BBC Sports Personality of the Year

Although we still have another month of jam packed sporting action to come its already that time of the year where one of the most prestigious award ceremonies begins to come to the forefront of our minds.

It is of course the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award and yet again our country has been blessed with dozens of high-class performances spanning a high number of sports.

It’s an event that has grown in stature over recent years, and is largely viewed as the most comprehensive sporting awards event in this country at least.

The evening is sure to be crammed with graphic defying video montages, Gary Lineker’s overrated jokes and probably one of Britain’s heroes re-enacting a part of their sporting routine live in the studio al la Beth Tweddle- although I’m not sure Tom Daley plunging into the Sheaf will be a particularly good idea.

The 10 nominees are announced on Monday evening by Adrian Chiles, and in my typically opinionate style I’ve had my say on who I would like to see on the shortlist.

Jenson Button: Odds: (8/13)

Britain’s second Formula World Champion in as many years, but maybe not the man we all expected after last season’s thrilling climax. Six wins in his first seven races for his new team Brawn GP all but sealed the title, but his inspirational drive in Brazil will live long in the memory and proved that despite a difficult end to the season he deserved his world title. Overwhelming Favorite.

Jessica Ennis: Odds (9/2)

If Button’s career was on a knife edge after Honda sold their team before the most recent F1 season, then Jessica Ennis’ can boast that she wasn’t even certain of a career after a stress fracture to her ankle in 2008 left her future in Athletics in tatters. After constant reservations over her ability to return she regained full fitness and won four of her seven-heptathlon events to become world champion in Berlin in July. Her glorious personality will assure her presence in the top three in Sheffield.

David Haye: Odds (6/1)

Despite his performance not being the most sparkling against Nicolai Valuev, the fact he’s Britain’s third ever world heavyweight champion means he’s a shoe-in for this top ten. Valuev in truth was a poor fighter and the making of Haye will be his clash with either of the Klitschko brothers next year. Next year might his year for both his career, and this award.

Andrew Strauss: Odds: (16/1)

He masterminded England’s Ashes triumph over Australia as captain but in truth you couldn’t have argued with his nomination even if he had not been the captain, his effort with the bat would have alone justified his nomination. Michael Vaughan couldn’t quiet combine the two during England’s last win in 2005, and even then the country had been consumed by ‘Flintoff fever’. No one stands in the way of Strauss this year and it would be criminal if he’s not a serious contender.

Beth Tweddle: Odds (66/1)

If her performance in Beijing showed us anything it was that there was more to come from Gymnast Beth Tweddle. And blimey hasn’t she produced. Six major events she competed in this year, five of them were won by this talented athlete. No Britain can profess to have such an impress win-rate in their sport this year and it would be a crime for her to be discounted. Might struggle to compete with the mainstream sports however.

Tom Daley: Odds: (100/1)

World champion at 14 year-old, now it doesn’t get much better than that does it? He went into this year’s world diving championships as nothing more than an outsider, just like he had done in Beijing the previous year. Under pressure, he produced a stunning final dive to leapfrog his opponents and snatch the Gold medal when he only expected to play a bit part in the competition. Did someone say 2012?

Phillips Idowu: Odds: (100/1)

This man won everything going in 2008 and then stumbled at the final hurdle, as he finished just second at the Beijing Olympics. This year after going through a similar vein of form the triple jumper wasn’t going to be denied, and at the World Championships in Berlin he finally realized his potential with a major Gold medal that he’s forever craved. He may not be Jonathan Edwards’ favorite but his hair amongst other things has captured the nations heart. The Athlete of the Year is a great price at 100/1.

Lee Westwood: Odds (609/1)

Westwood’s radical improvement saw him finish in the top 3 in two of the four majors this year. He then finished a terrific year by being crowned Europe’s top player after a stunning win at the tour ending Dubai World Championships. Yes he’s still after that elusive major title, but given how close he’s come already you can’t help but think it’s just round the corner. An outside bet to be even nominated.

Jo Jackson: Odds: (N/A)

It may only have been the British Championships, but to beat a two time Olympic champion and break the world record all in a days work deserves proper recognition, and for Jo Jackson that’s just what she’s received. Completely overwhelmed by Rebecca Adlington in Beijing she came back with a memorable performance on home soil. Two silvers and a bronze at the World Championships later in the year, including finishing ahead of Adlington again, meant she became the most successful British swimmer to leave the event.

Claire Taylor: Odds (N/A)

Another whose achievements this year have gone unnoticed by the bookmakers and if I’m honest look like the BBC will overlook them as well. Dare I say had a male in her sport mirrored her achievements then the decision would have been unanimous. The cricketer has been part of an England side that has won the T20 and 50-over world cup and retained the Ashes. She is currently the world’s number one female batsman and the only women to be named Wisden Cricketer of the Year. And yet it’s almost certain that she’ll be ignored entirely.

