life by telling us about the songs he’s listening

to in the car while taking his boys to school has

allowed the fans to see a different side to him.

It’s changed the public perception of him in

many ways – and other athletes can see that.”

If there’s one sportsperson who epitomises

the power Twitter has to build up – or destroy

– the image of its users, it’s Joey Barton.

A decent footballer, Barton has created a

profile (with 1,770,209 followers) befitting of

a far better one simply by turning to Twitter

whenever he feels he has something important

to say – which is often. The latest victim of

a Barton Twitter battering was PFA chief

executive Gordon Taylor, who Barton likened to

“a fat, festering old king. Too drunk on power

or wine to notice that his meal is a rotting

corpse of maggots”.

But Wiltshire says Twitter’s beauty lies in its

lack of boundaries – with obvious exceptions.

“Joey has been quite vocal about the platform

Twitter has given him in allowing him to get his

point of view across, and that’s the amazing

In addition to inspiring the biggest conversation spike with his 200m

win, Usain Bolt also took home the record for being the most discussed

athlete of the Games. But he had company — nine other Olympians

garnered more than one million tweets each:

1. Usain Bolt (@UsainBolt)

2. Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps)

3. Tom Daley (@TomDaley1994)

4. Ryan Lochte (@ryanlochte)

5. Gabby Douglas (gabrielledoug)

6. Andy Murray (@andy_murray)

7. Kobe Bryant

8. Yohan Blake (@YohanBlake)

9. Lee Chong Wei (@Lee_C_Wei)

10. LeBron James (@KingJames)

990,115 1,289,372

followers followers

thing about it,” he says. “There are no specific

guidelines about what you should or shouldn’t

say – it humanises people like Joey and Rio.”

The door To all evil?

It also leaves the door open, however, for

athletes to say things they shouldn’t – things

that upset teammates, bosses or the world at

large. It’s a door that countless sportspeople

have walked straight through over the past six

years – something James Beale, a sports and

exercise psychologist at the University of East

London, says is hardly surprising. “In many

cases, high-profile sportspeople are treated

as a kind of mini god,” he explains. “They’re paid

a lot of money for doing something that does

not require general life skills and have often

foregone opportunities to develop them. This

is a fatal cocktail – and, with the popularity

of social media among sportspeople and the

general population, there will be more to come.

“I wonder if it will be a small window of

opportunity for sportspeople, though, as

surely clubs will develop harsher policies

2012 RYDER

CUP ON

TWITTER

on usage. They have policies on other intrusive

areas that are enforced, so why not treat this

in the same way?”

It’s a question that’s best put to Wiltshire,

who liaises with Premier League clubs on a

daily basis on how they can best make use of

Twitter. On the issue of clubs censoring their

player’s Twitter feeds, he says it’s not a

decision with which his company would get

involved. “We wouldn’t advise them one way

or another on that specifically,” he says. “But

I haven’t seen any clubs preparing to control

or sanitise players’ tweets.

“I was with a large group of representatives

from each of the Premier League clubs recently,

at the invitation of the league, and the feeling

was that this is a positive thing, so I don’t see

any evidence that clubs want to do that.

“Fans want to connect with athletes directly

– that’s the beauty of it. When athletes tweet

in their own voice and fans can see that it’s

genuine and have a chance to interact – well,

it’s the first time that’s happened. It wasn’t

that long ago fans would write a letter to the

europe in win-win situation

It was victory for the Europeans on

and off the course at the Ryder Cup

this year, with 200,000 mentions of

the triumphant Team Europe and the

hashtag #Teameurope on Twitter

during the competition, compared

with only 55,000 mentions of Team

USA and the hashtag #TeamUSa.

A phenomenal

fan-tool: Daley (left)

and Murray engage

with millions

Most mentioned

The top five 2012 Ryder Cup golfers on

Twitter (by mention of their name or

handle during the Ryder Cup):

1. Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter)

2. Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods)

3. Rory McIlroy (@McIlroyRory)

4. Bubba Watson (@bubbawatson)

5. Justin Rose (@JustinRose99)

club and it would be opened by someone in a

mail room before maybe getting passed on to

the player. Now fans are talking directly to the

players in a way that hasn’t happened before

– that’s where Twitter is at its best.”

“A phenomenal fan-tool,” is how Tom Daley’s

manager Cunningham describes Twitter. But

ask him where it goes next, and the response

is less about the fans and more about the

finance. “Right now, Twitter creates a media

platform for sports celebrities,” he says. “But

no one has yet cracked the formula for what

the monetisation of that means. It is worth

a considerable amount to sponsors and

commercial partners of tournaments to have

their sportsmen on side and for them to have

big followings because, well, it’s not rocket

science really, is it?”

Twitter users will hope the formula remains

a mystery. Because the time when Twitter

turns from fan-tool to cash cow is the day the

following stops. Although Barton will probably

live on there forever, wittering on. And on...

Sarah Shephard @sarahsportmag

Most followed

The most followed Ryder Cup golfer of them

all is Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) of Team

USA, with more than 2.7 million followers.

Ian Poulter (@ianJamesPoulter) and Rory

McIlroy (@Mcilroyrory) are neck and neck

for the top spot in Europe, both closing in

on the 1.4 million mark.

| 43

Gerard Julien/AFP/GettyImages, Martin Bureau/AFP/GettyImages, Lintao Zhang/Getty Images

All follower numbers correct at time of going to press

ATP World Tour Finals

44 | November 2 2012 |

PUTTING THE INTO SERVING

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WHEN TW

TRIBES GO

The final tournament of the tennis season

gets under way on Monday at the O2

Arena, where the world’s top eight

male players will battle it out. For two

of them, it’s about more than just a trophy

– it’s a rivalry verging on tribal.

This year, something happened to men’s

tennis that hasn’t happened since 2003.

That was the last time that the four Grand

Slams were each won by a different player.

From 2004 until 2011, the majors were divided

among, at most, three players. And for three

of those years, two particularly greedy chaps

gobbled the lot.

The Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal axis was,

until last year, the dominating rivalry in men’s

tennis. Between them, they won every

slam in 2006, 2007 and 2010, with

only Novak Djokovic (at the 2008

Australian Open) and Juan Martin

Del Potro (at the 2009 US Open)

preventing them from doing

it five years in a row.

But last year, a stiff wind of

change blew through the sport;

it was called Djokovic and it

annihilated almost everything in its

path. Nadal clung on to his French

Open title, but the three remaining

slams belonged to the Serbian destroyer.

Suddenly the door to the trophy room was

open again – and Djokovic was throwing one

heck of a party in there.

When one door closes...

It seemed one of the greatest rivalries the

sport had known had reached its sell-by date,

leaving the world wondering when – or if – we

might see its like again? It didn’t take long for

the first hint that maybe there was another

rivalry brewing up just in time, however.

