The Ashes start on Friday, the first balls will be struck at Queen’s this weekend, and more than a few people will be murmuring a quiet Hallelujah.
It has taken until the middle of June, and almost the longest day of the year, but the eternal drumroll of domestic football is fading and summer sport can finally begin in earnest.
Gareth Southgate’s England are playing in Gozo, or Malta or somewhere, in the European qualifiers later this week, but most people’s gaze will be averted to the greatest Test series of them all.
Manchester City have won their treble, and now it is time for some sporting theatre where the outcome will not be largely determined by who has the most money behind them.
Even if, as in my case, you loved football long before it was the height of fashion, this passage of the year is one to be treasured. It may only be a pause for breath before the national obsession cranks up again in the UK (the women’s World Cup takes place on the other side of the world) but the air will feel that little bit more oxygenated.
The Ashes starts on Friday, with Ben Stokes’ (right) England looking to finally re-gain the urn
England’s new-found philosophy will face the test of Australia, World Test champions
Wimbledon will have to compete with the Ashes this summer, with the third Test at Headingley in the middle of the tennis tournament
In the coming weeks we will see if English cricket’s Bazball can survive its ultimate examination. The grass court tennis season will wind its way through to Wimbledon, where more history will be written. Formula One makes its annual pilgrimage to one of its great legacy tracks, Silverstone, and the world’s finest golfers will converge on the links of Royal Liverpool for the Open.
You never know, some may be more captivated by all this than seeing whether City’s bloodless franchise, however brilliantly assembled and managed they are, could sweep all before them.
The unfortunate thing is that it will all be over in a matter of 45 days, with too much of a good thing shoehorned into barely seven weeks.
The third Ashes Test at Headingley, for example, sits slap in the middle of Wimbledon this year, doing neither of them any good in competing for the public’s attention. The most egregious clash of all is the fourth Test at Old Trafford, taking place on the exact same dates as the Open, happening only fifty miles away.
The culprit for this the England Cricket Board’s obsession with The Hundred, which it deemed has to stand alone in August without the distraction of a major Test series. Of course by then the football season will be back, and there will be only one winner.
One motivation behind this start-up cricket competition was the attempt to secure it more free-to-air television coverage.
When it comes to visibility in the jostling for eyeballs this summer this is very much tennis’s trump card. Old habits die hard, and huge numbers of people are still drawn to watch on the BBC, which as ever will give Queen’s and Eastbourne a strong billing before its blanket coverage of the Championships.
The All England Club has always kept its eye on this particular ball. It continues to reap the rewards of its far sighted decision to cement the relationship with the national broadcaster, even at times when there was more short-term money to be made from going with others.
The English Cricket Board’ obsession with The Hundred means the Ashes will clash with several other sporting events
Clare Balding will head a presentation team for Wimbledon following Sue Barker’s retirement
It was confirmed on Monday that Clare Balding will head a presentation team which, in the absence of Sue Barker, is otherwise conspicuously short of tennis experience. No mention, incidentally, of Roger Federer, from whom any appearance will be of the most fleeting kind.
When it comes to matters arising from the French Open, one of the big questions will be whether anyone can emerge to challenge Novak Djokovic over the best-of-five set format. It was notable, and slightly ominous, that he dropped into his post final press conference that he was planning to arrive in London relatively early.
It will be fascinating to see how Carlos Alcaraz fares at Queen’s. Lowered expectations mean that his hopes will not be destroyed by the tension which, as he so starkly admitted, felled him at Roland Garros.
A great help would be if Andy Murray can summon up one more sustained run on the grass. The hard evidence of this year suggests not. While it was great to see him winning at the Surbiton Challenger, some of the fanfare was slightly overblown as he did not defeat anyone ranked higher than 69.
It is a blow that neither Emma Raducanu nor Jack Draper are fit, but hope springs eternal, and on grass there is always the chance that another Brit will emerge from the pack. When all is said and done the likelihood is that, come the weekend of mid-July, we will once again be groping for superlatives to describe the winning machine that is Djokovic, while the smart money should be on Elena Rybakina to defend her women’s title.
It would be great to see Andy Murray summon up a sustained run, but the evidence this year suggests that won’t happen
It’s likely we will once again see Novak Djokovic claim victory in at the end of the tournament
Golf can learn from tennis
Golf has been convulsed by the LIV ‘merger’, and nobody can be sure where it is all heading.
Wherever the tour structure settles, golf would be wise to look at tennis and make sure that it does not fall into the same trap of having nobody in overall charge of anything. Tennis has four different Grand Slams, a global body (ITF), and men’s and women’s tours trying to co-ordinate the running of the game, with differing vested interests. Now there is a fledgling players’ union added to the mix.
Most of the sport’s shortcomings, and difficulties in maximising its potential in a changing landscape, can be traced back to this administrative mash-up.
Night matches gender debate rolls on
Designated night sessions are not a huge enhancement to the French Open, and (Gael Monfils aside) did not prove so again, even in a year when the weather was exceptionally good. But the tournament deserves credit for learning from the mistakes of last year and programming them at a more sensible time, with no horrendous late finishes.
The lopsided allocation of men’s matches in this slot compared to those involving women inevitably caused debate. The scheduling broadly worked well, however, and overall the women were equally represented on Court Philippe Chatrier through the whole course of the day.
The gender balance of night matches at Roland Garros has caused plenty of debate
The gender balance of night matches might be a cause celebre in some parts of the press room, far less so outside the bubble. As ever the big difference is that the public are those making a discretionary choice and having to part with money for their tickets, unlike the media.
The Paris Olympics will be stunning
Life on tour: Over 18 days in our subterranean workplace at Roland Garros the perfect escape was to head up Avenue Mozart to Trocadero. From there it is impossible to tire of the city’s best view of the Eiffel Tower and the Champ de Mars beyond. Come the Olympics you will be seeing this vista a lot, and one American TV network’s morning show had installed a mobile studio there for a couple of days as a dry run.
Roland Garros was trialling some security procedures for the Games over the past fortnight, and do not expect them to be light touch or especially charming. Otherwise the Paris Olympics should be stunning.
