J.T. Realmuto sat in limbo this past offseason. A star free agent, at a premium position, he was waiting patiently for his team to show the kind of interest that would be required to bring him back on a new deal.

The winter’s new darling team, the New York Mets, was dangling an offer to go to the Big Apple and be part of a new era of winning under new owner Steve Cohen. But Dec. 11, 2020, changed everything — for Realmuto and seemingly the entire Phillies organization.

That’s the day the Philadelphia Phillies hired Dave Dombrowski as president of baseball operations.

“I think it did change everything because up to that point, the signal, at least through the media, was the Phillies were going to take a step back and maybe not spend as much,” Realmuto said recently. “Once they hired Dave, it was pretty apparent they were going to try to win this year and for a period of time. He’s not the type of guy you bring in if you’re going to rebuild.”

The Phillies are no stranger to big winter splashes, having signed Bryce Harper in 2019, then hiring Joe Girardi as manager before the 2020 season — but it was the addition of Dombrowski that shifted the focus entirely to winning.

“His track record is winning and putting together good teams,” Girardi said. “Go back to Montreal, then Florida, then it continued in Detroit and Boston. He’s been doing this a long time. I felt we were serious last year, but with him, you just know.”

It’s too early to know the full impact Dombrowski will have on the organization, but the Phillies have a surprise spot atop the ultra-competitive NL East even while being tested by the schedule makers from the start.

“It’s great,” Dombrowski said in a spring interview. “That’s what the game is all about. You better be ready from Day 1. We open with the Braves and Mets for 13 straight games.”

After a controversial finish to a dramatic weekend series with the Braves, Dombrowski will face off against an old colleague in Mets president Sandy Alderson when the two teams meet Tuesday night (Phillies-Mets, 7 ET on ESPN). They haven’t really gone head-to-head as men in charge … until now.

“I had talked to him before he came to the Phillies while he was still in Nashville and working for that group,” Alderson said in a phone interview. “Based on that conversation, I was surprised he chose to jump back in. On the other hand, Dave’s a competitor and probably didn’t like being on the sidelines.”

One NL executive noted the shift in philosophy by Phillies owner John Middleton after hiring first-time general manager Matt Klentak and first-time manager Gabe Kapler in recent years. He switched directions and went with proven winners, wooing Dombrowski from an MLB expansion project in Nashville.

Dombrowski does want to clarify some of the win-now reputation that Realmuto and Harper were among those to express publicly when he was hired.

“It’s a compliment,” the 64-year-old executive said. “But I think it’s a little unfair because I pride myself in building good organizations, too.”

Dombrowski is referencing the idea that he only sees the short term, meaning his propensity to move prospects. He reeled off his years in the business when that simply wasn’t true. In 1988 and 1990, the Montreal Expos, under Dombrowski, were named organization of the year. In Detroit, Dombrowski points out, the Tigers broke in young players like Justin Verlander, Curtis Granderson and Joel Zumaya.

“And in Florida, we built it up, tore it down, then built it back up again,” Dombrowski said.

Then came Boston, where the narrative was he traded prospects, spent too much and was shown the door — just 11 months after winning the World Series there.

“When I went to Boston, they had the foundation to win, but we didn’t have enough starting pitchers to win,” Dombrowski said. “If you have a chance to win, sometimes you do things right then to win and then pay the price for the future.”

It turns out, Dombrowski’s price was his own future. Fast forward to Philadelphia, where no one is going to complain if their new man in charge goes for it.

“Every player wants to play for an organization that wants to win every year,” Realmuto said. “That’s part of the problem with baseball. There are too many teams that aren’t trying to win. It makes it easier to put on your uniform every day. I know Dave wants to win.”

Harper added: “The city of Philadelphia is craving some playoffs and a World Series. We’re feeding off that as well. We’re trying to find out our identity here and what kind of team we can be.”

For starters, an identity change could come from a revamped bullpen. Historically bad in 2020 — the Phillies’ bullpen had a 7.06 ERA — it is much better so far this year, sporting a 3.73 ERA in the very early going. From newcomers, including veterans Archie Bradley and Brandon Kintzler and young flamethrower Jose Alvarado, there’s a new attitude developing in the bullpen.

“It’s slowly getting there,” Kintzler said. “We’re not there yet. We’re still searching for that identity. We want the middle innings to be locked down.”

If they needed any more motivation, they can take a glance at the preseason prognostications. PECOTA gives the Phillies a 7% chance of winning the division. FiveThirtyEight picks them for third place. And just two ESPN voters out of 27 picked them to finish this season where they are right now — in first place.

