Hallelujah for our sporting summer… but what a shame it’s been crunched into just 45 days
- The Ashes start Friday and Queen’s is just around the corner this weekend
- Now that the football season is over, the non-money drama can begin
- However, some of the sports will compete for the public’s attention
The Ashes start on Friday, the first balls will be hit at Queen’s this weekend and quite a few people will be murmuring a low hallelujah.
It has lasted until mid-June, and that is almost the longest day of the year, but the perpetual drumbeat of domestic football is fading and summer sports can finally really begin.
Gareth Southgate’s England play European qualifiers in Gozo, Malta or somewhere else later this week, but most people’s eyes will be on the biggest Test series of all.
Manchester City have won their treble and now it’s time for sports theater where the outcome will not largely depend on who has the most money behind them.
Even if, as in my case, you loved football long before it became fashionable, this part of the year is an unforgettable moment. It might just be a respite before national obsession reignites in Britain (the Women’s World Cup is on the other side of the world), but the air will feel a little more oxygenated.
In the coming weeks we will see if English cricket’s bazball can stand its ultimate test. The lawn tennis season will continue into Wimbledon where more history will be made. Every year, Formula 1 makes a pilgrimage to one of its great traditional circuits, Silverstone, and the best golfers in the world meet for the Open on the golf courses at Royal Liverpool.
You never know, some might be more intrigued by all of this than to see if City’s bloodless franchise, brilliantly put together and managed, can sweep everyone in front of them.
The unfortunate thing is that in just 45 days it will all be over and too much of a good thing has submerged in just under seven weeks.
The third Ashes Test at Headingley, for example, takes place right in the middle of Wimbledon this year and does nothing to compete for public attention. The most egregious clash of all is the fourth Test at Old Trafford, which takes place on the exact same days as the Open and is only fifty miles away.
Blame it on the England Cricket Board’s obsession with The Hundred, which it believes must go it alone in August without the distraction of a huge Test series. Of course, by then the football season is back on and there will only be one winner.
One motivation behind this start-up cricket competition was to try to secure more free-to-air television coverage for it.
When it comes to visibility in the attention struggle this summer, this is tennis’ trump card. Old habits die hard and many are still drawn to watching the BBC which, as always, will give Queen’s and Eastbourne a strong showing ahead of the full Championship coverage.
The All England Club have always had their eye on this special ball. It continues to reap the rewards of its far-sighted decision to cement its relationship with the national broadcaster, even during times when there was more money to be made from others in the short term.
It was confirmed on Monday that Clare Balding will lead a presentation team who otherwise conspicuously lack tennis experience in Sue Barker’s absence. No mention of Roger Federer, by the way, whose appearance will be highly cursory.
When it comes to the issues emerging from the French Open, one of the big questions will be whether anyone can challenge Novak Djokovic in a best-of-five set format. It was remarkable and somewhat ominous that in his press conference after the last press conference he announced that he intended to arrive in London relatively early.
It will be fascinating to see how Carlos Alcaraz fares at Queen’s. Lower expectations mean his hopes won’t be dashed by the tensions that he so bluntly admitted crushed him at Roland Garros.
It would be of great help if Andy Murray could pull off another sustained run on the grass. This year’s hard evidence suggests that is not the case. While it was great to see him win the Surbiton Challenger, some of the fanfare was overdone as he didn’t beat anyone higher than 69.
It’s a blow that neither Emma Raducanu nor Jack Draper are fit but hope is eternal and on grass there’s always a chance another Brit will emerge from the crowd. At the end of the day, we’ll likely be looking for superlatives again over the mid-July weekend to describe winning machine Djokovic, while Elena Rybakina should have the smart bucks defending her women’s title.
Golf can learn from tennis
The sport of golf has been rocked by the LIV “merger” and no one can be sure where the journey is headed.
Regardless of where the structure of the tour settles, when it comes to golf it would be wise to look into tennis as well and make sure it doesn’t fall into the same trap of nobody having overall responsibility for anything. In tennis there are four different Grand Slams, a global federation (ITF) and men’s and women’s tournaments that try to coordinate the flow of play with different interests. Now there is a young players’ union.
Most of the sport’s shortcomings and difficulties in maximizing its potential in a changing landscape can be traced to this administrative jumble.
The gender debate at night games continues
Designated night sessions do not add much value to the French Open and (apart from Gael Monfils) have not proved this again even in a year when the weather has been exceptionally good. But the tournament deserves credit for learning from last year’s mistakes and rescheduling them at a more sensible time, without horrible late finishes.
The unequal distribution of men’s games in this slot compared to those involving women inevitably caused controversy. However, overall scheduling worked well and overall the women were evenly represented on Court Philippe Chatrier throughout the day.
The gender balance in night games could be a cause for concern in some parts of the press room, but far less so outside the bubble. The big difference remains that unlike the media, the public has a free choice and has to spend money on their tickets.
The Paris Olympics will be breathtaking
Life on Tour: For 18 days at our underground workplace in Roland Garros, driving up Avenue Mozart to the Trocadero was the perfect escape. From there, one never tires of enjoying the best view in town of the Eiffel Tower and the Champ de Mars beyond. You’ll see this view often at the Olympics, and an American TV station’s morning show had a mobile studio set up there for a few days as a test run.
Roland Garros has been trialling some security measures for the games over the past two weeks and they can’t be expected to be flippant or particularly charming. Otherwise, the Olympic Games in Paris should be breathtaking.