Tsonga out of Open, Cilic in doubt

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is unexpected to play in Melbourne. Picture: Mark Stewart Source: Mark Stewart / News Limited

FRENCHMAN Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is expected to withdraw from the Australian Open within hours after struggling to overcome arm soreness.

The world No 12 was forced out of the Hopman Cup because of pain in his right forearm.

According to French media outlet RMC, Tsonga is on the brink of pulling out of the January 19-February 1 Australian Open.

If the former world No 5 abandons plans to contest the first major of the season, he will also be ruled out of the Kooyong Classic next week.

Runner-up at the 2008 Australian Open and twice a semi-finalist at Wimbledon, Tsonga struggled with the injury in France's shattering Davis Cup final loss to Switzerland.

Marin Cilic is also expected to withdraw from the Australian Open. Source: News Limited

US Open champion Marin Cilic also is likely to bypass Melbourne Park after a long struggle with shoulder soreness.

Contentiously, both men carried the injuries into the lucrative International Premier Tennis League — and now miss grand slam action.

Cilic was pessimistic over his hopes when talking with reporters in Europe, admitting: "Considering the full recovery and opportunity for practice, it is highly questionable if I will be able to play (the Australian Open).

Ranked No 9, Cilic looms as the highest-ranked absentee.

Tommy Haas has a shoulder injury. Source: AP

With former world No 2 Tommy Haas again recuperating from shoulder injury and Spaniard Nicolas Almagro out with a foot problem, there are also doubts over 2009 US Open winner Juan Martin del Potro.

The Argentine has been blighted with wrist problems since downing Roger Federer in a remarkable Flushing Meadows final.

Spanish tennis player Nicolas Almagro has a foot injury. Source: AFP

Del Potro pulled out of Brisbane this week and is now bidding to be fit for Sydney next week, when Nick Kyrgios hopes to resume after being forced out of the Hopman Cup with back muscle soreness.

Czech Petra Cetkovska (hip) and Great Britain's Laura Robson (wrist) will miss the Open.

Juan Martin Del Potro has a sore wrist. Source: News Limited

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North Koreans keeping to themselves

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AMBITIOUS North Korea are hoping to win every game at the Asian Cup - but it's unclear how.

Like the Democratic People's Republic of Korea itself, the country's football team are a somewhat secretive lot.

Ranked 150th in the world, the Chollima only arrived in Australia on Tuesday, giving themselves just three-and-a-half days to acclimatise and prepare for their tournament opener against Uzbekistan at ANZ Stadium.

Refusing to speak to the media, let alone divulge tactics, coach Jo Tong-sop and the 22-man North Korean squad - featuring 18 home-based players - dashed straight to the privacy of their hotel rooms after being greeted in Sydney with a traditional indigenous dance.

Tight-lipped media manager Choe Nam-hyok said he was unsure how much support, if any, the side would receive in Australia, but hoped to pick up a few fans during the tournament.

They can probably bank on some support from the Macarthur under-10s, who made the trek from western Sydney on Tuesday to greet the North Koreans while proudly holding up the country's national flag outside the team hotel.

It is unknown if North Korea's Dear Leader Kim Jong-un will attend any games - or even be in Australia - for the tournament. Asked about the side's hopes for the Asian Cup, Nam-hyok smiled and said: "To win every game".

Such hopes seem fanciful for the lowest-ranked team in the tournament and for a country that last won a match at an Asian Cup back in 1980.

North Korea, though, did qualify for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, even if they only managed to score one goal while conceding a dozen in three heavy defeats.

Pooled in Group B alongside China, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, their first-up rivals won't be taking them lightly on Saturday. Star defender Vitaliy Denisov, who plys his trade for Lokomotiv Moscow, said Uzbekistan, while hoping to go all the way to the final, held great respect for North Korea.

Denisov said the threat of the unknown was what worried the White Wolves the most.

"We played against them before," he said.

"We won two games with the minimum score - 1-0 - and we heard they now have a new coach and new players, many changes in the team." AAP djw/sc

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Passion still burns brightly for Moraitis

Nick Moraitis, owner of Might and Power, in front of the 1997 Melbourne Cup and with his portrait in the background. Source: News Corp Australia

IT'S been nearly two decades since Might And Power was dominating Australian racing but the champion's owner, Nick Moraitis, still enjoys the sport.

"I've got about 30 broodmares and up to 15 horses in training,'' Moraitis said. "I love the game and the people in it.''

Moraitis, who gained nationwide recognition when Might And Power won the 1997 Caulfield and Melbourne Cups and the 1998 Cox Plate, gets a big kick out of his breeding and racing program and he could be celebrating a winning double at Warwick Farm on Wednesday.