“Don’t sleep on the Phillies,” Realmuto said simply. “We have more depth than we’ve had in the past.”

They also have a new culture thanks to a longtime executive who still regrets not winning a championship for former Tigers owner Mike Ilitch. Dombrowski doesn’t want the same fate for players like Harper and Realmuto.

“Sometimes I’ll listen to a broadcast and you can’t believe the number of great players that have never won a World Series,” he said. “It’s wrong place at the wrong time for some players. Look at the Indians. So many chances to win, but it’s so hard.

“You do start thinking, it would be great for that guy to realize winning. From a pro experience, there’s no emotion that comes with it when you win a world championship.”

It’s one of the things that sold Realmuto on coming back. He eventually inked a five-year, $115 million deal to stay in Philadelphia, in part because there was no question of Dombrowski’s motives.

“We had dinner around Christmas in Oklahoma,” Realmuto recalled. “He sold us his vision. Reassuring us the Phillies were not taking a step back. So far, he’s proven that out.”

On paper a ninth place finish for rookie Yuki Tsunoda represented a solid if unspectacular start to the season for the Italian team. However, it was the pace that the AT02 showed on Saturday that really caught the attention of rivals.

Tsunoda sailed through Q1 in second after a lap that McLaren boss Andreas Seidl called “a bit of a shocker,” so impressive was it to the other midfield runners.

Indeed that form encouraged AlphaTauri to take a punt on the medium tyre for Q2, something that wouldn’t normally be on the team’s agenda. Pierre Gasly made it through in eighth place, but Tsunoda – caught out by the change of compound mid-session – had to settle for 13th.

Back on the softs for Q3, Gasly then secured fifth spot on the grid, behind only Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc.

Alas it went wrong for the Frenchman in the race when wiped his front wing off in contact with Daniel Ricciardo. Meanwhile Tsunoda lost places after what he admitted was an over-cautious first F1 start. His subsequent strong recovery, which saw him take ninth from Lance Stroll on the last lap, gave some indication of the wasted potential.

Bahrain was a sample of one but that qualifying speed indicated that AlphaTauri has got its act together in 2021.

Don’t forget that last year’s car was capable of winning a race, so perhaps it should not be such a big surprise that a carefully refined version, with a boost provided by Honda’s latest power unit, is an even more competitive package.

“It’s a combination of many things,” says technical director Jody Egginton.

“Last year we thought we had a good car but we were not typically in a situation where we’d be saying, should we see if we can sneak through [Q2] on the harder tyre?

“The numbers said it could work. And I think that’s a sign that the car is working well. Everyone’s pushing hard to develop the car, the power unit has come along, the chassis has come along.

“A lot of young engineers in the team have been quietly growing over the last two, three years. Their confidence is improving, and we’ve got a really good direction.

“Plus Yuki has come in and he is a talented guy, and Pierre’s comfortable in the team and providing fantastic input. And it’s all coming together.

“I can’t stress enough that the engineering team, the design team and the aero team, they are all maturing, we’re sort of getting our identity and working together and building methodologies and philosophies.

“I guess that’s one of the outcomes when the car improves, you have this newfound freedom to think, ‘Well, actually, we can take that tyre into the race.’”

Pierre Gasly, AlphaTauri AT02, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL35M, Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M, and Fernando Alonso, Alpine A521

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Continuity is always beneficial, and while some of its immediate rivals have undergone disruptive changes of identity, management or power unit supplier, or have had to rein spending in to meet the budget cap, AlphaTauri has quietly built on what it has.

The team even opted to stick with its proven rear end rather than take an upgrade to RBR’s 2020 gearbox, which the rules allowed. The senior team’s handling struggles last year were a red flag.

The one major novelty has been a switch from a 50% to 60% wind tunnel – as the last team to move to the bigger scale model. That created a lot of extra work over the winter, but the change should reap dividends. It’s one step back to take two forward.

Egginton believes that the team coped well with adapting to the change of tunnel and made good progress into the first track running of the AT02.

“Our programme was just to really systematically learn our car,” he explains. “We spent a lot of time gathering aero data, because this car was developed in our 50% wind tunnel, and we’ve since moved to the 60% wind tunnel.

“There’s a lot of correlation to be done. We’re now developing the car in a different wind tunnel. It was born in one place, and now it gets developed in another place.

