The Guardian

The last person in the stadium who truly believed was Fery himself, outclassed but never outfought, a 5ft 9in battery pack in a world of power plants Well, we were beginning to run out of ferry puns anyway. Arthur Fery’s run to the semi-finals of Wimbledon always had a kind of glazed and surreal quality to it, a shaggy-dog story that kept adding more and more unbelievable layers : the fling that …

Sign up now! Sign up now! Sign up now? Sign up now! So here we stand. The quarter-finals of this unique and expanded Geopolitics World Cup have arrived! A whopping 96 games have been played and 40 teams have now received their marching orders. The Germans, the Dutch and the Brazilians are gone. And despite the absence of such heavyweights, it’s still a lip-smacking last eight lineup to tuck into.…

The people of Bryne are proud of local hero’s rise to the top of world football as Norway prepare to face England Surrounded by red hats, No 9 shirts and Erling Haaland action toys at her fabric shop in the small Norwegian town of Bryne, Olinda Haaland – no relation but proud to share the now world-famous name – said everybody in the striker’s home town was a football fan these days. “It’s been p…

Head coach says ‘you can’t avoid focusing’ on the forward, who has form against Tuchel’s sides, before the World Cup quarter-final The way that Thomas Tuchel remembers it, he was the only choice for the award. He had led Chelsea to Champions League glory in 2020-21 so when the German publication Sport Bild named its coach of the season, it had to give it to him. “Yeah, there was no way out,” the …

Muchova is more experienced with one major final to her name but her fearless compatriot has youth on her side It feels somehow fitting that at the end of one of the most open women’s singles events in history, two Czech players should find themselves fighting it out for the biggest title in the game. Saturday’s clash between Karolina Muchova and Linda Noskova is the first all-Czech Wimbledon fin…

Wigan 30-18 Warrington Austin Daniel scores first senior try to seal win Wigan Warriors ended a difficult week in which one of their star players, Junior Nsemba, was subjected to online racial abuse with a spirited win over Warrington that defied a huge injury crisis and showcased the very best of the next generation of talent at the Super League heavyweights. Greater Manchester police confirmed …

Mikel Merino’s amazing moment arrived once more, a country circling the corner flag with him. The man who came on to scored the late, late goals that took Spain into a European championship semi final two years ago and a World Cup quarter final four days ago, only went and did it again. This is some hat-trick, history made here. Introduced as sub on 85.32 with Spain struggling to find a way throu…

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Defending champion triumphs 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 Sinner will face Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final Novak Djokovic returned to Centre Court, one of the venues that has most defined his legendary career, desperately hoping that he had enough left in the tank to conjure up another miracle. His run to another grand slam semi-final at 39 years old was an immense achievement, but he wanted more. He always w…

German beats British wildcard 7-6 (0), 6-2, 6-4 Zverev advances to final at SW19 for first time For around 45 minutes of this unfathomably enormous occasion in Arthur Fery’s otherwise understated career, the second-lowest ranked Wimbledon men’s semi-finalist in the open era handled business supremely well. Faced with tackling the sport’s newest grand slam champion, Alexander Zverev, he served wel…

Only Test, day one: India 285; England 21-1 Ecclestone becomes England’s leading women’s wicket-taker The opening day of the first women’s Test match at Lord’s started with a nod to the historical injustice of the long, slow journey to reach this moment – a group of former women players, denied the chance themselves to play a Test at the home of cricket, given the chance to ring a ceremonial bell…

England need to be wary of a united Ståle Solbakken side who know their strengths before the World Cup quarter-final England fans are going to have to be really patient on Saturday night because this World Cup quarter-final against Norway will feel like a grind and I would not be surprised if the match goes the full distance and we see 120 close-fought minutes. Let me be clear: this will not be a…

Tim Merlier powers to win on stage seven in sprint Pogacar keeps overall advantage over Vingegaard Tim Merlier of the Soudal-Quick Step team won the seventh stage of the Tour de France in a classic sprinter’s finish on the banks of the Garonne in Bordeaux. As the Tour headed away from the Pyrenees, through Gascony towards the Atlantic coast, a lull settled over a shell-shocked peloton as it came …