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Britain's Patten targets number one doubles ranking
The match against Bolelli and Vavasorri lasted more than three hours and did not finish until 01.42 local time.
"I think it's probably the longest doubles match I've ever played. I had to go and ask my coach for a shot of espresso after the first set, which we lost in a really close tie-break, and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the match - it was a war of attrition," said Patten.
The left-handed Englishman from Manningtree in Essex first played tennis at the age of five, and in 2022 won 10 titles on the ATP Challenger tour with fellow Briton Julian Cash.
He teamed up with Heliovaara nine months ago and they have not looked back since winning their first tournament as a pair in Marrakech.
"It's amazing that it's happened so quickly - it feels like just the blink of an eye," said 28-year-old Patten, who served an ace to clinch victory in Melbourne.
"It's still a bit surreal. I don't know if that's the jetlag or just [that I] never imagined this would all happen."
It was their second Grand Slam title, having also won at Wimbledon last summer, and he and Heliovaara will have a chance to add another at the French Open, which begins on 25 May.
"Next week we'll be in Dallas, playing on the ATP tour, then I'll have another week off, and then it's Doha, Dubai and straight back over to the States, so it's non-stop," Patten added.
Tom Willis, who appeared in a warm-up match against Wales in 2023, is primed to win only his second cap off the bench after a stellar season with club side Saracens.
The 26-year-old, whose older brother Jack is outside of England eligibility at French side Toulouse, has topped the Premiership stats for defenders beaten and gain-line carries, while also appearing in the league-wide top 10 for turnovers, tackles and metres made.
"As a squad Saracens have said to us to bring the enjoyment back into things," he told Rugby Union Weekly.
"We've done really well as a forward pack and that has helped free me up to do what I do."
He says he would not over-complicate his approach to the Test game.
"I try and get through as much work and battles as possible," he added.
"I will try and get the team on the front foot and just go from there."
AUBURN, Calif. The Northern Auto Racing Club has experienced a busy offseason in preparation for the highly anticipated 29-event NARC 410 Sprint Car Series campaign.
This involved enacting various rule modifications and updates, with a significant focus on enhancing driver safety and well-being in sprint car racing.
Many of the rule modifications align with those of the High Limit and World of Outlaw series, ensuring consistency across the racing series. A summary is outlined in the accompanying notes.
In addition, the NARC Advisory Board agreed to implement a new CAP (Competitive Advantage Program) Insurance policy for all drivers competing on this seasons tour. This $500,000 excess accident medical insurance policy activates after other insurance options are exhausted. The driver membership fees will increase to include the cost of the policy, with a discount for memberships processed before March 1.
Medical insurance and costs reached viral status in 2024 with major accidents and injuries involving NARC-member drivers Chase Johnson, Angelique Bell, Dominic Scelzi and Justyn Cox. Johnson and Cox were injured at non-NARC events. This policy covers all sprint car events a driver decides to compete in in the United States, not just NARC shows.
Similar mandatory type policies are already in effect with several other sanctioning bodies and tracks.
Most drivers dont realize that track medical insurance provides marginal coverage at best, stated series board member Brent Kaeding. Depending on the track, its between $15,000 and $50,000 total, which barely covers an ambulance ride and one night in an ICU (Intensive Care Unit.) Its enough to bankrupt about any household.
Injured driver Chase Johnson also spoke in favor of the policy.
This is a good thing for all of the NARC drivers, said Johnson, who suffered a back injury at a High Limit event at Chico in August. Im proof that you cant have enough insurance in a bad situation.
In other series news, NARC announced that Andrew Kunas will be the official NARC announcer for the 2025 season. With 16 years of experience announcing for the ASCS Frontier Region and various tracks in the Pacific Northwest, the veteran is a valuable addition to the NARC staff.
RULE SUMMARY
FIRE SUPPRESSION:
The Lifeline Fire Suppression system (and others) must be recertified every two years. This requires inspection of O-Rings, piston, bottle, bladder, and a tank refill. The cost is $230 at Kaeding Performance.
CAR:
A removable wicker bill, maximum height of 1 1/2 inches (1.5), may be mounted on the rear edge of the top wing center foil. Wicker bill must be 90 degrees to the top of the center foil. Built-in wicker bills or gurney lips will not be permitted.
One (1) in-car shock adjuster is permitted in the cockpit.
Any header that is not straight out the back of the car with or without a muffler must be welded when the bend connects to the header and to the muffler.