“There’s a lot of aero work, and just trying to understand correlation, and also what the differences were due to the regulation change. Also what Yuki wanted from the car.

“And then obviously, the new Honda PU, running through all the checks and understanding that it delivered what we expected, and was working as we expected.

“In the period between the test and the race we’ve gone away and just basically gone through everything.”

Having established a solid baseline with a strong testing performance the team honed the car for the Bahrain race weekend, while also planning further ahead.

It helped enormously that the team had a productive test, while some rivals had a lot of firefighting to do. Gasly actually completed more laps than any other driver.

“We’ve already got developments in the pipeline,” says Egginton. “With the things we’re planning to bring the aero data from the test validated whether that was the right way to go, and we were just building up knowledge of the behaviour of the car.

“And then we brought a car [to the race] with certain differences, a few small developments, and just a continuation. Fortunately, we left the test with what seemed to be a pretty reasonable car.

“And we’ve just gone away and gone what are the weaknesses? What can we do about that? What can we do and where were other people? Where do we think they were running their power unit? Because everyone had very diverse programmes in testing.

“So we spent a lot of time looking for all of that. But we just quietly got on with our thing. It was clear that we were in the mix and [it was] don’t let ourselves get distracted too much, focus on ourselves, because we’re in charge of what we’re doing.”

 

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

The aerodynamic rule changes for 2021 are the key to everyone’s performance, and AlphaTauri’s switch of tunnel scale gave an extra focus to that process.

“The floors have changed dramatically because of the regulation change,” says Egginton. “And the diffuser and the way the car works aerodynamically at the rear. Everyone was trying to recover load, and we recovered a reasonable chunk.

“Now we’re trying to give the car a wider operating window aerodynamically to work in. Especially in low speed, and then the driver can exploit that, and we’ll go quicker.

“I think we’ve got a good view on what the car is and then that allows you to say, what do you want to target? So, it is aero development, it is exploiting more performance from the areas of the car which had been affected by the regulation changes, and making sure that the changes, as we develop, we don’t upset something else.

“It’s just rolling development. We’ll have some new bits in Imola, we’ll have some new bits in Portugal, we’ll have some new bits in Spain. So it’s incremental. There are no headline grabbers. But by Spain, we should have a nice step forward.”

Mention of the upcoming run of circuits highlights one of the issues that the team suffered from last year – inconsistency. The key goal is to maintain the Bahrain qualifying performance at a range of different venues.

“Last year, we were in that mix,” says Egginton. “But the variance in our performance across the midfield was a bit greater than we wanted. Some weekends we had the car working really well, other weekends we struggled a little bit.

“The second half of the year that variance reduced. There were certain things we did to try and do that. And then this year – again, it’s a sample of one – it appears we’re back in that mix, with a rookie driver as well.

“So it looks like whatever we’re doing, it’s allowing him to get into it quickly. We probably need to see the next couple of races, and then form a view, are we more consistent?

“I was happy with the pace of the car last year, but there were a couple of events where it performed really well, and a couple of events where we went home a bit sad.

“We want to try and minimise that and you’ve got to do it in the midfield, because it’s so tight. Everyone’s stealing points off everyone, and you can’t afford to drop points.”

Gasly can be a reference for Tsunoda

The drivers are the final part of the equation, and it’s evident that AlphaTauri has put together an intriguing combination.

Apart from his half season with RBR in 2019 Gasly has been with the team since October 2017, again contributing to that priceless continuity. His confidence is sky high after last year, and instead of fretting about no longer being in the Red Bull, he’s thriving in his current environment.

“He is good because he’s got the reference to last year,” says Egginton. “This year’s car is an evolution of last year’s car and he knows how last year’s car performed, as do his engineering crew, and that helps Yuki if he’s struggling with something. He has a reference.

“Pierre is able to tell us in detail what’s changed, what’s better, what’s worse, so that’s good. And then that combined with the correlation, it helps us potentially answer some of the questions Yuki might have.”

George Russell, Williams FW43B, and Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT02

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Tsunoda meanwhile is bringing a buzz and excitement to the camp. The team knows it has someone who is determined to make his mark, and will go for it in all circumstances.

“He’s on a very steep learning curve as any young driver is coming into the F1 world,” Egginton says of the rookie.

“He’s taking it step-by-step. He’s absorbing a lot of information. And he’s communicating well, and we’re understanding what he wants from the car. And he’s working well with the engineering team.