Can the ATP Tour Finals Be Considered the 'Fifth' Major?

There’s no doubt that after 39 years of the competitions history, the newly named ATP Tour Finals is a firm and necessary fixture in the Tennis calendar.

The tournament collates the world’s top eight players in a uniquely formatted event, with the aim being to crown the year’s number one player on the tour.

It comes at the climax of a grueling season for the world’s best-hardly an ideal time for the players-but to be honest it’s the only appropriate occasion to decide who’s been the finest player of the year.

The tour as a whole has come in for plenty of criticism from ex-professionals and current players due to its hectic scheduling, but given that players can pick and choose which tournaments they do and don’t play in do they really have much of an argument?

Surely it’s the ATP’s points and ranking policy that needs to be looked into further, given that they take the points from a players last twelve finishes in the past year, and that then forces players into playing a high number of tournaments to retain there ranking position.

If the ATP puts less onus on the points of tournaments then will it decrease the credibility and the need to play these events that aren’t worth much towards your ranking?

The enormity of this weeks tournament puts added pressure on players to play more tournaments to reach it, meaning injuries and niggles have to be ignored for the most part, hence the queries behind the player’s exhaustion.

The way the Williams sisters deal with the tour is a case in point; the younger Serena restricts her involvement in the WTA tour due to her age and stage and plays fewer tournaments per year that her competitors.

It’s a damming reflection on the women’s game that despite this she can still achieve a number one ranking, so in truth the depth of the women’s division means her treatment of the tour works well within the strict points system.

This is a sole example of a player being able to shape their season as they want, and also being able to preserve a high ranking; it’s unlikely anyone else, especially on the men’s game could afford such a luxury.

The depth and quality of the men’s game means qualification for this weeks event is never assured for most players until the final tour event in Paris, which is used as a pathway for most players to qualify for the year ending event.

The schedule and demands on the players to try and qualify for this tournament had led to a number of withdrawals due to injury in recent years, with the most recent being American Andy Roddick, who even after one of his more successful years on tour has to sit on the sidelines ruing is bad luck.

It’s a great shame that Roddick can’t show off his immense improvement on the court as he would have been a real threat to any one of the seven other qualifiers, but it probably highlights the huge effort the 27-year old made just to get this far.

The strains players go through throughout the season shows they do care about this season ending event and definitely their ranking, but does it have the prestige to be compared to any of the four majors?

Well the points on offer is the largest outside of the four majors, (1,500) the quality of the players can’t be questioned and the prize money and organization of the event is consistently second to none.

The event has been staged in some of the world’s biggest cities such as New York, Tokyo, Sydney, Shanghai and for the next five years London’s O2 Arena, a ploy to spread the importance of the event- a shrewd move by the ATP.

The four major’s have the history and integrity that is widely acknowledged, and the constant changing of this events venue means its significance can be preached throughout the Tennis world and therefore it’s profile can be raised.

One thing that is certain is that the professionals see the significance.

Nine time finalist Ivan Lendl will be the first to profess the tournament’s substance after his five victories in the 80’s, and along with him some of the greatest players to ever hold a racket have at one time held aloft this trophy.

Roger Federer, Bjorn Borg, Pete Sampras and John McEnroe can all boast multiple wins in this competition and if that’s not a definition of its importance then nothing is.

And isn’t that the whole point at the end of the day?

If the top players take the tournament seriously then their drive and enthusiasm will shine though, and the importance of the tournament will just grow and grow.

Whether this tour ending event can be considered a fifth major or not isn’t clear, but given some of the performances we’ve already seen in Greenwich this week, the players certainly understand the magnitude of the event.

England Still Have Much To Learn

Since England’s qualification for the 2010 World Cup finals next summer Fabio Capello would have been looking to learn as much as he can about his players in the upcoming friendlies before he finalises his playing party for the tournament in South Africa.

However the Italian manager would have discovered very little about his depleted England team, who succumbed to yet another bout hesitation at the back as they were beaten 1-0 by Brazil in Doha.

A beautifully directed header just 90 seconds after half-time from Nilmar sealed the win for Dunga’s side, who saw Luis Fabiano sky a penalty later on after yet more deliberation in the England defence.

Wes Brown, who was certainly at fault for the 56^th minute penalty award which saw Nilmar ghost in behind the defender and be eventually caught by Ben Foster, has done nothing to assure the manager that he can ably step in at full-back ahead of the defensively naïve Glen Johnson.