That hint came in the semi final of the

first slam of the year, when Andy Murray and

Djokovic locked horns in the Melbourne heat

www.highland-spring.com

for four hours and 50 minutes. More than once

it seemed Murray had the destroyer on the

ropes, but when the bell for the final round

rang, it was Djokovic who stood firm.

“There’s a very fine line between being

number one in the world and being three

or four,” said a defiant Murray afterwards.

“I feel tonight that I closed that gap.”

The pair have clashed a further five times

since then, with the scores for the season

even at three hard-fought wins apiece.

In for the long haul

Theirs is a rivalry that Paul Newman, tennis

correspondent at The Independent, says is set

to dominate men’s tennis for years to come.

“If you look at Nadal, no one knows when he’s

going to be back from his injury or if he’s going

to be the force that he was,” he explains.

“Although Federer won Wimbledon this year,

he’s not the player he was. He hits the heights

from time to time, but he cannot sustain it.”

Mark Petchey, Murray’s former coach and a

Sky Sports pundit, agrees. “Have we seen the

best of the Federer/Nadal rivalry? Probably,”

he says. “For a long time, Rafa and Roger were

so greedy that nobody else could get involved

in the mix. Novak crowbarred his way in last

year, and now Andy’s done the same.

“They’re both moving into their prime

Images

now, with Andy playing the best tennis of his

career and Novak looking like he’s going to

finish the year as world number one. This is

unquestionably building into a great rivalry.”

Stockman/Getty

Throughout the years that Federer and

Nadal mopped up all the ranking points, it

Matthew

was clear Djokovic and Murray would one day

challenge their rule. Look behind the Serb and Images,

his sidekick now, though, says Newman, and

future contenders are thin on the ground:

“When Djokovic and Murray were aged around

21, they were exceptional players already –

you could see they were going to be right up

Ralston/AFP/Getty

with Federer and Nadal. Mark

O

TO WAR

“There isn’t anyone around now who fits

that bill. Milos Raonic is the closest; he has

potential to be a Grand Slam champion, but

I don’t see it happening for a year or two yet.

And there’s Bernard Tomic, but he’s struggled

at the end of this season, which casts doubt.

Grigor Dimitrov is another one – he’s a lovely

player, but hasn’t quite developed into the

player you thought he might.”

Closer than Close

It’s down to Murray and Djokovic, then (though

Nadal and Federer will undoubtedly have their

say for a few years yet). And while Murray has

been playing catch-up with the Serb for the

past few seasons, his success this summer

suggests the gap between them has narrowed

to an almost indiscernible line.

Murray’s back-to-back wins over Djokovic

at the Olympics and US Open aside, the pair

have taken it in turns to leave the court

triumphant when they’ve played this season.

“When you have two guys who are as good as

they are, on any given day and surface, either

of them can win,” says Petchey. “Andy is a

better player on a grass court than Novak,

but Novak is a better clay-court player than

Andy right now. On a hard court, they’re very

evenly matched.

“With all these rivalries, you go through

spurts where someone gets on a run of two

or three matches in a row, then the other one

makes some adjustments and hits back. That’s

all you can ask of a rivalry, really; that it keeps

on making you better.”

While Djokovic had the mental edge over

everyone last season, Newman says Murray

is now right up there with the Serb. “I don’t

think there’s any difference in their mental

strength this season, especially since Murray

won the Olympics and his first slam,” he says.

“There are areas in their game, though, where

one possibly has the edge over the other.

Murray’s got a bit more variety to his game

Monday > ATP World Tour FinAls

o2, london | sky sPorTs 1 1.30Pm

than Djokovic – he’s more of a creative player.

His backhand was always a terrific shot, but

this year his forehand has become a big

weapon too – particularly when he’s chasing

balls out wide and he hits it hard and flat.

“Djokovic has a slight edge in terms of his

serve at the moment, though – that’s an area

Murray could still improve upon. I’d also mark

him a bit above Murray in terms of the quality

of his returns – although they’re the two

best returners in the business, so it’s only

a slight edge.”

old friends, new enemies

Whatever the differences, the two know each

other’s games inside out, having first met on

court as 11-year-olds. Their friendship has

taken a hiatus though, now that they’re toe

to toe as seniors.

“I like the guy, but I can’t

be friends with Andy,” said

Djokovic at the US Open.

“How can you be best friends

with a guy you know you

are going to be doing

battle with?”

That’s the way it has to be,

agrees Petchey: “You don’t

want to get too close to your

great rivals – you don’t want to

like them too much. There’s a

mutual respect, but at the same

time they’re vicious competitors

and need to keep the edge

whenever they step on to court.”

Should they meet at the O2 next

week, bragging rights as well as

ranking points will be on the line.

Same again next year, then, chaps? >

Sarah Shephard @sarahsportmag

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is

part of a year-round tennis schedule live on

Sky Sports HD, and on mobile via Sky Go

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Barclays ATP World Tour Finals

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| 45

ATP World Tour Finals

The ConTenders

Novak Djokovic (SRB)

Race to LoNDoN RaNkiNg 1

titLeS woN iN 2012 5

wtF hiStoRy

Qualified every year since 2007

and won it once – in 2008.

2012 LowDowN

Won a marathon five-hour,

53-minute match against Rafael

Nadal to win his third Australian

Open and fifth Grand Slam title,

but lost the French and US Open

finals to Nadal and Andy Murray

respectively. Also lost the bronze-

medal match to Juan Martin

del Potro at London 2012.

DiD you kNow?

His parents might have once owned

a pizza parlour, but last year

the Djoker ditched the stuffed

crusts to follow a gluten-free diet.

46 | November 2 2012 |

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RogeR FeDeReR (Sui)

Race to LoNDoN RaNkiNg 2

titLeS woN iN 2012 6

wtF hiStoRy

Won it six times, with 2012 marking

his 11th straight year of qualifying.

2012 LowDowN

Lost in the semi finals of Australia

(to Nadal) and the French Open (to

Djokovic) before winning a seventh

Wimbledon title and regaining the

world number-one spot. Murray

beat him to gold at the Olympics

before Tomas Berdych sent

him packing from the US Open

quarter finals.

DiD you kNow?

Federer met his wife, Mirka, at the

Sydney Olympics, where she was

also playing tennis for Switzerland.

Injury ended her career, but she

found a new one – PR to Mr Federer.

We won’t speculate on what that job

interview involved...

aNDy MuRRay (gB)

Race to LoNDoN RaNkiNg 3

titLeS woN iN 2012 3

wtF hiStoRy

Has qualified five years in a row

and twice reached the semi finals.

2012 LowDowN

Gut-wrenching to start with: a

five-set semi-final loss to Djokovic

in Australia was followed by a

quarter-final defeat in Paris. There

were tears at Wimbledon, where

Federer beat him in the final –

but weeks later came the turning

point, when Olympic gold paved the

way for his first Grand Slam at

Flushing Meadows.

DiD you kNow?