The popular owner has the consistent Passionflower contesting the Bloodstock.com.au Handicap (1400m) and Spice Of Life is lining up in the Hyland Race Colours Handicap (1400m).

"They are both home-breds and they are both look like they should run well,'' Moraitis said.

Might And Power, with Jim Cassidy in the saddle, runs at Flemington in 1998. Source: News Limited

Passionflower, trained by Kevin Moses, is deep into a race preparation that began on the final day of last season when she won at Gosford. Although the mare hasn't won in eight starts since, she has managed four seconds and a third during this period including her most recent effort when she chased home Mary Lou at Randwick on Boxing Day.

"She is due to knock them over, she deserves a win,'' Moraitis said.

"Kevin (Moses) has done a wonderful job with this mare, she has been very consistent over a long period.

"Blake Shinn is a very good jockey riding well and he will give her every chance.''

Spice Of Life, trained by David Vandyke, boasts an impressive career record of five wins from 11 starts and will be improved by his first-up seventh behind Selectify at Warwick Farm on Christmas Eve.

Nick Moraitis holds the 1997 Melbourne Cup won by Might And Power. Source: News Limited

"He needed the run first-up and I know David is happy with how the horse has trained on,'' Moraitis said. "This horse usually races well when fresh, he is good early in his preparation, and this looks a suitable race.''

Moraitis is also looking forward to Royal Randwick on Saturday where the owner is bullish about the chances of Emerald City in the Benchmark 75 Handicap over 1800m.

RAY THOMAS'S BEST BETS

WARWICK FARM TODAY

Best Bet

Race 3 No.3: Electrifyin'

Luckless at Canterbury then was held up for a few strides but worked to the line strongly for second at Randwick behind Liberty Island last start. Stepping up to 1600m suits, this looks an easier race and he is set to break through today.

Next Best

Race 2 No.2: Passionflower

Good mare racing in great heart. She has run second in four of her last five starts and races well this track. Versatile type who races forward or back but from the inside barrier, should enjoy the run of the race, Gets her chance today.

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Cadel’s last stretch to end with a bang

Cadel Evans in action. Source: Michael Klein / News Limited

CADEL Evans is nothing if not relentlessly competitive, which is why he became Australia's greatest road cyclist.

That won't be changing just because the final chapter in a great Australian sports story is about to be written.

Evans, 37, will contest the national championships, which begin in Ballarat today, for the last time and is determined to go out with a bang in the road race at nearby Buninyong on Sunday.

"I'm going to Ballarat to ride the best race I can. If I get a result, that's even better. I'm going there to race well and do my best," he said.

Whatever happens, it will be a red-letter day for a sport that has much for which to thank the idiosyncratic superstar, who created an unprecedented surge of public interest when he became the first Australian to win the Tour de France in 2011.

Cadel Evans in action. Source: News Limited

It might be struggling to get its head back above water financially, but Australian cycling has rarely, if ever, been in a better place competitively, thanks to Evans and an accomplished group of former and current riders over the past 20 years.

That will be on show over the next four days with classy fields in the championship events for men and women: the criteriums tonight, the time trials tomorrow, the women's road race on Saturday and then the one that is expected to pull more than 20,000 fans and a big live TV audience on Sunday Cadel v. the Rest.

New talent pops up with impressive regularity, with the latest to have the experts unanimously predicting big things Caleb Ewan, winner of this week's Bay Classic the hot favourite to unseat defending champion Steele Von Hoff in the criterium.

Time trials are not cycling's most spectator-friendly event but the men's field tomorrow is the best ever assembled for an Australian title, with Michael Rogers, Luke Durbridge, Jack Bobridge, Damien Howson, Campbell Flakemore, Cameron Meyer, Richie Porte and Rohan Dennis all world-class performers.

The women's road race is wide-open but Gracie Elvin, winner for the past two years, showed good form in winning a stage with a mechanical mishap perhaps costing her a second one at the Bay crits.

Australia's Cadel Evans celebrates. Source: AFP

But with due respect to them all, Evans towers over the weekend like the tough little mountain the men have to climb 18 times on their 183.6km battle.

It is his third last race he will follow it with the Tour Down Under in Adelaide and then the new one-day event at Geelong which carries his name before retirement, and, obviously, his last chance to win the national championship which he first contested in 1992.

He almost did it last year when he finished second behind Orica-GreenEDGE star Simon Gerrans and ahead of Porte, a trifecta that left little doubt spectators had witnessed the best-ever domestic title race.

Gerrans, who also beat him narrowly in the TDU, is back in Europe recovering from a recent crash in which he broke his collarbone, so Evans and Porte are the obvious favourites to fight it out even though they will be outnumbered by the rest of the GreenEDGE juggernaut.

Always a pragmatist, Evans isn't getting carried away by the prospect of a Hollywood ending.