An In-axle tire inflation system that is attached to a bleeder is legal. No remote/data changing is allowed.
SEATS:
The Northern Auto Racing Club highly recommends the use of a seat insert to increase the safety of the driver.
The seat should be mounted in four places to the chassis with minimum 3/8 steel bolt and nut. It is highly recommended that mounting bolts do not exceed 3.5 in total length. Grade 8 steel bolts are highly recommended. Mounting holes in seat must have a 1.5 diameter mounting plate with a minimum thickness of .060.
OTHER:
Cars are not allowed to break traction at any time during a caution period unless directly authorized by the Director of Competition over the radio. Any cars that do so may be moved to the back of the starting grid.
Cars involved in a race stoppage during the semi or main event that go to the work area will be given two minutes to make repairs once they reach the work area. This rule no longer applies once the semi or main reach the halfway point, or curfew issues come into play. There is no allotted repair time provided during the heat races.
If a car goes to their pit area instead of the designated work area during the semi or main, there is no two-minute time clock because we have no way to check your status. The car can return to competition at an appropriate time. There is no courtesy time.
NORMAN PARK, Ga. Persistent rain throughout the day at Needmore Speedway, combined with a forecast for continued precipitation into the evening, has forced the cancellation of the opening night of the South Georgia Showdown for the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series.
Mondays program will not be rescheduled, however, Tuesdays show remains on as planned featuring a $10,000-to-win feature for HTF Series Super Late Models and a $2,000-to-win feature for the IMCA STARS Mod Lites Series.
Additionally, a non-qualifiers race for the STARS Mod Lites Series has been added to Tuesdays program that will pay $200 to win and $100 to each starter.
Catch all the action on SPEED SPORT affiliate Huntthefront.tv.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. Youngs Motorsports confirmed rookie Nathan Byrd will return to the organization and is slated to compete in a minimum of 15 NASCAR Craftsmajn Truck Series races beginning with the season opener at Daytona (Fla.) Intl Speedway.
Byrd returns to the controls of the No. 02 Chevrolet Silverado RST after competing in three Truck Series races last season for the Mooresville, N.C.-based team.
Byrd, 25, is touted as a promising talent in the world of motorsports for his fierce competitive spirit and remarkable skill behind the wheel. Honing his craft through various racing series, Byrds experience and talent were evident, even at a young age.
The decision to reunite forces with Youngs Motorsports perfectly aligns with his career ambitions. The team is recognized for its commitment to developing emerging talent in the sport. Together, they aim to build a strong competitive presence throughout the 2025 season.
Byrd is scheduled to drive the teams flagship truck in the first nine Truck Series races of the season through Kansas Speedway in May before returning at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway in late May.
Getting the opportunity to run a much bigger NASCAR Truck schedule in 2025 with Youngs Motorsports is a true blessing, said Byrd.
Theyre a great team of hard-working men and women, and Im confident that as I get more comfortable and experienced in the truck, we can make significant progress together. None of this is possible without the hard work and dedication of many. Im looking forward to Daytona in a couple of weeks.
A fixture in the series garage since 20212, Youngs Motorsports, led by team principal and former Truck Series driver Tyler Young, has carved a niche in the motorsports world for nurturing up-and-coming drivers.
Additionally, the team announced Monday that Stefan Parsons will join Youngs Motorsports second-truck program for the 2025 Truck Series season.
Parsons, 26, returns to the organization on the heels of capturing three top-10s during the 2024 Truck Series season driving for Henderson Motorsports. Parsons made four starts across the Youngs Motorsports team Truck Series platform during the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Weve been working hard throughout the offseason on our Truck Series program, said Young. The NASCAR Crafts,am Truck Series has been a staple of our story since our inception, and wed like nothing more to continue to make positive memories and put Nathan (Byrd) and Stefan (Parsons) in a position to contend for wins and strong performances throughout the season.
Hafertepe Commits To Full ASCS National Tour Slate
CONCORD, N.C. History is within Sam Hafertepe Jr.s grasp. A sixth American Sprint Car Series National Tour championship this year would give him the most in series history. Hes committed to the pursuit.
The 39-year-old from Sunnyvale, Texas, has renewed his partnership with Hills Racing to contest the entire 41-race schedule, starting this ThursdaySaturday, Jan. 30Feb. 1, at Volusia Speedway Park on the opening weekend of the 54th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. Hafertepe will again pilot his familiar Townline Variety, Fischer Racing Engines-powered Triple X Chassis No. 15h in his eighth consecutive season as part of the Ontario-based Hills Racing team.