A Wimbledon pub congratulated

him on his US Open title with this

message, scrawled on a board

outside: “Well done Andy! Now sort

your barnet out mate.” Wise words.

www.highland-spring.com

DaviD FeRReR (eSP)

Race to LoNDoN RaNkiNg 5

titLeS woN iN 2012 6

wtF hiStoRy

Making his fourth appearance, and

reached the final back in 2007.

2012 LowDowN

Quarter-final appearances at the

Australian Open and Wimbledon

were bettered by semi-final

showings at the French and US

Opens, ensuring it’s been the small

(well, 5ft 9ins) Spaniard’s finest

year yet in the Grand Slams.

DiD you kNow?

As a teenager, Ferrer was locked in

a dark ball closet for hours by his

coach for not working hard enough.

Understandably fed up with tennis

after this, Ferrer went to work on

Images

a building site, but returned after

Getty

wa week, having decided tennis was

easier. And he’s still with the same

pictures

coach today. > All

ATP World Tour Finals

Tomas Berdych (cZe)

race To London ranking 6

TiTLes won in 2012 2

wTF hisTory

Reached the semi finals last year and

is making his third appearance.

2012 Lowdown

Reaching the US Open semi final was

the high point, especially because it

came after the low of first-round

exits at both Wimbledon and the

Olympics. Also made the quarter

finals in Australia before eventually

losing to Nadal.

did you know?

Berdych has a habit of turning crowds

against him. After beating Nadal at the

Madrid Masters in 2006, he aimed a

cheeky shushing gesture at Spanish

fans. Then, at January’s Aussie Open,

he refused to shake the hand of

his opponent Nicolas Almagro,

complaining that Almagro had

deliberately smacked a forehand

at his arm.

48 | November 2 2012 |

Juan marTin deL PoTro (arg)

race To London ranking 7

TiTLes won in 2012 3

wTF hisTory

Qualified in 2008 and 2009, when he

lost in the final.

2012 Lowdown

Made it back into the top 10 for the

first time since 2010 after reaching

the quarter finals in Australia, where

he lost to Federer – as he did at the

French Open. Made it to the quarters

at the US Open as well, this time losing

to Djokovic. A fourth-round Wimbledon

defeat was somewhat avenged by

winning singles bronze at the

Olympics.

did you know?

When he won the US Open in 2009, Del

Potro became the tallest Grand Slam

champ ever, as well as the first man

to defeat both Federer and Nadal at

the same Grand Slam event.

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Jo-wiLFried Tsonga (Fra)

NOT YET QUALIFIED

race To London ranking 8

TiTLes won in 2012 2

Also in the running... All

wTF hisTory

Qualified for the first time in 2008,

and reached the final last year on

his second appearance.

2012 Lowdown

A fourth-round defeat in Australia

was a disappointing start, but Tsonga

went on to reach the French Open

quarters, where he held four

matchpoints against Djokovic before

succumbing. Murray beat him in the

semis at Wimbledon and he crashed

out of the US Open in the second

round. A back injury could see him

miss out on qualifying.

did you know?

Tsonga’s dad was a professional

handball player in France, and

his younger brother Enzo plays

professional basketball for

Le Mans Sarthe.

Janko TiPsarevic (srB)

NOT YET QUALIFIED

race To London ranking 9

TiTLes won in 2012 1

wTF hisTory

Made his first appearance last year as

a replacement for the injured Murray.

2012 Lowdown

Succumbed to third-round exits in

Australia and Wimbledon, but went

one further in Paris, where he lost to

Nicolas Almagro in the fourth round.

At the US Open, he reached the second

Grand Slam quarter final of his career

– and looked set to go further as he

went a set up twice against Ferrer,

only to lose it in a deciding tie-break.

did you know?

On his left arm, Tipsarevic has a

tattoo in Japanese that translates

as ‘Beauty will save the world’. It’s

a Dostoyevsky quote, but you knew

that already, right?

Berdych’s old pal, Nicolas Almagro of Spain, could also make it to

London – as could the Frenchman in possession of one of the

game’s most beautiful backhands, Richard Gasquet.

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pictures Getty Images

7 Days

OUR PICK OF THE ACTION FROM THE SPORTING WEEK AHEAD

Thursday WINTER SPORTS | SKELETON WORLD CUP | LAKE PLACID, NEW YORK | BRITISH EUROSPORT 2 2PM

Champagne on ice?

50 | November 2 2012 |

These are cork-popping days for British

skeleton racing. The now retired Amy Williams

holds the Olympic women’s title, Lizzy Yarnold

is the reigning world junior champion, while

Shelley Rudman begins the new season as

defending World Cup winner. That new season

begins next Thursday in Lake Placid, where

both Rudman and Yarnold will hope to begin

their winter campaigns in style.

The meet marks a return to the New York

track where Yarnold earned herself a World

Championship bronze in February. Then, her

four runs saw her miss out on gold – claimed

by American Katie Uhlaender – by just 0.36s.

NOV 2-NOV 8

HIGHLIGHTS

» Premier League preview » p52

» Champions League preview » p54

» Horse Racing: Breeders’ Cup » p56

» Formula 1: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix » p57

» Rugby League: England v France » p58

But she will have taken some pleasure from

finishing ahead of her vaunted compatriots

Rudman and Williams, who came in fourth and

fifth. Yarnold will be looking to make her mark

in her first full year on the main tour, having

won two of the four World Cup events she

entered towards the end of last season.

But Rudman (pictured) is the lady in

possession of the crown, and the two-time

European champion and 2006 Olympic silver-

medallist will be desperate to reassert her

supremacy in the build-up to the 2014 Winter

Games in Sochi – the same city on the Black

Sea coast, incidentally, that is set to hold F1’s

reintroduced Russian Grand Prix from 2014.

The 31-year-old placed in the top three at five

of last season’s eight World Cup events – a

repeat of that, starting on Thursday at Lake

Placid, and the title could be hers once more.

Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images

7 Days

Premier League

Messrs Ferguson and Wenger prepare to do battle for

the 48th time. What a very odd couple they are

SATURDAY MAN UTD v ARSENAL | OLD TRAFFORD | Sky SpORTS 2 12.45pM

It may have seemed at the time as if Arsenal

were doing good business, selling their

injury-prone striker for £25m. But how the

Emirates faithful would love to still have Robin

van Persie in their ranks: for all Arsenal’s

paucity in defence, they simply haven’t scored

enough goals this season. The man who left

them for Manchester United, however, has

nine in his past 10 games and can’t stop

finding the net. Sir Alex Ferguson may have

described Arsene Wenger’s negotiating

technique as straight out of “a poker school in

Govan”, but the Scot holds the whip hand.

United stand second in the table, on the

back of that controversial victory over

Chelsea last weekend, but it has been far from

plain sailing – time and again they have been

forced to come from behind to land the spoils,

and their lack of strength in depth in defence

continues to give Fergie a headache.