In the final third things hardly improved as England looked totally devoid of ideas, and frustratingly lacked a final ball when they did carve out half chances, with Shaun Wright-Phillips and James Milner the worst offenders.

Milner in-fact had England’s best chance of the match with a volley that he careered over the bar after Wright-Phillips eventually found an England player from one of his more effective crosses.

The likes of Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott will be licking their lips after seeing a poor performance from both of England’s wing-wizards and a repeat showing from either of these players in an England shirt will all but end their chances of making the plane to South Africa.

You do have to however feel sorry for the partners of Wayne Rooney- Darren Bent and Jermaine Defoe- who saw a lack of service affect their ability to impress in the humidity of Qatar.

The Sunderland man, whose playing catch-up in trying to make the squad for next summer, will be more hurt by his performance than Defoe, who knows his two-goal salvo in Holland will linger in the mind of Capello when he chooses the final 23.

Elsewhere it’s difficult to find many more positives in England’s performance, Wayne Rooney’s guile and effort was very much in vein, Gareth Barry’s passing was unusually inept and Jermaine Jenas must come away from his showing thinking he’ll need yet another injury-stricken squad to find himself in an England team.

It was slightly disjointed from Brazil as well however-none of the free flowing football that we’ve come to expect- but more steel and a higher intensity off the ball, much of England’s failure in the final third was down to the pressure on the ball from both Gilberto Silva and Filipe Melo- an added string to the Brazilian bow.

But Brazil showed the perfect trait of any top quality side though, and that was to capitalise upon their opponent’s shortcomings- something that goes along way in a major tournament.

One plus for England though was that they kept Brazil down to just a one-goal win, with just two players who could boast to being first choice in Capello’s team starting the game, and you’d have to think both team’s performances would have altered had England been able to call upon their star-turns.

It’s a slim but important point to take from this latest friendly- and until March the player’s league form will have to do the talking- but after the heat of Doha that alone may not be enough to seal their place in South Africa.

Sky is the Limit For Haye

If we learnt anything about David Haye on Saturday evening it was that his ability to shoot for the stars is a gift that no other boxer currently on the Heavyweight circuit can match.

Yes he was able to make a 7’2 giant look like an estranged alcoholic at the back end of his fight in Neremberg with Nikolai Valuev, but the way he set his sights on the remainder of the boxing world just minutes after his historic victory shows that his ambition is almost as vibrant as his talent.

The fight had barely finished when Haye laid down his intentions for the rest of the Heavyweight division and the boxing world.

"Here I am, heavyweight champion of the world and I'm loving it. I'm going to clean up the division."

Now most boxers are well known for talking themselves up before and after matches no-matter what the result may be- but Haye’s confidence in his own ability is infectious to say the least.

The Brit has a mandatory defence of his title early next year against John Ruiz, before setting his sights on either of the Klitschko brothers, in particular the older Vitali.

The 38-year old fought Britain’s last World Heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in 2005, with Lewis winning by technical knockout after a dominant performance by Klitschko-so the Ukrainian certainly has some unfinished business.

Haye’s match-up with Ruiz- a boxer whose has been defeated by Valuev on two occasions- is expected to take place at the O2 Arena, but it’s the venue of the potential unification title fight between Haye and either of the Klitschko brothers that’s of most interest.

Wembley Stadium and the New Den are the current front-runners to host a future fight proving that Haye is now one of the most in-demand boxers in the world right now.

The home of English football can seat up to 90,000 people while the New Den is the home of Haye’s beloved Millwall football club.

It’s surprising that given his personality that a fight in Las Vegas hasn’t been mentioned as yet, as it’s certain that the American public would lap up his eccentric persona.

However it’s important that with all these major venue’s and opponents being mentioned, that Haye doesn’t get to far ahead of himself, he might be world champion now but holding onto his crown will be a bigger ask- he needs to stay focused.

Given that, maybe taking his progress one fight at a time would be more favourable, after all you don’t become a great Boxer overnight, Haye might have to bide his time.

Safin Takes His Bow In Paris

Without uttering an often used ‘legend defining’ cliché it’s difficult to sum up the immense impact that Marat Safin has made in world tennis since his debut on the tour in 1997.

He burst on the scene during his first ever tournament in Holland, reaching the semi-finals before being eventually ousted by Spainard Salvador Navarro.

The following year however his progress was rapid.

He hit the stage at Rolland Garros, beating Andre Agassi and Gustavo Gurten, players who lay in the top 20 of the world at the time, before loosing out at the fourth round stage.

It was obvious that as his career progressed, that he would begin to excel on the hard court, and that’s where his four Grand Slam finals have taken place.