This year, we are committed, and weve found what fits the race team and me personally, said Hafertepe, the 20162020 National Tour champion. I think with that, it gives us a little more clarity going into the year that were all on the same page and were all trying to achieve the same goals. At the end of the day, thats a recipe for success.
Hafertepe is tied with fellow five-time champion Jason Johnson for the most National Tour points titles all-time, and only one feature win away from tying the late Louisianan in wins with 79. Two more feature wins will give Hafertepe sole possession of second place on the all-time National Tour wins list, behind only Gary Wright with 127.
With his veteran status in both the 360 and 410 Sprint Car ranks, Hafertepe has proven his ability to compete with the best around the country. But hes chosen to stay with ASCS in pursuit of history, even as the National Tour begins a new chapter in its own history books with its new direction under World Racing Group.
If theyre all in, Im all in, and Im prepared to be behind them 100 percent, Hafertepe said. I think theyre doing the right things, and I think it could be an improvement from what weve seen before from ASCS. Im all for it as long as we keep trending in the right direction, and we keep growing ASCS. I think itll be good going long-term.
Despite winning a chart-topping 12 feature races on the National Tour in 2024, Hafertepe fell 146 points short of a sixth championship to first-time titlist Seth Bergman. However, when the season began, Hafertepe and Hills Racing were planning on a mixed slate of 410 and 360 Sprint Car races and thus were not planning on racing for a specific championship.
After some consideration, the driver and team settled on returning to the full-time 360 circuit. But in hindsight, Hafertepe admitted it was not the most ideal way to make a run for a championship.
We were kinda in between wanting to do 410 and 360s, and we really werent geared up to go full-time 360 but kinda still went after it, Hafertepe said. I think in June, we decided wed just try and finish out the season.
It just felt like we had the wrong approach to start the year. Ive never really started the year half-assed, as I would say thats kinda how we started it last year.
But 2025 will be different. Hafertepe and Hills have a more direct plan for the season, which will help their organization before hitting the road to Volusia.
I think our preparation for this year will be so much better than we had last year, Hafertepe said. When youre not fully committed to something initially, theres a lot of things that are undone and a lot of things that arent the right direction. Weve buttoned up all those things.
While 12 feature wins was enough to boost Hafertepe to second place in the championships standings last year, a bit of inconsistency at times hurt his points total to Bergman posting nine results of 13th or worse. Consistency is key to winning season-long points titles, and Hafertepe is looking for more of that in 2025.
Coming into this year and having the full commitment and knowing exactly what is on our plate will prepare our race team to get rid of the inconsistencies, get rid of the nights that we had problems and fix those nights, Hafertepe said. We hope that will propel us to being the champions at the end of the year.
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick has said picking Wojciech Szczęsny ahead of Iñaki Peña was one of the toughest decisions of his career.
Szczęsny, 34, signed for Barça in October, coming out of retirement to join as a free agent after first choice goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen was ruled out for the season.
The former Arsenal and Juventus stopper had to wait until January to make his debut, starting a Copa del Rey tie against Barbastro, but he has now been in goal for five of Barça's last seven games.
"It was a tough decision," Flick said in a news conference on Tuesday of the switch from academy graduate Peña to Szczęsny in recent weeks.
"Being No. 1, the goalkeeper is a special position so this is, yes, I can say yes, it's one of the toughest decisions I ever made."
The decision has generated debate after Szczęsny was sent off in the Supercopa win over Real Madrid, committed two mistakes in the 5-4 victory over Benfica last week and gave away a penalty, which was later overturned by VAR due to a prior foul, in the 7-1 rout of Valencia on Sunday.
Flick refused to go into the reasoning for his selection, explaining that he didn't want any praise for the former Poland international's qualities to be taken as criticism of Peña.
"When I say good things about [Szczęsny] it means maybe [it's reported] as weakness for Iñaki and I don't like this," he added.
"My job is to make the decision on this position. For me, Szczęsny is an experienced player, of course, but he also has a good personality.
"Both of them are great goalkeepers, but we decided for Szczęsny at this point. Nothing else. Also, in the past, Iñaki made a good job, but now I decided like that while thinking about the team."
Flick was speaking ahead of Barça's final game in the Champions League group phase, which is against Europa League holders Atalanta at the Olympic Stadium on Wednesday.