While Arsenal’s attack has been largely

toothless, a fascinating battle could ensue in

midfield. All England fans should have rejoiced

at the sight of Jack Wilshere starting last

52 | November 2 2012 |

week against QPR, and the youngster looked

comfortable and assured in the 67 minutes

he played. He will only get better as he gets

fitter, and United’s other glaring weakness is

through the middle of the park. Mikel Arteta

is playing some of the wiliest football of his

career, and his partnership with Wilshere

(who must have wondered where Fabregas,

Nasri, Song and van Persie all went) could

spark Arsenal’s season back to life.

This fixture was one of the more

remarkable of last season, as United ran out

8-2 winners. It’s unlikely to finish that way

again – but van Persie, who scored for Arsenal

that day, will be very keen to remind his

former employers of what they are missing.

55

Goals scored by

Robin van Persie

since the start of

last season, in just

72 appearances

SUnDAY LIVERpOOL v NEWCASTLE

ANFIELD | Sky SpORTS 1 4pM

On the face of it, a fairly mundane mid-table clash as 12th takes on 10th.

But this fixture is always imbued with a sense of occasion, thanks to two

fixtures from the 1990s. Twice, in successive seasons, Liverpool beat

Newcastle 4-3 in games that regularly crop up as all-time Premier

Feeling

blue

League classics. This fixture carries a little extra spice, too, with news

that Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers could be poised to sign one, or

both, of the Geordies’ strike partnership of Demba Ba and Papiss

Cisse. Ba has been in fine form this season and appears settled at

Newcastle, but Cisse has struggled: anyone who loses their first-team

place to Shola Ameobi is probably right to look elsewhere. One thing is

certain: Liverpool need firepower to assist Luis Suarez, and fast.

SUnDAY QpR v READING | LOFTUS ROAD

Sky SpORTS 1 1.30pM

It’s November and the clocks have changed, so we’d argue we’re well

within our rights to hail this game as a vital six-pointer in the relegation

battle. Both QPR and Reading have found it hard (impossible) to actually

win a Premier League game this season, and both concede goals for fun,

so a high-scoring draw (we’re thinking 7-7) would seem the most

likely outcome. Reading, though, will approach the game with some

confidence – they have already beaten QPR in the Capital One Cup this

season, and their lowly league position belies the way they have played.

Too often they have thrown away winning positions and had to settle for

a draw; but they are at least capable of getting among the goals, with

Pavel Pogrebnyak likely to be on the scoresheet – as he did in that cup win.

saturday FULHAM v EVERTON

CRAVEN COTTAGE | 3pM

This has the potential to be one of the

most attractive games of the weekend.

Everton will dearly hope Kevin Mirallas

is fit again after being crocked by Luis

Suarez, but even so they continue to

play very brightly. Fulham, suddenly,

have a wealth of attacking options and

mustered three second-half goals

against Reading. Dimitar Berbatov

is finally showing again what a very,

very good player he is.

saturday TOTTENHAM v WIGAN

WHITE HART LANE | 3pM

Fourteen times these two sides have met

in the Premier League, and Wigan have

just two wins to show for it. Tottenham

should maintain their supremacy over

the Latics, too, having overcome a shaky

start to the season to now be among

the Champions League places. Gareth

Bale and Jermain Defoe have grabbed

plenty of headlines, but Jan Vertonghen

(above) has been a major factor with

a string of classy performances.

saturday NORWICH v STOKE

CARROW ROAD | 3pM

Both of these teams have been draw

specialists this season: Stoke with six

and Norwich four. Both teams have been

largely resolute in defence, although

Norwich do have the entertaining

capacity to crumble completely, having

twice conceded five as well as letting in

four against Chelsea. Grant Holt (above)

remains the Canaries’ dangerman, with

three goals this term, but if Stoke can

contain him they can grab the win.

saturday WEST HAM v MAN CITY

UpTON pARK | ESpN 5.30pM

West Ham find themselves in the top half

of the table, despite a propensity to leak

silly goals. But thanks largely to the

scoring touch of the evergreen Kevin

Nolan (pictured), who has netted four in

nine, their season chugs on. City, on the

other hand, are doing that thing that

good teams do – winning without playing

well. Last week’s 1-0 win over Swansea

was a perfect example of why they will

be challenging for honours come May.

saturday SUNDERLAND v ASTON

VILLA | STADIUM OF LIGHT | 3pM

With apologies to supporters of both

sides, has there been a more unappealing

fixture than this all season? The only

Sunderland player to score a league

goal this season is Steven Fletcher,

while Villa have made their worst start

to a season since 1969. Paul Lambert

is a man under pressure, then, which

will probably continue here. Sunderland

can at least defend, Villa are struggling

to score. A 0-0 is surely inevitable.

MONday WEST BROM v

SOUTHAMpTON | HAWTHORNS |

SKY SpORTS 1 8pM

West Brom are enjoying a decent season,

and might have more points than their

current total of 14: their past two games

– against Man City and Newcastle – have

seen two defeats, but could have been

better. Saints, on the other hand, have

scored more than the Baggies (14 to

13) but have conceded a ludicrous 26

in nine games. Expect West Brom to

score, then, with Shane Long, on three

for the season, likely to start.

saturday SWANSEA v CHELSEA

LIBERTY STADIUM | 3pM

Chelsea may have lost last week against

rivals Manchester United, but they still

looked mightily impressive. Coming back

from two goals down, they took control

of the game until having both Branislav

Ivanovic and Fernando Torres sent off.

Swansea, for all their pretty football,

have won only once in the league since

August and are likely to find the Blues,

and Oscar, just too good.

Premier

League table

P W D L F A Pts

1 Chelsea 9 7 1 1 21 9 22

2 Man Utd 9 7 0 2 24 13 21

3 Man City 9 6 3 0 18 9 21

4 Tottenham 9 5 2 2 17 13 17

5 Everton 9 4 4 1 17 11 16

6 Arsenal 9 4 3 2 14 6 15

7 Fulham 9 4 2 3 19 14 14

8 West Brom 9 4 2 3 13 11 14

9 West Ham 9 4 2 3 13 11 14

10 Newcastle 9 3 4 2 11 13 13

11 Swansea 9 3 2 4 14 13 11

12 Liverpool 9 2 4 3 12 14 10

13 Stoke 9 1 6 2 8 9 9

14 Sunderland 8 1 6 1 6 8 9

15 Wigan 9 2 2 5 10 16 8

16 Norwich 9 1 4 4 7 18 7

17 Aston Villa 9 1 3 5 7 14 6

18 Reading 8 0 4 4 11 17 4

19 Southampton 9 1 1 7 14 26 4

20 QPR 9 0 3 6 7 18 3

21

Mario Balotelli has had

more shots – including

blocked – than anyone

yet to score in the

league this season

| 53

All pictures Getty Images

7 Days Champions League

Tuesday GROUP D: ManchesteR city v ajax | etihaD staDiUM | itV 1 7.45PM

Victory to

escape

Manchester City’s matchday two game against

Dortmund was a must-win game they drew. Their

matchday three game was a really-must-win game

that they managed to throw away and make a very

average Ajax look like the class of ‘95. Factor in

City’s heroically naive 3-2 defeat in matchday one

at Real Madrid, and you don’t need to be a professor

of advanced mathematics to know that Roberto

Mancini’s team need to win all three remaining

games to have any chance of progressing to the

last 16 – and hope 10 points somehow scrape them

54 | November 2 2012 |

through. The odds are stacked high against them,

but it’s not all bad news.

