All posts by 234Radio

Britain’s Jack Draper produced a superb fightback to beat Novak Djokovic and reach the Indian Wells fourth round – a result he believes could be “a real big moment” in his season.

Defending champion Draper regrouped impressively to beat 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic 4-6 6-4 7-6 (7-5) in a “real physical battle” of two hours and 35 minutes.

Djokovic, a five-time winner at Indian Wells, had beaten Draper in the only previous meeting between them at Wimbledon in 2021.

The victory is an important one for Draper as he rebuilds after a torrid eight-month spell plagued with an arm injury.

“To beat Novak is something that is mind-blowing,” Draper, who is playing only his second ATP Tour event of the season, told BBC Sport.

“I’ve watched him since I was a kid, idolising him. Unbelievable respect for the player that he is.

“I still want to play better, and feel better on the court, but I think for how long I have had off the court to come here and play three tough matches already and play that one, it’s huge for me.

“It’s something I will probably look back on in a few months and think this is a real big moment for me.”

Djokovic, runner-up to Alcaraz at January’s Australian Open, won 87% of points on his serve as he clinched the opening set.

However, Draper levelled to force a decider as the quality rose, with Djokovic winning a gruelling 26-shot rally in the opening game at 30-30 on the Serb’s serve.

The Briton broke his rival’s next service game but, serving for the match at 5-4 up, was broken back as the match went to a tie-break.

Once again, Draper regrouped impressively to advance and set up a quarter-final against former world number one Daniil Medvedev.

“It was a real physical battle, there were definitely a lot of ups and downs in the match,” Draper, 24, said.

“To come through that match is something I will never forget.”

Djokovic, playing his first tournament reaching the final of the Australian Open in January, believes he paid the price for the 26-shot rally.

“It cost me a break after,” he said. “It was great winning that point in that game, but I just ran completely out of the gas.

“I got the crowd backing me and I felt the energy. It was, like, ‘maybe I’m going take this one’.

“It was so close, so close. I mean, just unfortunate few mistakes from my side.”

Draper lost an exhilarating 26-shot rally, was broken back when serving for the match and won one less point than Djokovic – but still came out on top.

The rally – full of extraordinary drop shots, lobs and smashes – will take some beating this year.

Djokovic won it to hold serve in the opening game of the deciding set, but the effort contributed to him dropping serve next time and Draper appeared in control – until he played a very poor game when serving for the match.

Both players were virtually bent double with exhaustion before the match point, which sealed Draper’s victory.

For the first time since his comeback to the tour, he will now have to play matches on back to back days.

Norrie is yet to drop a set at this year’s tournament and backed up his win over sixth seed Alex de Minaur in the previous round with an impressive 6-4 6-2 victory over world number 117 Rinky Hijikata in one hour and 16 minutes.

Norrie has a good record at the hard-court event in California, having won the title in 2021.

He faces a formidable challenge against Alcaraz, who is yet to lose a match this year and breezed past Casper Ruud 6-1 7-6 (7-2).

Norrie told BBC Sport he has gained confidence from his results at Indian Wells so far – and also from an “unreal” pre-tournament practice session with world number two Jannik Sinner.

“We had the centre court and it was meant to be two hours, but we were both having an unreal practice and both enjoying it,” Norrie said.

“He’s like, ‘No, come on man, let’s keep going’. I had something to do for the tournament and he had a photoshoot to do, and he was just like, ‘Cancel that’.

“I had to text my agent and postpone my thing and we kept going. I think we played about three hours and 20 minutes.

Britain’s Sonay Kartal says it was “one match too many” as a lower back injury forced her retirement from a fourth-round Indian Wells match against world number three Elena Rybakina.

Receiving physio treatment between games, Kartal lost the first set to the Kazakhstani 6-3.

Then, in clear discomfort as she trailed 4-3 in the second having been broken when she stretched for a return, she made her way to the net to shake hands.

The 24-year-old had battled the problem through the tournament and said she had to “pull the plug” on Wednesday as the pain got more intense the further the match went on.

“As athletes you are super in-tune with your body, and I’ve had it pretty much the whole event, so I kind of knew that I could keep pushing,” Kartal told BBC Sport.

“But today it was unfortunately one match too many.

“[I played] a super-tough opponent, so you need to be at your best. I was far from that but still managed to make it competitive.”

Rybakina will play fifth seed Jessica Pegula in the quarter-finals after the American overcame Belinda Bencic 6-3 7-6 (7-5) to secure her first victory in five meetings between the pair.

World number two Iga Swiatek reeled off 10 consecutive games in a 6-2 6-0 victory over Czech 13th-seed Karolina Muchova.