"I don't believe in fairytales," he said.

"The chances of victory are probably about the same as in 1992 because I'm so watched now as a rider.

"We just have to be realistic about these things. We'll prepare as well as we can, do the best race we can and the result will tell the story."

2015 MARS CYCLING AUSTRALIA ROAD NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

TODAY

Criterium in Ballarat CBD

4.30pm: U23 men 33km

5.30pm: U23 and elite women 33km

7pm: Elite men 44km

TOMORROW

Individual Time Trial at Buninyong

10.30am: U23 men 29.3km

12.30pm: U23 and elite women 29.3km

2.15pm: Elite men 40.9km

SATURDAY

Road Race at Buninyong

9am: U23 men 132.6km

1.30pm: U23 and elite women 102km

SUNDAY

Road Race at Buninyong

10.50am: Elite men 183.6km

ron.reed@news.com.au

Twitter: @Reedrw

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Experience on Tomic’s side against teen

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THIS is how quickly Australian men's tennis has changed – Bernard Tomic hopes his experience will help him fight off the challenge of a countryman to make the Brisbane International quarter-finals.

Tomic, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist at 18, is four years older than Adelaide's Thanasi Kokkinakis and more attuned to the grind and the fleeting nature of opportunities on tour.

But Australian men's tennis has a repeated history of teenagers making major, unexpected impacts and Kokkinakis, owner of his first top-25 scalp from Monday's win over Julien Benneteau, has exceptional athleticism.

Bernard Tomic in action. Source: News Corp Australia

"It's going to be tough, but hopefully my experience can help me in this match,'' said Tomic, the second-ranked Australian at No.53 behind 19-year-old Nick Kygrios (50th).

"Thanasi has gotten taller in the few months since I've last seen him.

"He is playing well, very relaxed.

"He is sitting at 150 in the world, but that makes him a dangerous player. I remember myself when I was ranked 150 and 180 I had nothing to lose going out against these big players and playing my game.''

Tomic has cautionary tales for the younger Australians from hard-won expertise and says it is already time for Kokkinakis to make a charge in his career.

Bernard Tomic in action. Source: News Corp Australia

"He's close to 19, so now is the time for him to break through and into the top 100,'' he said.

"I'm sure he gets a lot of confidence from watching Nick, his good friend, play well last year.

"Nick playing well and coming through has encouraged not just myself but other players, to see that as an opportunity to work hard and to reach in the top 100.''

There was much to like in Tomic's movement and the penetration of his flat forehand in his 7-5, 7-6 win on Monday night even though his opponent Sam Querry served 20 aces in two sets.

"I'm moving 10 or 15 per cent better on the court than I did last summer. It was all then about rehab with the hips and starting to play tournaments,'' he said.

"Now I'm very happy that I'm moving like this. I didn't really have an off-season where I could train after the hip surgeries I had.''

Bernard Tomic in action. Source: Getty Images

With five Australians in the second round of the Brisbane men's singles, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis have a safety in numbers factor to their careers which a teenage Tomic, playing in years when there were two or sometimes one Australialian man in the 100th, did not.

"When I was 18 and 19 I felt a little bit on my own,'' he said.

"I was happy to see Lleyton come back at that period when I turned 20.

"Now to see the last few years, the last year, they've all got the talent, but they need to break through that stage of getting top 100. It's going to be difficult, but I'm sure they can do it.''

Tomic's win over Querry was delayed by a 3hr 13min women's match and he admits that the wait would have played on his nerves more when he was younger.

"I've obviously gone through a few years now where I've adapted to these matches before and had to prepare,'' he said.

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Boxer brags about $66m fleet

Floyd Mayweather is constantly boasting about his wealth. Source: Supplied

THE world's best-paid athlete in the world Floyd Mayweather loves to show off his wealth on Instagram and he isn't winning any point for humility with his new image.

The boxer, who topped Forbes' list for the Highest Paid Atheletes with $124 million last year, can't help but show off his wealth.

Mayweather's collection includes two different Bugatti Veyrons, a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport, two Ferrari 458 Spiders, a Lamborghini Aventador, a Porsche 911 Turbo S and a Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano.

The Bugatti cars are also the most expensive, coming in at around $2.8 million each, while the cheapest is the Porsche 911 at — a bargain at $283,000.

"Welcome to my toy world! Who wants to come out and play?" he captioned the picture.

Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao is certainly not impressed by his rival's obscene wealth.

The 36-year-old has been trying to arrange a fight with Mayweather for years.

"Floyd brags about his lifestyle and everything! I don't care! I'm just waiting here for him to sign the contract!" he said.

Among his Instagram posts Mayweather has included his massive shoe collection, boarding private planes and surrounded by money.

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