Admittedly, it’s mostly bad news. City should beat

Ajax at the Etihad on Tuesday, but after that come

Real Madrid at home – a team managed by Jose

Mourinho, featuring Cristiano Ronaldo and built to

win every game they play. They’ll arrive at the Etihad

still needing points to progress – and should win. At

worst, they might draw, which would kill City’s hopes

stone dead for another season and could speed up

the exit of Mancini.

But let’s dare to imagine Real Madrid leave beaten.

Then, City would head to Borussia Dortmund in their

final game with their dream of progressing still,

remarkably, alive – regardless of results elsewhere.

What an escape that would be. But it will never

happen. And besides, we’re getting ahead of

ourselves. One game at a time, y’know. Ajax at home.

No easy games anymore. Full respect to the gaffer.

Steak. Diana Ross. Ford Capri.

The oTher fixTures

(all 7.45pm, Sky Sports 4 red button unless stated)

Tuesday

Group a: Dynamo Kiev v Fc Porto

Group a: Paris saint-Germain v Dinamo Zagreb

Group B: Olympiacos v Montpellier

Group c: ac Milan v Malaga

Group c: anderlecht v Zenit st Petersburg

Group D: Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund (ss4)

Wednesday

Group e: juventus v Fc nordsjaelland

Group F: Bayern Munich v Lille

Group F: Valencia v Bate Borisov

Group G: Benfica v spartak Moscow

Group G: celtic v Barcelona (ss3)

Group h: cFR cluj-napoca v Galatasaray

Tuesday GROUP B: Schalke 04 v aRSenal

VeltinS-aRena | Sky SPORtS 2 7.45Pm

Gunners top up tank

for German road trip

As has been their way in recent seasons, Arsenal’s

Champions League group campaign has seen

them sprint from the traps (with two wins) before

seemingly stalling or – worse – running out of gas.

They have a habit of bouncing back in Europe,

though, and face Schalke 04 – who comprehensively

outplayed them at the Emirates in a sobering 2-0

defeat. Should they lose in Germany against a team

with a good home record (13 wins from 17 in last

season’s Bundesliga), they’d then face Montpellier

at home. Even a win in that game would, depending

on results elsewhere, leave them needing something

at Olympiacos to progress to the knockouts for the

13th successive year. That said, Arsenal could still

comfortably go through on nine or even eight points.

Wednesday GROUP e: chelSea v ShakhtaR

StamfORd BRidGe | Sky SPORtS 4 7.45Pm

Blues seek boost to

keep Old Lady at bay

Four points from three games is not the return you’d

expect from the finest team in European football,

but then even the most blinkered Chelsea fan would

admit their team is not that. Run ragged by Shakhtar

Donetsk’s Brazilians last time out, the Blues now

host the Ukrainians and will hope they don’t travel

well. It’s not a given – Donetsk deservedly drew in

Turin and know victory at the Bridge will as good as

seal top spot in Group E. If Chelsea take anything

less than three points on Wednesday, Juventus

should leapfrog them into second place by beating

group deadwood FC Nordsjaelland on the same

night, setting up Chelsea’s visit to the Old Lady in

Turin on November 20 as the big Second Best In

The Group decider.

Wednesday GROUP h: Sc BRaGa v man Utd

eStadiO aXa | Sky SPORtS 2 7.45Pm

United sit pretty,

but can’t relax yet

The most comfortable of the English quartet,

Manchester United have scrambled and shambled

through three unconvincing wins to stand within

a point or two of qualification. Three points will as

good as take them through on top. So near – yet still

at the very least a reasonable performance away.

SC Braga made United look like the trembling

defensive wreck they so often are in the first game

at Old Trafford, and will fancy their chances at home.

So, let’s assume that United are beaten. Next up, an

away game in Istanbul against the noisy young Turks

of Galatasaray. Far from guaranteed they’ll get

anything there either. Luckily, their final game is

at home to CFR Cluj. So they will at least go through

– but Europe won’t be quaking in its boots.

| 55

Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images, Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images,

Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images, Richard Heathcote/Getty Images

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images, Dan Istitene/Getty Images

7 Days

Friday > Horse racing | Breeders’ cup | santa anita park, Los angeLes | at tHe races

American adventure

Saturday FootBaLL | cHaMpionsHip: BoLton v cardiFF | reeBok stadiuM | sky sports 2 5.20pM

A fresh start

It’s been three games since Bolton

chairman phil gartside’s realisation

that a 46-year-old man who insists

on wearing shorts to work probably

isn’t someone you want managing

your club. a new and promising

manager has been poached from

crystal palace – and with dougie

Freedman now at the helm, there’s

some hope on the horizon for

beleaguered trotters fans.

they’ve endured a torrid time since

relegation from what owen coyle

would (repeatedly) call the Barclays

premier League, and currently

languish 18th in the championship,

closer to relegation than a return to

the top flight. and Freedman’s first

game in charge will be the tricky visit

of top-of-the-table cardiff.

the Bluebirds have taken well

to life in red shirts, the result of a

56 | November 2 2012 |

Malaysian investment deal, and look

set to match or better their sixth

place from last season. they’ve

won seven from seven at home so

far this season – and, despite a less

impressive record of two wins from

six on their travels, remain in

scintillating goalscoring form.

they’ve netted 26 times in 13

games, despite the absence of

newly signed striker nicky Maynard,

who has damaged his anterior

cruciate ligaments and will be

out until the new year. peter

Whittingham and Heidar Helguson

have more than made up for it, with

11 league goals between them;

combine that with a fragile Bolton

defence that has conceded 22

league goals already this term, and

we could be watching an actionpacked

encounter at the reebok.

The end of a long and entertaining flat season is

nigh here in the UK, but while Frankel relaxes

among the hay, preparing himself for a life of

plenty, a small but well formed selection of

British and Irish horses have travelled

across the pond for this weekend’s big

Breeders’ Cup meeting in California.

The prestigious two-day carnival of racing

takes in 15 championship races, run over a

variety of distances and on two different

surfaces: dirt and turf. It’s the latter on

which our horses are more likely to excel,

being that almost all of the top-class racing

in Europe takes place on grass – so it’s no

surprise to see British or Irish raiders well

backed for five of the turf races.

