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Dementieva quits after defeat
Elena Dementieva has announced her retirement from tennis after bowing out of the WTA Championships in Doha.
The emotional Russian addressed the crowd following her 6-4 6-2 defeat to Francesca Schiavone, and, with her fellow players looking on, called time on a successful career that began 12 years ago.
The popular 29-year-old enjoyed her best season on the tour in 2004, when she reached the final at both the French and US Opens, however a Grand Slam title continued to elude her.
But Dementieva – who once reached number three in the rankings – arguably enjoyed her finest moment away from the tour when she clinched Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008.
“I would to thank all the players for an amazing experience and some wonderful memories,” she said. “It’s very emotional.
“I would like to thank all the people round the world that have supported me throughout my career and especially my fan club, you were always there for me.
“No matter winning or losing, I could always feel your support so thank you for your devotion.
“It’s emotional sayong goodbye to all of you. I will miss you.”
Compatriot Vera Zvonareva took the microphone to thank Dementieva for her contribution to the sport.
“I think I just wanted to say thank you, Russia is proud of you, proud to have you,” she said.
“What you’ve done for tennis in Russia, you’ve been a great inspiration, a role model for all the young kids for the past 10 years.
“You’ve done so much not only for Russian tennis, but for Russian sport.”
Howard hopes for Pienaar stay
Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard hopes team-mate Steven Pienaar will sign a new deal to stay at Goodison Park.
Pienaar’s future has been the subject of intense speculation, with the midfielder out of contract at the end of the season.
A number of clubs, including Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan are all thought to be waiting in the wings to sign Pienaar if he decides to leave Everton.
However, Howard hopes the South Africa international will opt to extend his stay at Goodison as he concedes it is vital the club keep hold of their best players.
“Well I think everyone knows how we feel about Steven, he helps to make our team go and we are a much more successful side with him in it,” Howard told Sky Sports News.
“I don’t pretend to have the first idea about Steven and his contract issues.
“I want him to stay, everyone wants him to stay, but that’s up to him and the club.
“It is important for us to keep those core players happy and settled and keep them here for a long time because that’s how we attract better top quality players. That’s how we move up the table and sustain ourselves in the European places every year so it is vitally important.”
Bruce looks to young guns
Sunderland boss Steve Bruce hopes the hunger of his young side will help the Black Cats triumph against Newcastle in Sunday’s Tyne-Wear derby at St James’ Park.
The Northumberland-born Black Cats boss will be experiencing his first showdown between the bitter North East rivals with the Wearside outfit in solid form.
Sunderland are on a seven-game unbeaten run in the Premier League, which has included meetings with Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa, and have kept clean sheets in each of their last three games.
Of the 11 men who took the field against Villa last Saturday, only one – Steed Malbranque – was aged 30 or above with the average a little more than 24.
The likes of Lee Cattermole, Jordan Henderson, Danny Welbeck and Ahmed Elmohamady are younger than that, the result of a deliberate policy from Bruce which has been backed fully by chairman Niall Quinn.
Bruce said: “Certainly what we have got is a young, hungry, aggressive team which can only get better.
“As I look through the midfield four, for example, Welbeck is 19, Cattermole is 22, Henderson is 20, Elmohamady is 23, so they are all just learning their trade.
“But that’s what we wanted, that’s what I wanted and Niall has backed me on that.
“We wanted a really, really young, energetic team to take the club forward.”
Strength in depth
Bruce acknowledges that fielding such a young side can have its drawbacks, but he does also have experience at his disposal.
Former Holland international Bolo Zenden, 34, and 27-year-old Ghana skipper John Mensah were used as substitutes at the weekend, along with record signing Asamoah Gyan, who was this week shortlisted for FIFA’s Ballon d’Or award.
In addition, Britain’s most expensive keeper, Craig Gordon, and Paraguay internationals Paulo da Silva and Cristian Riveros, who like Mensah and Gyan played in the World Cup quarter-finals this summer, were left sitting on the bench alongside Anton Ferdinand.
Bruce said: “I have Craig Gordon, who is a very, very good goalkeeper, and four players who played in the World Cup quarter-finals sitting behind me.
“That shows you the strength in depth we have managed to attract over the last 12, 15 months, and it bodes well.”
Ellis – Defeat not an option
England second-rower Gareth Ellis has stated that victory is the “only acceptable outcome” against Australia on Sunday.