“AlphaTauri/Toro Rosso has got a history of working with young drivers. And without being big-headed, the team’s good at working with young drivers. I think it’s fair to say that the record of the drivers that have been through the team highlights that the engineers are good.

“We’re going to have ups and downs, but he’s delivering, and I think that’s important, because we’re firmly in the midfield it appears. And he’s got Pierre to learn from.”

The team is now preparing for its home race at Imola, a venue Tsunoda knows well from testing, and where Gasly qualified an impressive fourth just a few months ago. Will a second sample give a true indication of the AT02’s potential?

Året var 2012 när svenska Dota 2-legendaren Jonathan ”Loda” Berg precis hade spelat The International i Seattle och han träffade Alex Garfield – som ville finansiera ett nytt Dota-projekt.

Där föddes idén till det som den 12 april 2013 skulle presenteras som Alliance. 

– Jag fick bygga ett lag på sättet jag ville och hade rätt fria tyglar, berättar Loda på åttaårsdagen.

Målet var att bygga upp ett nytt svenskt storlag. 

I augusti samma år vann de e-sportens största turnering The International och året därpå köptes stjärnlagets organisation upp av Amazon-ägda Twitch.

Två år senare blev det ett svenskt bolag som de drev och ägde själva

– Man kan säga att det var då det nya Alliance påbörjades, säger Loda.

– Det har varit en lång och intressant resa, framför allt att gå från spelare till att i dag vara mer management. Det är väl sånt man tänker på nu när det är födelsedagen.

”Fastnade för det”

När resan började hade Loda inga tankar på att det skulle bli en sån stor del av hans liv som det är i dag, då han är vd för organisationen. Han hade tidigare inte haft någon intention binda sig till en plats för länge. 

– Men någonstans under tiden fastnade jag för det. Jag kunde nog aldrig förvänta mig detta, men det var nog 2017 som jag bestämde att ”nu stannar jag med Alliance” och ger det mitt allt.

Det var något speciellt med Alliance alltså?

– Ja exakt, jag har också blivit charmad av vårt brand på nåt sätt. Nu kan jag inte släppa taget, jag känner ett stort ansvar helt klart.

Alliance är framför allt synonymt med Dota 2-laget – som är ett av sex lag som bär den grönvita loggan i dag – och har imponerat under årets DPC-säsong. 

Men under majorn i Singapore gick det desto tyngre för laget, som enligt Loda inte nådde sin högsta nivå och hade svårt att hålla sig till de strategier som hade lagts fram.

– Jag känner fortfarande att vi utan tvekan kan vara topp två i Europa och kan med rätt fokus också bli bäst. Men det krävs att man lägger ner jobbet, så det var ett wake-up call för oss alla att vi måste tro mer på processen.

Valorant och Wild Rift

Svenska organisationen har i år expanderat till två nya spel av utvecklaren Riot Games. Dels CS-utmanaren Valorant och League of Legends mobilversion Wild Rift.

Loda är positiv till starten för Valorant-laget, som värvades ihop av general manager James Banks. Till skillnad från flera andra stora organisationer som satsade på stjärnnamn så var Alliances fokus att bygga frångrunden ”på rätt sätt”.

– Jag tror också mycket på Valorant, inte minst på grund av Riot men även allt det positiva de gör kring det. 

Han tror också att mobilspel som Wild Rift kommer ha en stor framtid inom e-sportscenen.

– Mobilspel har en nästan oändlig potential. I västvärlden är inte mobilspel riktigt lika stort än, men kollar du på Asien, Afrika och Sydamerika så är det många som inte växer upp med en dator och kanske inte får en till vuxen ålder. Men alla har mobiler, och de här spelen är gigantiska.

Nu när Alliance fyller åtta år, hur tror du Alliance kommer se ut om ytterligare åtta år?

– Oj… vad blir det, 2029… 

– Jag tror ju vi kommer vara ett topplag inom Europa, men vi kommer också fokusera mycket på att vara en vital del i att bygga stjärnor och professionalitet inom e-sport. Det är något jag brinner för och som jag tycker saknas dels i Sverige och även till viss del Europa. Spontant hade jag velat se mer arbete med att utveckla ungdomar till proffs. Det brinner jag för, att hjälpa människor nå sina drömmar.

I år ligger ett stort fokus på The International i Stockholm för Dota 2-laget. Loda lovar också att organisationen har mycket annat på gång under året.

Alliance vill bland annat utveckla sitt content- och streamernätverk för att skapa värde för sina fans och inspireras till viss del av de stora contenthusen i USA.

