Sure thing: Sebastian Vettel to win the Canadian Grand Prix
The youthful blonde German has sped ahead (pun very much intended) in the drivers’ championship for 2011. Having won the last 3 races (and 5 out of the 6 so far this season), I see no reason why he cannot do it again in Montreal this coming Sunday. In Monaco it nearly all fell to pieces, a communication failure between the car and the pit crew leading to unannounced pit-stops, wrong tyres, and a sizeable lead reduced by Button and Alonso. Yet the defending world champion showed his class to hold on and win (admittedly with the help of the safety car), increasing his lead in the drivers’ championship to 58 points and leaving his nearest rivals trailing in his wake. Put your mortgage on this one. That’s YOUR mortgage. You honestly think I have one?
Tipster’s odds: 5/4
Long shot: Andy Murray to win Wimbledon
If only this were a dead cert. Britain’s greatest tennis hope in years seems to be morphing into most other prominent British tennis players in the last God-knows-how-many years: namely someone who perennially reaches the semi-finals and then loses. He’s got the ability, but seemingly not the temperament (at the moment at least) to finally win these isles the major win that it has craved since the days of wooden racquets. He will be 4th or 5th seed, and justifiably so. But the sheer brilliance of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic makes it hard to look past the favourites. Throw in the fact that each year’s championships always have an outsider (see Tomas Berdych in 2010) that gets to the latter stages of the tournament and becomes a potential banana skin, and a Murray win looks even more unlikely. Now, I’m off to buy a ludicrously expensive punnet of strawberries. Because I can.
Tipster’s odds: 9/1
Absolute madness: John Terry to be Chelsea’s new player-manager
As I write from Roman’s yacht off the French coast, I wonder if, rather than a Portuguese nutjob who thinks he’s God, or an Italian bloke whose left eyebrow has its own stratosphere, the Blues need the passion and heart of a home-grown hero to lead them to that elusive Champions League. Most Chelsea fans believe that Ancelotti was harshly treated after the double he won last season, but surely the board wouldn’t do the same to Mr Chelsea, the bedrock of the side for the last decade or so. However, footballers aren’t the brightest of beings so it strikes me that if he took the job, having to juggle management of the likes of Nicolas le Sulk, teaching Kalou how to play football, negotiating with Roman, playing and skippering both club and country, bailing his family out of jail every fortnight or so and canoodling with assistant-manager Lampard’s missus, he might struggle a tad. Not really a goer is it?
Tipster’s odds: 125/1