Chief among those is St Nicholas Abbey

(pictured), who heads to Santa Anita bidding

to retain the Breeders’ Cup Turf title he won

at Churchill Downs this time last year. Aidan

O’Brien’s five-year-old has had a mixed

season, retaining his Coronation Cup crown

at Epsom amid a collection of disappointing

efforts, but he has enough class to make

a decent fist of his defence on Saturday

evening (10.18pm).

Elsewhere on Saturday, Roger Charlton’s

exciting two-year-old Dundonell goes for

glory in the Juvenile Turf (6.50pm) and

another O’Brien inmate, the admirable

Excelebration, chases a third straight Group 1

victory in three different countries in the

Mile (11.40pm). Tonight’s card is one for the

girls, though; Richard Hannon’s Sky Lantern

is well fancied for the Juvenile Fillies Turf

(9.28pm), but bet of the weekend is The Fugue

in the Filly & Mare Turf (10.48pm). Trainer

John Gosden loves a winner at the Breeders’

Cup, and his star three-year-old looks ready

to run a huge race under William Buick.

AFP/Getty Images, Mark Thompson/Getty Images

SATURDAY TENNIS | FED CUP FINAL: CZECH REPUBLIC v SERBIA | O2 ARENA, PRAGUE |

BRITISH EUROSPORT 1 12.30PM

Not over until it’s Ova

The premier team competition in

women’s tennis will either be won by

the Ovas or the Ics in 2012, with the

Ovas (or Czech Republic, if you

prefer), warm favourites to defend

the title they won by beating Russia

in the final last year.

Led by Petra Kvitova (pictured),

the world number eight who will

hopefully be recovered from the

illness that forced her to pull out of

the WTA Championships in Turkey

last month, Czech Republic reached

the final with impressive 4-1 wins

over Germany and Italy. Kvitova, last

year’s Wimbledon champ, hasn’t hit

the same heights in 2012 – but her

powerful serve and big baseline

strokes will make her tough to beat.

Lucie Safarova (world number 17)

is the number-two singles player for

the Czechs, with US Open and 2012

Olympic finalists Lucie Hradecka

and Andrea Hlavackova taking on

doubles duties.

For Serbia, in their first Fed Cup

final, star pairing Ana Ivanovic and

Jelena Jankovic will contest the

singles. Both former world number

ones, they’ll be under pressure to

pick up maximum points as the Czech

doubles duo is undoubtedly stronger

than Serbia’s pairing of Bojana

Jovanovski and Aleksandra Krunic.

Played in a best-of-five format –

with two singles matches on

Saturday, followed by the reverse

singles and doubles on Sunday –

Kvitova is the woman to watch this

weekend. If she’s at her best,

the Ics could find it’s all

Ova rather quickly.

SUNDAY FORMULA 1 | ABU DHABI GRAND PRIX | YAS MARINA CIRCUIT, YAS MARINA

SKY SPORTS F1 1PM

Vettel chasing five-for

Sebastian Vettel’s dominant

victory in India last weekend

means there’s daylight

between him and nearest rival

Fernando Alonso with three

races remaining. But the

Spaniard insists he’s still in

the championship hunt, as F1

returns to the millionaires’

playground of Abu Dhabi.

This weekend the Yas Marina

circuit makes its fourth

appearance on the race

calendar. The unique day-todusk

race will be given the

added spice of a title tussle

this year, but with Red Bull in

such irresistible form, it’s

going to be difficult for anyone

to challenge them. Vettel’s

victory in India was his fourth

in succession, and saw him

become the first driver since

Ayrton Senna in 1989 to lead

every lap for three

consecutive races.

Given that no driver has

managed to win in Abu Dhabi

from further back than second

on the grid, Alonso will know

that Saturday qualifying will

hold the key to the outcome of

the race. Elsewhere, Lotus

announced Kimi Raikkonen will

remain at the team for 2013,

while Williams’ Bruno Senna will

look to build on his 10th-place

finish in India as he continues

his bid for a 2013 drive.

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| 57

Chris Brunskill/Getty Images, David Rogers/Getty Images

7 Days

Saturday Rugby leAgue | Autumn inteRnAtionAl: englAnD v FRAnce | ms3 cRAven PARk, hull | bbc one 2.30Pm

BESt

OF tHE

rESt

city ground, esPn 7pm

Friday

FootbAll

FA cup First

Round: cambridge

city v mk Dons,

FootbAll championship:

brighton v leeds, Amex stadium,

sky sports 1 7.45pm

Saturday

FootbAll

la liga: Real madrid v Zaragoza,

bernabeu, sky sports 4 7pm

boXing Prizefighter:

light middleweights, york hall,

bethnal green, sky sports 1 8pm

FootbAll la liga: valencia v

Atletico madrid, mestalla stadium,

sky sports 4 9pm

Sunday

motoRsPoRt FiA World touring

car championship: china,

british eurosport 1 6.45am

snookeR international

championship: Final, sichuan

58 | November 2 2012 |

international tennis center, china,

british eurosport 2 11.30am

FootbAll sPl: Dundee united v

celtic, tannadice Park,

sky sports 4 12.45pm

tennis AtP Paris: Final, Palais

omnisports de Paris-bercy,

sky sports 2 1.30pm

Rugby union Aviva Premiership:

saracens v london Wasps,

vicarage Road, esPn 1.30pm

Athletics

new york marathon, new york,

british eurosport 1 2.30pm

FootbAll FA cup First Round:

Dorchester town v Plymouth Argyle,

Avenue stadium, esPn 4pm

thurSday

golF singapore open: Day 1,

serapong course, singapore,

sky sports 1 5am

cRicket Australia v south Africa:

First test Day 1, brisbane cricket

ground, sky sports 1 11.55pm

France,

then the

world

Saturday Rugby union | AvivA PRemieRshiP: hARlequins v gloucesteR

the stooP | sky sPoRts 1 5.15Pm

tough at the top

It’s less than a year to the 2013 Rugby League

World cup, which is being held in this

country, and saturday’s international

against France is a crucial part of

england’s preparation for the tournament.

After their 80-point romp against Wales

last weekend, though, they can expect

a sterner test against France in

hull tomorrow.

Players from the catalan Dragons

dominate the French squad, which under

new coach Aurelien cologni seems more

organised, committed and focused than in

recent years. they have a big pack, led by

former bradford bulls front-rower olivier

elima and including Dragons prop Remi

casty – plus plenty of pace and guile in the

backs, with the likes of stand-off thomas

bosc and full back cyril stacul.

Denied key personnel through injury,

england coach steve mcnamara has been

forced to include a raft of new faces and

try some different combinations. man of

steel sam tomkins missed the Wales game

through injury, but he is confident of

featuring this week.

that said, tomkins’ replacement, leeds

Rhinos’ Zak hardaker (pictured), was

outstanding against the Welsh; and another

debutant, Warrington prop chris hill, was

impressive. this augurs well for the future,

given that competition for places is vital if

england are to lift the trophy in 12 months’

time. they have the little matter of a

revitalised French team to take care of

before that, though. catch all the action live

on the beeb tomorrow afternoon.