– Vi har alltid lite roliga grejer på G, säger han.

Följ SportExpressen E-sport på Facebook och Twitter!

PINE BLUFF, Ark. — How about this for perfection by North Texas softball pitcher Hope Trautwein: 21 batters faced, 21 strikeouts.

Trautwein threw the perfect game Sunday, striking out all 21 Arkansas-Pine Bluff batters she faced in a 3-0 victory.

It was the first perfect game in North Texas history and is believed to be the first perfect seven-inning game in NCAA Division I history with every out being a strikeout.

NCAA records list two other pitchers with 21 strikeouts in a seven-inning game, but neither of those was a perfect game. Alabama’s Alexis Osorio had a 21-K game against Fordham in 2018, and California’s Michele Granger did it against Creighton in 1991.

Trautwein, a senior from Pflugerville, Texas, also had 21 strikeouts in a seven-inning game in her first start this season. But the right-hander also gave up five hits and two runs in a 6-2 win against Southeastern Louisiana on Feb. 13.

The NCAA single-game record for strikeouts is 28, by Northwestern’s Eileen Canney in an 18-inning game against Minnesota in 2006, and Baylor’s Cristin Vitek in 16 innings against North Carolina in 2004.

Allison, who joined the team at the start of 2017, is to become Mercedes’ chief technical officer from 1 July, and will take charge of longer term strategic planning.

His change of position has opened the door for current technology director Mike Elliott to step up into the technical director role.

Elliott, who has previously worked at Renault and McLaren, originally joined Mercedes in 2012 as head of aerodynamics before moving into his current position in 2017.

Mercedes is clear that the change has come about as part of its longer term thinking ahead of the 2022 rules revolution, rather than being anything related to the performance of its current car.

Team boss Toto Wolff said that the team was happy to keep Allison on board with his tenure as technical director due to come to an end this year.

“Since joining Mercedes in 2017, James has been an exceptional technical leader for our team, and he has made an enormous contribution to our performance: he combines huge passion and determination with detailed expertise and exceptional moral character,” he said.

Toto Wolff, Team Principal and CEO, Mercedes AMG, and James Allison, Technical Director, Mercedes AMG

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

“We have known for a while that his time as technical director would be coming to an end this year and I am delighted that we have been able to shape this new role to keep him within our motorsport family.

“He will be an important sparring partner for me in the next years and I know that we still have much to achieve together.”

Allison said he felt that it was the right time for him to move into a new position, rather than stay on and prevent others being able to grow.

“I firmly believe that people have a shelf life in senior roles in this sport, and I have chosen to step away from my role as technical director in order to pass on the baton at the right time for the organisation and myself,” he explained.

“I have enjoyed four and a half wonderful years as technical director, and it has been a special privilege to lead the technical effort of the team in that time.”

After the COVID-19 pandemic forced a four-month delay to the start of the 2020 season, F1 drivers were left to busy themselves with outside pursuits.

Most opted to keep some kind of involvement in motorsport by engaging in Esports, with the likes of Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, George Russell and Alexander Albon all competing in virtual racing events.

But then-Ferrari driver Vettel kept a low profile through lockdown, and has now revealed that he completed an internship in organic farming to learn more about agriculture.

Vettel has previously spoken about his interest in nature and farming, and was unveiled as an ambassador for the BioBienenApfel initiative this week that looks to protect habitats for insects.

“Since I had more time than I had actually planned, I thought about what I could do and what interested me,” Aston Martin driver Vettel explained, revealing that he moved to learn more practical farming skills.

“That’s what interests me. At some point you realise that not every vegetable is the same, not every apple has the same nutrients, and then you ask why.

“Then you realise very quickly where the apple comes from and how it is grown – and that’s how the doors opened for me.

“The theory interests me and I read about it a lot. But to learn more from the practical side and talk to the people who deal with it on a day-to-day basis, that was very interesting.”

Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR21, pulls away after a pit stop

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Vettel explained how he wanted to plant a meadow for his young daughters at their home in Switzerland in the shape of a love heart.

“Since I didn’t want to settle for a small heart, I then staked out the heart a bit bigger,” Vettel said.

“The girls were there at the beginning, but then I was alone with the spade and that was very exhausting.

“Last year, a little bit came up, but I’m looking forward to seeing more sprouts this year.”

Vettel is not the only F1 world champion to have shown an interest in organic farming and cultivation. 1979 world champion Jody Scheckter has owned a biodynamic farm in the UK for close to 15 years.

