Welcome to our new column which will run every Saturday in The National and will give our readers top tips on the best sporting events to watch or listen to over the weekend. It would be better, of course, to be in attendance in person, but as you can see below, not everyone can afford to be in England, Australia, the USA, or our very own
Kingdom of Fife.
We will also have a weekly list of sporting trivia, and will provide a betting guide for those who like to know the odds on sporting events – and as the adverts say, please gamble responsibly and never blame The National for you getting it wrong!
What’s on this weekend?
Australian Open Tennis - Tomorrow
Andy Murray will face world No 50 Mischa Zverev in a match the Scot should win easily. Zverev is in his first-ever fourth-round match at a Grand Slam tournament, while Murray is a five-time unsuccessful finalist in Melbourne. He will find a way of teasing us but Murray will surely march on.
Zverev’s brother Alexander, the No 24 seed, plays Rafael Nadal today.
Live coverage on Eurosport, with highlights on BBC and Sky. Live on BBC Radio Five Sports Extra.
European Champions Cup rugby – Today, 5.30pm
Leicester Tigers v Glasgow Warriors This is the big one for the Warriors, who will reach the-quarter finals of Europe’s top tournament for the first time if they beat Leicester.
Tigers are already out, but will still be dangerous opponents as they always are at Welford Road. NetBet offer good odds of 10/13 for a Glasgow win.
Coverage live on BT Sport 2 and BBC Radio Scotland.
Scottish Cup – Today and tomorrow
There are three candidates for tie of the round: Rangers v Motherwell and Kilmarnock v Hamilton Academical today and Raith Rovers v Hearts tomorrow.
The latter fourth-round match will be covered live on BBC One Scotland and BBC Radio Scotland. It should be an intriguing encounter in Kirkcaldy as Raith can be a very stuffy side. Hearts will need to be at their best.
Rangers v Motherwell today at 12.30pm on Sky Sports is a certain home win according to the bookies, but if you fancy the Well you can get 15/2 at Ladbrokes.
NFL Championship matches – Tomorrow
The semi-finals of the Super Bowl are actually great finals in their own right as they determine the winners of the AFC and NFC Conferences.
The latter match is between the Green Bay Packers and Atlanta Falcons and is live on Sky Sports 1 at 7.30pm. The AFC match between Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots is at 11pm on Sky. No-one other than Patriots fans want their team to win after the “deflategate” ball-tampering scandal last year.
Racing – Today
ITV4 is doing a good job of coverage following racing’s transfer from Channel 4, and the 10am Opening Show is well worth catching for some decent tips.
Weather permitting, the channel will show four races from Ascot, including the Grade 1 Clarence House Chase and a further three contests from Haydock, where the Peter Marsh Chase takes centre stage.
The latter race is very interesting because it features the much-touted Alary. This French import trained by Colin Tizzard will surely light up our screens this spring, and even at 7/2 is a good bet, with Sue Smith’s Vintage Clouds a good each-way shot at 9s.
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The Weekly List: Where does Novak Djokovic’s exit rank among Australian Open upsets?
Novak Djokovic’s exit from tennis’s Australian Open was the biggest shock of the week, but it only makes number four in the list of biggest upsets in the Down Under Grand Slam.
1976 (1) The great Ken Rosewall was world No 1 when he came up against unheralded fellow Aussie Mark Edmondson, who was ranked No 212, in the semi-final, Rosewall going down in four sets.
1976 (2) In the final, Edmondson, who had been a window cleaner only weeks before, beat another fellow Aussie, John Newcombe, the world No 2, also in four sets. No Australian has won their home Slam since.
2016 China’s Zhang Shuai, pictured, was ranked outside the top 150 and had to qualify, but beat world No 2 Simona Halep in straight sets.
2017 Novak Djokovic, the world No 2, was beaten by wildcard qualifier and world No 117 Denis Istomin. Unreal.
1996 Pete Sampras was world No 1 and going for a Grand Slam hat-trick having won the previous year’s Wimbledon and
US Open. Australia’s Mark Philippoussis was just 19 when he shocked the tennis world by beating Pistol Pete in the third round
in straight sets.
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