If your glass is half-full, then

Harlequins are unbeaten in three in

all competitions and sit at the top

of the Aviva Premiership. if it’s

half-empty, then they’ve lost two of

their past three league games and

had to rely on a lucky last-minute

try to beat london irish last week.

optimist or pessimist, there’s

no denying that quins have a big

test tomorrow, with international

selection having stripped them of

some huge assets and put pressure

on the likes of karl Dickson, tom

casson and seb stegmann to step

up. the absence of nick easter

(left) from the england squad is a

boost, however, while ben botica

continues to impress at fly half.

the visitors, meanwhile, head

to london in flying form. Jimmy

cowan’s first start for the club

added extra vigour in their victory

over leicester last week, and with

the power of Akapusi qera up

front and the sensational skills of

James simpson-Daniel in the

backs, this side just wants to play

rugby. expect a cracker.

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aromatic, fresh fragrance that bursts to

the surface in swells of peppermint and

lavender, then moves out with force and

intensity in heart notes of jasmine,

oakmoss, geranium and sandalwood.

A long, warm and sensual flow of amber

and musk brings it to a close, embracing

the power of the ocean all the way.

In partnership with

* Please see our website for latest call charges

Mini super

Presenting the long-awaited

iPhone Plus. That does not look

like a comfortable hand position

iPad mini

Hilariously, one of Apple’s

marketing lines for their

scaled-down tablet boasts

that its 7.9” screen is bigger

than similar rival offerings.

That’s not the only difference,

however – Apple might be

uncharacteristically late to the

seven-inch party, but the price

of the iPad mini is certainly in

keeping with their previous

form. At more than £100

dearer than the Kindle Fire, is it

worth it? Well, it’s 23 per cent

thinner and less than half the

weight of the full-sized iPad, but

can run all the same apps and

uses the same A5 chip as the

third generation iPad grande.

We’re getting one because we

find the transition from iPhone

to iPad a bit abrupt and need

something to ease us in.

From £269 | apple.com/uk

60 | November 2 2012 |

Actual size

P68

Don Draper breaks out the bad

shades – and the good whisky

– for season five of Mad Men

TF . T SEST 4 4.

6 6F 9 9INLAND 1 D D 1 9 6 4

26-Inch LED HD 720p TV,

with Built-in Freeview & PVR

• Ultra-slim LED design

• HD Ready (720p)

• USB Recording

• Built-in Freeview

£169.99

happy Finnish

Finlux 42-inch 3D LED Full HD 1080p TV

Stunning picture clarity & Freeview

Includes 8x 3D Glasses!

The Finlux 42F7020-D 3D TV offers breath-taking 3D action and

8 pairs of comfortable 3D glasses to enjoy it with. A handy

built-in 2D to 3D upscaling feature allows you to transform any

programme, match or gaming session into the third dimension,

adding extra depth to the enjoyment of all your favourite shows.

Its 100Hz too, so all your sporting and cinematic action will be

smoothly delivered before your eyes. Plus with USB PVR

recording you’ll get to pause, rewind and record live shows via

your TV!

32-Inch LCD TV, Full-HD

1080p with Built-in Freeview

• LCD TV

• Full HD (1080p)

• 2x HDMI & 2x Scart

• USB Playback

£199.99

£349.99

was £499.99

MODEL NO: 42F7020-D SAVE £150!

40-Inch Smart LED, Full-HD

1080p TV, PVR & Freeview HD

• BBC iPlayer & YouTube

• Freeview HD

• Full HD (1080p)

• 4x HDMI, 2 USB

£399.99

MODEL NO: 26H6030 MODEL NO: 32FLHD905HU MODEL NO:40F8030-T

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FREE Next-day delivery

Order before noon (weekdays) and we will deliver the next working day!

AM/PM and Saturday options also available.

Extra time Grooming

Facing facts

And the facts are that winter’s here,

and your face could do with a little

more care and attention, you old dog

Bulldog Expert

That’s right – we’re not at home to amateurs here

at Sport, and Bulldog’s neatly packaged collection

barks exactly what it says on the tin. It includes

a face scrub, face wash, aftershave balm and

moisturiser in the aforementioned Bulldog tin, so

you have something in which to keep your (dog)

biscuits after you’ve finished. The scrub (100ml)

is packed with eight essential oils, plus pumice,

coconut shell, rosehip oil and shea butter to gently

exfoliate the skin. The face wash (175ml) contains

those same oils, as do the moisturiser (100ml)

and aftershave balm (75ml) – but the latter two

come with the welcome addition of green tea,

green algae, konjac mannan and vitamin E to help

rehydrate. The collection is also part of Boots’ 3

for 2 Christmas offer. We’re usually a fan of Puss

in Boots in panto at this time of year, but Bulldog

in Boots might just be the better option.

boots.com

The exFOLiaTing FaciaL peeL

Ole Henriksen Lemon Strip Flash Peel

More wrinkles on your mush than ol’ Fido up there

on the tin? Then get your paws on this spa-grade

facial peel. It’s powered by lactic, glycolic and fruit

acids that exfoliate and resurface skin, while algae

extract soothes and calms. It will increase cell

turnover, brighten skin tone and – most important

of all – reduce the appearance of wrinkles.

lookfantastic.com

£35 for 50ml

62 | November 2 2012 |

The skincare seT

The MOisTUriser

Lip BaLM

Vitaman Organic

Lip Moisturiser

Vitaman’s range is, were you

actually a dog, good enough

to eat. And, what with their

lip moisturiser being made

entirely from organic

ingredients, it would probably

do you no harm. But we

wouldn’t recommend it. We do

recommend you pucker up and

spread some over the gate to

your gob, however, because

its instantly soothing,

moisturising and healing

properties will help repair

dry, cracked, rough, chapped

or irritated lips. A word

of warning, should your

curiosity get the better of

you: chowing down on it will

do nothing for your breath.

Mistletoe alert...

Available end of November

from vitamangrooming.co.uk

£20

£11.50 for 15ml

Extra time Kira Dikhtyar

Super

woman

64 | November 2 2012 |

Picdesk.com/Pole Position

That’s how Kira Dikhtyar describes herself in

her Twitter biog. Just what, this picture aside,

makes her super? Let’s start with her being

a supermodel. She was also, in the not-toodistant

past, a pretty super rhythmic gymnast,

having joined the Russian national team at the age

of 12, training up to 14 hours a day.

That hard work was not without its reward – she

competed in the 1998 Junior Olympic Games, and

more recently put her gymnastic tutelage to good

use as a commentator for the Olympic Games proper

for Russian TV. She can also be seen somersaulting

her way through a recent ad for Lee Jeans, in which

she manoeuvres through a city backstreet at dusk

wearing a pair of the pants she’s peddling – not unlike

an avenging superhero.