A win at each of the hard-court major events, including a victory over Pete Sampras in 2000 will assure Safin’s name in Open era history, but the way his career faded away as a result of injury and loss of form will probably linger just as greatly.

His victory over Leyton Hewitt in Australia in 2005 was his last major tour final, with a semi-final on his less favoured grass court at SW19 in 2008 the only glimmer of success the Russian has mustered in his remaining years.

In-fact in 2008, the year of his Wimbledon resurgence, he failed to surpass the third round in any major tournament, but maybe this single success highlights his ability to perform on the big stage rather than the inconsistent nature of his career.

Safin’s success opened the floodgates for an influx in Russian tennis stars with Nicolay Davydenko, his sister Dinara Safina and Maria Sharapova-another whose injury problems have affected her recent progress- all entering the world stage with prolonged success.

Safin was the first ever Russian to win the US Open in 2000 and can attribute part of the recent success and talent in Russian tennis down to his own early victories.

All of which leads us to this week, and Safin’s bow in professional tour tennis.

The Paris Masters is usually a tournament left to players scrapping for places in the season ending Masters Finals-this year to be hosted in London-but with many of the places all but secured it might be a week best left for reflection on Safin’s superb career.

He takes on qualifier Thierry Ascione in the first round in Paris on Monday evening, and if victorious will take on Juan Martin Del Potro, a player who’s in the Safin mold himself.

The Argentine won the US Open last year against world number one Rodger Federer, and Safin produced as big a coup in 2000 when he beat Sampras at the same event, victories that both players will surely see as career defining.

Either way Safin’s career will be over by the end of this week, but will the Russian be remembered for his double major success and his number one ranking, or his battle with injuries and his brittle temperament? I’ll let you decide.

Chelsea Find the Finishing Touch as United’s Big Game Temperament Fades

John Terry’s 75^th minute header at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening proved that even in the pressure filled cauldron of the Premiership grasping football’s basics can be the biggest weapon of them all.

It was a lesson that Manchester United ultimately failed to understand meaning that League leaders Chelsea could come away with all three points in a tight game at Stamford Bridge.

The visitors dictated play for long periods but failed to turn a dominance of possession into clear-cut chances as Chelsea pounced on United’s lack of creativity and concentration.

The Champions will surely be questioning the judgement of the officials for Chelsea’s winning goal, which saw a free kick given for a foul by Darren Fletcher in which he seemed convinced that he’d won the ball and then from the resulting free-kick which saw Didier Drogba waft at the ball while in an offside position.

In truth both queries don’t diminish the fact that Terry-arguably The Blues’ finest header of a ball- was left unmarked from the free kick and had the simple task of guiding the ball into the far corner of the net.

United’s fans and players were quick to blame the officials for their defeat at Anfield last month, but just like that fateful day on Merseyside they should have a long look at their own performance before crucifying the decisions of the men in the middle.

In addition it’s now becoming a common theme of United’s form on the road that they can’t raise their game sufficiently against their ‘top four’ rivals.

Yes they endured this type form while still claiming a third successive League Title last season but given the current form of both Arsenal and leaders Chelsea, United might need to buck up their ideas.

Carlo Ancelotti alternatively will be delighted that in two home games against their title rivals they’ve claimed maximum points while rarely breaking a sweat.

It’s difficult to see much of a weakness in a Chelsea side that could rely on Terry to produce the goods as their attacking gems were marked out of the game.

Drogba and Nicolas Anelka were particularly frustrated as a makeshift United back-four got the better of Chelsea’s attacking threat.

Their squad size also makes for impressive reading, with the likes of Florent Malouda,Yuri Zhirkov and Jon Obi Mikel not even called upon on Sunday evening.

I’m not sure the temporary suspension of the clubs transfer ban will make a host of difference to their title chances, it will be more down to the size of lead they can take into the African Cup of Nations, where they’ll lose four of their star turns.

Maybe Ancelotti had thought ahead and demanded a fast start ahead of next year’s African competition so that in the close season run-in the club would still be in the running for the title- it’s a move that already looks shrewd.

Their rivals from North London are also setting the League alight with their all action performances, but unlike previous years Arsenal seem to have a final product to their ultra precise passing game, and the spread of goals is something to feared by both United and today’s victors from the Kings Road.

Of course Liverpool should not be discounted, especially at this early stage of the season but it seems like they look devoid of ideas and drive without Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres- the return to fitness of the duo appears to be crucial to their chances.

As for Chelsea they just continue to turn up when it matters, but we’re yet to see how their Italian manager can cope over the course of a whole season, remember you win nothing in November.