Ireland back-row Jack Conan is wary of threat of Scotland fly-half Finn Russell, describing him as a player who can “pull a rabbit out of a hat”.

Russell was instrumental in Scotland’s thrilling 50-40 win over France at Murrayfield last weekend and will look to have a similar impact when Gregor Townsend’s side face Ireland at the Aviva Stadium in their final Six Nations game on Saturday.

Both sides are eyeing up the Triple Crown and have an outside chance of a championship title and Conan, who played with Russell on the British and Irish Lions tour in the summer, knows Andy Farrell’s side must stifle his influence to claim a win.

“[He’s a] Fantastic player and someone if you give time and space to, he can pick any lock and pull a rabbit out of a hat and do wonderful things,” Conan said.

“When his team is on the front foot, he looks fantastic. He’s a great fella and unbelievable rugby player, all the ability in the world and playing really well.

The winner of the game in Dublin, which kicks off at 14:10 GMT, faces a nervous wait to see if they have clinched the championship, with leaders and title favourites France hosting England in their final game at 20:10.

Conan said his side must not get carried away with talk of the championship and must instead focus on extending their 11-game winning run over Scotland in all competitions and retaining the Triple Crown.

“All of that is out of our hands, so we’ll control what we can and be focussed on putting in the best performance that we can and if everything else goes our way brilliant, but we need to worry about ourselves and what we need to do first and foremost,” he added.

The 33-year-old, who said it was “gutting to miss one of the biggest days in Ireland sporting history” after he was forced to withdraw with illness before their record 42-21 away win over England at the Allianz Stadium, has urged his side to be better than they were against Steve Borthwick’s side in order to beat Scotland.

From “sticking a pen in a couple” while having a youthful flutter to owning a King George VI Chase winner and potential Cheltenham Gold Cup victor, Harry Redknapp has come a long way in horse racing.

The FA Cup-winning football manager’s love of the sport can be traced back to his grandmother Maggie Brown, who was a bookmaker’s runner in London’s East End, at a time when betting shops and off-course betting were illegal.

On Friday, his horse Jukebox Man will attempt to add the Cheltenham showpiece to his King George win in December.

The King George VI Chase is considered the biggest jumps race of the season before the Cheltenham Festival, while the Gold Cup is described by the Jockey Club as the most prestigious steeplechase in the world.

After claiming a photo-finish victory at Kempton Park on Boxing Day to topple 2024 King George winner Banbridge and 9-4 joint-favourite Gaelic Warrior, Redknapp said: “We’ve come into the Champions League today.”

But can he win jump racing’s equivalent of the Champions League?

“We have a chance, but it is a tough race,” Redknapp told BBC Radio 5 Live:

Among those standing in his way are Gaelic Warrior, Jango Baie, Haiti Couleur and last year’s winner Inothewayurthinkin.

Redknapp said: “Just to have a runner in the Gold Cup is a dream come true.

“We have had so much fun with Jukebox Man, which won the King George on Boxing Day, which is one of the most iconic races in the racing calendar.

“To go to the Gold Cup and to have a runner with a bit of a chance is great.”

Victory would be the crowning moment of a 70-year love affair with the sport that began during childhood.

“My nan would take the bets,” he said. “I’d come out for my school dinner when I’m eight or nine and she was getting put in the back of a police van and taken to Poplar police station.”

Redknapp’s nan would tell him to “stick a pen in a couple“ that would be her bets for the day.

Despite his love of the sport, he has never been tempted to ride – “not for all the money in the world”.

”They get injured, these jump jockeys, and then they come back about three weeks later, he said.

“They’re not like footballers, are they?”

Redknapp owns shares in 26 horses.

“You’re not always successful,” he said.

Redknapp is among the favourites to take charge at Tottenham Hotspur once more if interim manager Igor Tudor is sacked.

Spurs have lost all four games since Tudor’s appointment last month, including Tuesday’s 5-2 defeat by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last 16 first leg.

They are one point above the Premier League relegation zone.

Redknapp, 79, managed Spurs from 2008 to 2012 and led them to the Champions League for the first time.

He told Radio 5 Live: “I don’t expect to get a call. I doubt very much that would happen. My focus this week is on Cheltenham.

“No-one’s got a magic wand. You can’t walk in and suddenly sprinkle stardust on the players.

“Whatever’s been going on has been going on there now for the last 40 games or so, this season, last season.

Igor Tudor was hired by Tottenham as a last-ditch attempt at surviving what would be a catastrophic relegation from the Premier League.