The tagline for that ad, incidentally, is ‘A Lee don’t

lie’, and it would seem the 23-year-old Dikhtyar

follows that same truth-telling ethos to the letter.

Back to Twitter, she encourages her followers to

“keep your heels, head and standards high”.

All in all, super. A Lee don’t lie. And neither do we.

| 65

Extra time Kit

Winter treats

for your feet

Long, dark evenings can mean

only one thing – shoe-shopping!

1. Salomon Speedcross 3 CS

Salomon’s climashield technology combined

with an aggressive tread makes a shoe that

will keep you moving through the roughest,

wettest terrain – perfect for winter trail

running. Available in a variety of eye-catching

combinations, it will provide that extra edge,

whether you are an extreme runner or keeping

the pace on your sopping morning commute.

£110 | salomonrunning.com

2. Puma Complete Nightfox TR

A padded heel, tongue and ankle. A 3D sockliner

for inner comfort. A midsole cushioning

system. Puma’s off-road option offers

a comfortable experience, especially

for those with high arches. Reflective styling

means you’ll stand out in the dark, too, so we

really are starting to run out of excuses.

£68 | prodirectrunning.com

3. Nike Zoom Structure+ 16 Shield

Nike have given their trainers a winter

overhaul: highly reflective and water-repellent

material has been added to six of their

premium styles. The Structure+ is one such

shoe, and boasts a cushion and Phylon (Nike’s

own foam) co-moulded flexible dual-density

sole. Apparently, that means it’s comfortable.

£100 | nike.com

4. Asics Gel-Volt 33

A stripped-back offering made for serious

runners planning to put in the miles. It is

designed to work with your foot to enhance

your natural motion at every point in your

stride. The bright colours, meanwhile, are

designed to ensure you stand out in the dark.

£80 | prodirectrunning.com

5. VivoBarefoot Neo Trail

Multi-directional lugs on the sole of this model

increase traction, while a puncture-resistant

layer provides a lightweight feeling that still

offers protection. The Neo Trail, then, will

give you a ‘barefoot’ running experience that

will survive any terrain.

£89 | vivobarefoot.com/uk

6. Adidas Supernova Riot 4

Adidas’ Traxion outsole boasts maximum grip

in all directions, while the Formotion design

adapts to the ground as you run – all of which

means a comfy run that should see you stay

on your feet at all times. That will keep Ray

Wilkins happy, if nothing else. And, at the end of

the day, isn’t that the real point of all this?

£90 | adidas.co.uk

66 | November 2 2012 |

1

2

3

4

5

Extra time Entertainment

Oscar wild

A pair of new films likely to send Academy

Award voters delirious, while Don Draper

refuses to be put in the shade by anybody

BLU-ray

Groundhog Day

It’s testament to this comedy masterpiece’s

influence that its title has become shorthand for a

tiresomely repetitive event (think England hoofing

penalties over the bar in a shootout, etc). But the

film itself is a joy to watch over

and over thanks to a careerbest

turn from Bill Murray as

the acerbic weatherman who

gradually changes, even as his

day does not. Out on Monday

as a special-edition Blu-ray

with all-new deleted scenes.

Mad Men Season Five

A new wife and a pushy young rival at work are twin

challenges for Don Draper in the fifth season of Mad

Men. So the ad exec does what he does best: breaks

out the good whisky and connives his way through it

all. What makes this HBO series

so enduring, however, is that it

never lets its characters go stale.

From Roger taking LSD to Lane

and Pete’s old-style fisticuffs,

it’s a show that still amuses and

The Master

Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s

first film since 2007’s There Will

Be Blood sees him shift from the

story of oil to the sinister tale of

a snake-oil salesman. The Master

follows a disturbed naval veteran

(Joaquin Phoenix) in 1950 who

falls in with cult leader Philip

Seymour Hoffman. His character

is based on Scientology founder

L Ron Hubbard, but you’re never

MUsIc

Stubborn Heart

Quirky synth hooks and

soulful vocals make this

UK duo’s debut album

one to listen out for

from Monday. Their

songs seem like they

belong in a languidly cool

indie film soundtrack,

except Luca Santucci’s

voice tends to grab your

full attention. In Need

Someone, he cranks

up the heartbreak to

spine-tingling effect.

Argo

quite sure if Hoffman’s master

is simply scamming his followers

or truly believes his unorthodox

methods can help people. The

film’s unsettling atmosphere and

black comedy moments make for

an intriguing mix; but it’s also

opaque, with the audience often

left on the outside. Hoffman and

a reborn Phoenix are, however,

worth the admission price alone.

DVD FILM

BOOK

Based on remarkable, actual events in 1979, Argo

tells the tale of a CIA mission to rescue US citizens

from Iran by pretending they’re part of a crew

filming a cheap sci-fi movie. Ben

Affleck (no stranger to bad sci-fi)

confirms his career turnaround

by directing and starring in this

thriller that mixes tension with

New York Drawings

Adrian Tomine

From a bookshop owner

locking eyes with a

neighbour as she gets an

Amazon.com delivery to

strangers on the subway

noticing they’re reading

the same book, this

fabulous collection of

New Yorker illustrations

shows Adrian Tomine’s

gift for capturing city life.

Yarish/AMC

humour poked at their madcap

surprises. On DVD from Monday. Michael

68 | November 2 2012 |

FILM

plan. In cinemas on Wednesday.

MODIFICATIONS

Modify your car.

Play to your strengths.

Everything you do in Most Wanted earns you Speed

Points, increases your Speed Level and unlocks

Modifi cations. Upgrade your tyres, chassis, body and

suspension. Switch colours. Add license plates. Rollout

in style. Enhance your car’s natural strengths, whether

that’s straight-line speed, off -road performance or

strength and durability. Or address its weaknesses.

Improve the F-150 Raptor’s top speed, get the Corvette

driving well off -road or add strength to the Arial Atom.

NON-STOP MULTIPLAYER

No menus. No lobbies.

Non-stop competition.

Our online play is about intense competition, rank and vehicle

modifi cation. We’re into team games, variety, persistent scoring

and endless rewards. Pick a car, meet up with your friends and

enjoy a nonstop Playlist of competitive events. Fight for position

on the start line or turn around to take out oncoming rivals at the

fi nish. It’s online driving, as you’ve never seen it.

NEEDFORSPEED.COM

MAKE TROUBLE

For the cops.

For your friends. For fun.

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“Best Racing Game”

Buckle up, hit the gas and hold on tight; you’re in for the ride

of your life. In Most Wanted, you’ll experience dream cars, the

way you always wanted them. No tracks and no simulation. It’s

about taking your ride to the limit and beyond, nailing perfect

200 mile-an-hour drifts, slamming your friends off the road,

outsmarting the cops and getting away with it in style.

The resurrection of Ricky Hatton

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