Barça have already sealed their passage to the round of 16, but a seventh straight win in Europe would guarantee they progress in at least second place, potentially giving them a more favourable rout to a hypothetical final.
"The Champions League is the toughest competition to win," Flick said. "There are a lot of great teams. For us, its important to win tomorrow because we want to finish second. For the next steps in the competition, it's a good situation.
"But it's not easy to play Atalanta. They play one against one over the whole field. When you build up, you are always under pressure. And when they win the ball, the transition is very fast.
"They play always one contact. We have to be ready for that. I have the highest respect for [coach Gian Piero] Gasperini and the unbelievable job he's done. They play a unique style in Europe and are brave in away games."
MANCHESTER, England -- Pep Guardiola said he is convinced Manchester City will beat Club Brugge and book their place in the Champions League knockout rounds.
Guardiola's team must win at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday to secure a place in the top 24 of the league phase table. Anything less than victory will see City fail to reach the knockout for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
"I appreciate your concern for if we don't qualify but I think we are going to do it," Guardiola told a new conference on Tuesday.
"The situation that we have is that we have to win the game and if not we will not continue in this competition.
"We want to go though to have another chance to play another two games to have the chance of the next stages. It's not a problem, it's an opportunity."
City have won just two of their seven league phase games and sit outside the top 24. Finishing between 9th and 24th will earn a two-legged playoff for a place in the round of 16.
Club Brugge are one of only two teams going into the final games that mathematically could make the top eight, end up in the knockout play-offs or be eliminated. They are 20th in the table after wins over Aston Villa and Sporting CP and a home draw with Juventus on matchday seven.
"I've been here many years in the Champions League and these types of games I've played many times," Guardiola said.
"Sooner or later you have to play them where if you win you go through and if you don't you go out. We are here for the reasons we know that we have not been good enough and this is a situation we have lived many times."
City are enduring a difficult season by their own standards, but head into the game against Club Brugge on the back of an impressive 3-1 win over Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday.
"It's obviously a final for us," defender Josko Gvardiol said. "We want to qualify for the next stage and our confidence is very good, especially after the last game [against Chelsea].
"They are a good team, there is a reason they are here in the Champions League and it is not going to be easy."
Manchester United are continuing to work on a deal for Patrick Dorgu before the transfer deadline, sources have told ESPN.
Lecce have already knocked back an offer of 20 million ($20.9m) plus 5m in add-ons for the 20-year-old Denmark international.
Sources have told ESPN that talks between the two clubs are ongoing and that there is growing confidence an overall package of close to 40m can be agreed.
Ruben Amorim is keen to add a left wing-back to his squad in January. United, according to sources, have also explored the possibility of triggering their 18m buy-back option to re-sign Álvaro Fernández from Benfica.
The former Old Trafford academy graduate, who has impressed in Portugal, is considered a fallback option if a deal for Dorgu cannot be agreed. Should either Dorgu or Fernández arrive, United will listen to loan offers from Tyrell Malacia.
There's hope that Luke Shaw is close to a comeback from injury and a temporary move until the end of the season would allow Malacia to play regularly. The Dutchman has made seven appearances this season after spending more than a year sidelined with a knee injury.
Sources have also told ESPN that United will listen to loan offers for Casemiro before Monday's deadline. The Brazil international has started just one of the last 11 games and has been an unused substitute in the last six matches.
His last appearance was in the 2-0 defeat to Newcastle on Dec. 30. Roma have expressed interest in signing the 32-year-old until the end of the season.
Sources have told ESPN that United are willing to pay a portion of Casemiro's wages -- more than 300k-a-week -- to make the move happen.
Dhananjaya de Silva: Hoping to discuss opportunity to play more Tests
"It's really disappointing, as a good Test cricketing country, to have only four Tests," Dhananjaya said on the eve of the two-Test series against Australia. "Honestly, it is a big disadvantage, especially considering ours is a good side, as well.
"I'm hoping we can get more fixtures than we have. We're hoping to discuss the opportunity to play more Test series and hopefully we get an open window for that. Hopefully Sri Lanka Cricket can organise something. But all we can do is control what we can, and play good cricket in the matches that we do get."
"We were close to getting to the WTC final," Dhananjaya said. "We have a good side and we were unlucky in a couple of games. If you take the two Tests we lost to Pakistan [at the start of the cycle] that was a big drawback. But we need to finish the cycle strong. If we can get to No. 3, then we will be satisfied."
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