Despite being capable of turning the form of his previous clubs around, the firefighter coach has lost his first four games in charge, with the Champions League humiliation at Atletico Madrid a new low in Tottenham’s desperate season.

Admittedly, it isn’t easy to put out fires without a hose.

Between Ange Postecoglu’s final season and Thomas Frank’s spell this term, Spurs have been one of the worst teams domestically over a significant period of time.

Their troubles extend beyond just the coach, with injuries and recruitment clear challenges.

A big challenge so far has been in trying to fix Spurs’ approach off the ball.

Under Tudor, Spurs play in a shape that changes between a 5-2-3 and a 5-3-2 depending on whether one of the wingers drops into the midfield line.

The idea is for players to apply man-to-man pressure across the pitch, jumping from this initial defensive shape.

In less intense leagues, an aggressive man-to-man approach can provide quick wins when the opposition are less used to the tactic, especially if they are not physically and technically able to bypass such pressure.

The money spent by Premier League sides, however, has improved the level of technical quality, which helps players escape markers through dribbling or quick one-twos. Teams have prioritised physicality in their transfer business, too.

This is in response to shifting trends in English football. In February, Pep Guardiola said the game has more “man-marking” and is “more aggressive”.

For a man-to-man press to work well, it has to be done in a co-ordinated, aggressive manner. If any player is late to apply pressure, the opposition player has time and space on the ball, essentially giving them a man advantage.

Under Frank, Spurs’ defensive approach was more passive, often defending in a more rigid defensive block.

But as they lost to Arsenal in his first game in charge, Tudor was seen urging Micky van de Ven to step upfield. The Dutch centre-back and his team-mates were reluctant to do so at times – a potential hangover from Frank’s style of defending.

Spurs’ 5-3-2 shape lacks coverage in the wide areas with the wing-backs the only constants here.

The logic behind the 5-3-2 is that attacks through the middle of the pitch are more dangerous, so the three midfielders and two attackers are tasked with blocking this area.

When Spurs pressed from this central shape, Atletico, Fulham and Palace smartly placed players in wide and deep areas, increasing the distance Tottenham’s players had to run to apply pressure.

In the build-up to their second goal on Tuesday, Atletico were able to find a free man positioned deep on the right side of defence.

With Mathys Tel unable to apply pressure quickly enough, a long ball was played in behind to Marcus Llorente, running off the back of his marker.

Both Fulham and Palace utilised unorthodox shapes and movement against Spurs to exploit their defensive approach.

With Tudor’s side blocking the centre of the pitch, Palace were able to find their wing-backs positioned slightly deeper.

With Spurs’ back five often playing in a flat line, their wing-backs took longer to go from their starting position to applying pressure, which gave time for Daniel Munoz to find Evann Guessand.

This same freedom of movement was afforded to Fulham’s players, with Alexander Iwobi moving from the left side of midfield to the right on occasion.

Another way Spurs’ implementation of Tudor’s defensive tactics were countered came in the Fulham game.

In possession, Fulham played with a wide defensive line with the remaining players in attack, vacating the midfield at times.

Marco Silva’s men emptied this space in order to pull the Spurs players marking them deeper.

The Fulham attackers then burst into the large space in midfield when the pass from the centre-back was on.

There is obviously the topic of Spurs’ in-possession tactics, and the execution of them, which come with their own problems. Under Frank, Spurs built almost exclusively down the flanks, playing direct. In the Premier League this season, they sit 15th for line-breaking passes.

In the past four games, Spurs’ players have been asked to take more risk in their build-up, particularly through the centre of the pitch. Although well-intentioned, it has led to turnovers which have resulted in goals.

On Tuesday both teams struggled to keep their footing on a slippy Metropolitano pitch but Spurs, and Kinsky, gifted the Spanish side two goals through trying to pass it out from the back.

Prior to Tudor’s appointment, there were clear principles he held throughout his managerial career. Any hiring decision therefore should have had these rigid principles in mind: the formation, an aggressive man-to-man defensive approach, unique rotations, and a willingness to attack more directly.

Coaches, like players, can be platformed correctly or incorrectly. A good example is Vincent Kompany who, correctly platformed by Bayern following a poor season with Burnley, has dominated the Bundesliga.

The club, players and environment there suit his qualities as a manager and the principles of play he uses.

Being able to predict whether the conditions at a hiring club match the principles a coach uses is a specific and incredibly valuable skill, but especially given Spurs’ squad make-up, suspensions and injuries, it appears Tudor and Tottenham aren’t aligned.

Prior to the Atletico Madrid game Tudor said: “Old habits need more time than you expect to change.”