Steve McNamara’s side have made a disappointing start to their Four Nations campaign, falling to a 24-10 defeat to New Zealand in Wellington.
And a second straight loss would mean that any hopes they have of reaching the final will be effectively over.
Australia will go into the contest in Melbourne as big favourites but Ellis hopes that the England pack can rise to the occasion and help pull off the upset.
“It’s no different to the pressure I am putting on myself to perform. It’s probably time for one or two of us to step up and take on a bit of a leadership role,” the Wests Tigers player said.
Dominate
“People speak about our pack a lot and, at the end of the day, we’ve not won too many. We need to do a little bit more I think and make sure we dominate from the off.
“I know from my point of view I need to step up and lead from the front and probably have one of the best games I’ve ever had in my life.”
Ellis does not have good memories of the last time England took on Australia on their own soil, when the Kangaroos enjoyed a 52-4 thrashing in the 2008 World Cup.
He added: “It still hurts. For big parts of that game I had it in my mind that we were going to win and put everything to right that had gone wrong in the past and we were going to be crowned champions of the world.
“But it wasn’t to be and this is the opportunity we’ve got now to put that right. The only acceptable outcome is a win.”
Top form
But Ellis knows that England need to be at the top of their game for the full 80 minutes if are to have any hopes of securing the victory.
“If we learn the lessons from last week’s game, we definitely stand a chance,” he said.
“We can’t afford to see how Australia turn up before we start playing and find ourselves 12 and 16 points behind and try to run them down.
“We need to play every play, we learned that at the weekend. For big parts of the game we were playing well but, if you switch off for one second, you find yourselves behind the posts watching Benji Marshall kick conversions.
“We know from the last two times we’ve played Australia that the lesson is to play for the 80.
“In the first one we let them get off to a lead and decided to play in the second half and then, in the final, we played well for 60, 70 minutes and let the Aussies take control for the last 10.”
Todt – Strong future for F1
FIA president Jean Todt says Formula One has a “very strong future” after the financial crisis which had threatened it last year.
The 2009 season got under way with Honda having announced its withdrawal the previous December and fellow manufacturers BMW and Toyota both following by the year’s end.
All three blamed the global financial downturn for their exits – a situation which led Todt’s predecessor Max Mosley to try and drive through a budget cap to force teams to cut spending.
They in turn responded with plans for a breakaway series and the threat eventually worked, with Mosley backing down and the teams themselves drawing up the current ‘resource restriction agreement’.
The departing manufacturers were replaced on the grid by the much smaller Lotus, Virgin and Hispania teams and with F1 seemingly having weathered the storm, Todt is delighted with the outcome.
“It’s very difficult if you are a very powerful manufacturer like BMW, Honda, Toyota,” said the former Ferrari team principal, who succeeded Mosley a year ago.
“Incidentally, none of them were very successful, so when you spend a huge amount of money without success, it’s probably easier when you have to decide where and how to invest.
“Last Friday I visited Honda, and the R&D development and all they are doing for their new cars is amazing, so they are definitely leaders.
“But it must be very painful for a company like that, when you are a leader in new technologies, not to have been able to have been a leader in Formula One, so it probably helped them to make a decision.
“Saying that three new teams have arrived, they are doing well for the first year, even if none of them have scored points, but they are respectable teams.
“They have demonstrated to be very brave to get into the business, but lots of teams and drivers have started by being uncompetitive before going to an upper level.
“We now have 12 teams participating in Formula One, which I feel is a good number.
“Hopefully we are at the end of the big economic crisis, and I think 12 teams in Formula One is quite an encouraging result.”
Careful
Todt thinks F1 is taking the right measures to make sure it remains viable as and when another recession occurs.
“We live in a fragile world, so we must never take anything for granted,” he added.
“And with all the respect and passion I have for Formula One, it is not essential for society.
“So we have to be careful because you have other things that could be more essential, and that is why you have to find the right limits to be applied.
“I’m sure Formula One has a very strong future because let’s not forget it is amongst the most important sports on the planet.
“It is extraordinary what Formula One means, and the fascination around it, but as I’ve said we cannot take it for granted.
“Bernie (Ecclestone) and (commercial rights holders) CVC know that, and on behalf of the FIA, we know that.”
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