Poor attitude cost Brisbane final spot-Osaka
View(s):Reigning US Open champion Naomi Osaka said her poor attitude cost her during her 6-2, 6-4 loss to Lesia Tsurenko in Saturday’s Brisbane International semi-finals.
Osaka went into the match as firm favourite but looked flat from the outset as Tsurenko raced through the match in just 65 minutes.
The Japanese star, who burst to prominence with her eventful US Open final win over Serena Williams, made 26 unforced errors and was broken three times in a disappointing display.
“If I’m being really frank, I just feel like I had the worst attitude today,” she said.
“I feel like I didn’t really know how to cope with not playing well.
Tsurenko will play Czech Karolina Pliskova in Sunday’s final after the fifth seed beat Croatian Donna Vekic 6-3, 6-4.
Manchester City could face ‘heaviest punishment’ of Champions League
UEFA’S chief financial investigator has confirmed that Manchester City could indeed be banned from the Champions League if they are found guilty of a further breach of Financial Fair Play regulations.
As Sportsmail reported last month, the view being held by senior figures at European football’s governing body is that a heavier punishment would be appropriate if a club fined previously for breaking FFP rules are in breach again.
And now Yves Leterme, the head of Uefa’s independent Club Financial Control Body (CFCB), has told a Belgian publication that City may now face ‘the heaviest punishment’.
According to reports in German magazine Der Spiegel and based on evidence from a Football Leaks cache of documents, City’s owners have allegedly funded their own sponsorship deals to stay within FFP regulations.
It is claimed the Abu Dhabi United Group, the holding company which owns City, directly paid £59.5m of Etihad’s annual sponsorship, with only £8m coming from the airline.
England handed triple boost ahead of Six Nations
England were handed a triple boost ahead of the Six Nations on Thursday as Billy Vunipola, Joe Launchbury and Jack Nowell were all declared fit to play in some form this weekend.
The most heart-warming comeback for Eddie Jones will come in the form of Vunipola who returns on Friday night for Saracens against Sale starting at No 8 having broken his arm for the third time in 18 months in October.
England face Ireland in Dublin to begin their tournament on February 2 and the nation will hope the 26-year-old is rid of his crippling injury run, and now has a clear route through the Six Nations and builds brilliantly towards the World Cup in Japan.
nd in Devon too. Sportsmail can reveal that Nowell, who tweaked his hamstring in England training at the end of the autumn internationals causing him to miss the final Test against Australia, is ready to play too.