Tyrone must force Dublin to do what they don't do - take risks - in Sunday's All-Ireland final. This week's GAA Statistics column explains how Dublin have a Championship average of 55 per cent possession and no Dublin footballer has taken a shot from play from the opposition 45 metre line or outside of it in their seven matches. "That collective focus, patience and awareness separates them from the chasing pack."
In what was only his ninth match since returning from hip surgery, Andy Murray went toe-to-toe with 31st seed Fernando Verdasco in blisteringly hot conditions during the second round of the US Open, but came out second best 7-5 2-6 6-4 6-4. Despite his battling performance Murray was left fuming, claiming he saw Verdasco talking to his coach during a 10-minute heat-relief break, in violation of the hastily-implemented rule, an accusation the Spaniard flatly denied. Meanwhile Serena and Venus Williams will go head-to-head for the 30th time on Friday after booking their spots in the third round of the US Open.
Premier League representatives Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham and Manchester United will learn their Champions League group-stage fate at today's draw in Monaco. The new-look group stage features more teams from Europe's top five leagues and fewer representatives from the smaller ones.
The final qualifying event for this year's Ryder Cup is at European captain Thomas Bjorn's home club in Denmark this week. Thorbjorn Olesen occupies the final automatic qualifying place and can make certain of a Ryder Cup debut with a top-six finish at the Made in Denmark event which begins today, with England's Eddie Pepperell and Matt Fitzpatrick needing to win and hope the Dane finishes down the leaderboard.
For the first time in three seasons Ireland and Leinster centre Robbie Henshaw has had no injury legacy carried over from the previous campaign. But the 25-year-old will have to temper his enthusiasm to get going in a match environment for another couple of weeks: "You wake up and want to get better as a player every day. There's definitely more in the tank. You need to keep trying to get better as a player no matter what stage of your career you are at." Leinster begin their campaign away to Cardiff tomorrow night in the Pro14.
Australian Simon Clarke won stage five of La Vuelta as Rudy Molard took the leader's red jersey off the shoulders of Team Sky's Michal Kwiatkowski. Nicolas Roche dropped four places in the overall standings to 24th place.