But Vettel dismissed the idea that he would have a second career in farming, saying it was “still far away, of course”.

The Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters is the first of three ATP Masters 1000 tournaments played on clay. Held at the picturesque Monte-Carlo Country Club, the event has a long tradition of great champions, led by Spain’s Rafael Nadal, who has won 11 titles at the event, including an Open Era record eight straight between 2005-2012.

Nadal will open his 2021 clay-court campaign in Monte-Carlo, and is joined in the field by past champions Novak Djokovic (2013 & 2015) and Fabio Fognini (2019), and the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev.

Here’s all you need to know about Monte-Carlo tennis tournament: when is the draw, what is the schedule, where to watch, who won and more. 

Established: 1897

Tournament Dates: 11-18 April 2021

Tournament Director: Zeljko Franulovic

Draw Ceremony: Friday, 9 April, 6:30pm at Monte Carlo Bay

Are You In? Subscribe To Get Tournament Updates In Your Inbox

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Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: 10-11 April from 11am
* Main draw: Sunday, 11 April – Saturday, 17 April from 11am, Sunday, 18 April at 12 noon
* Doubles final: Sunday, 18 April at 12 noon
* Singles final: Sunday, 18 April at 2:30pm 

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
View TV Schedule

Venue: Monte-Carlo Country Club
Surface: Clay

Prize Money: € 2,082,960 (Total Financial Commitment: € 2,460,585)  

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Rafael Nadal (11)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan (6)
Oldest Champion: Nicola Pietrangeli, 34, in 1968
Youngest Champion: Mats Wilander, 18, in 1983
Highest-Ranked Champion (since 1979): No. 1 Bjorn Borg in 1979-80, Ivan Lendl in 1988, Rafael Nadal in 2009, ’11 & ‘18, Novak Djokovic in 2013 & ‘15
Lowest-Ranked Champion (since 1979): No. 49 Andrew Pattison in 1974
Most Match Wins: Rafael Nadal (71)

2019 Finals
Singles: [13] Fabio Fognini (ITA) d Dusan Lajovic (SRB) 63 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: [7] Nikola Mektic (CRO) / Franko Skugor (CRO) d Robin Haase (NED) / Wesley Koolhof (NED) 67(3) 76(3) 11-9  Read & Watch 

Social
Hashtag: #rolexmcmasters
Facebook: @rolexmcmasters
Twitter: @ROLEXMCMASTERS
Instagram: @rolexmontecarlomasters

Did You Know…  The annual Player Revue takes place during the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Stars of the ATP Tour set aside their inhibitions to entertain their friends, family and fellow players in a series of sketches, poking good-humoured fun at life on tour and showing off their singing and dancing talents. Unfortunately, in 2021, due to COVID-19, the Player Revue will not take place. Take a look back at past Player Revues: 2018 | 2017 | 2016

Bally Sports Ohio is airing the Reds-Pirates game (6:30 p.m.) and the Blue Jackets-Lightning game (7 p.m.)

The Japanese youngster marked himself out as a future star with a great showing at last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

He set the second fastest time in Q1 and finished the race in ninth place, having pulled off a great overtaking move on Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll on the final lap.

Tsunoda’s pace and the hype surrounding him has already prompted suggestions he could be in the frame to step up to the main Red Bull team from 2022.

However, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has urged caution about such talk, despite clearly believing that Tsunoda has a bright future.

Marko remains well aware of the fact that Daniil Kvyat, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon have all failed to reach their full potential at Red Bull after being promoted and there is a sense to not rush things this time.

In an exclusive interview with Autosport’s German language sister site Formel1.de, Marko praised the impact that Tsunoda had made but said Red Bull was ready to be patient.

“The way he goes about it, the way he makes the car fly [is fantastic],” Marko said about Tsunoda. “He’s also a charismatic, funny guy. We are very happy to have him.”

Asked about the prospect of a 2022 drive at Red Bull, he replied: “We’ve had the first of 23 races, so let’s see how things develop.

“We have an incredible rough diamond in Yuki. We’re not going to burn him. We will look at the development and then make our decisions in a timely manner.”

Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri AT02 and Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR21

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

A move to Red Bull for Tsunoda would be bad news for Sergio Perez, who is currently on a one-year deal to drive for Red Bull this season.

The Mexican had a mixed weekend in Bahrain, after getting dumped out of qualifying in Q2 before recovering well in the race to take fifth place.

Marko said that in terms of race pace there were no concerns about Perez, but the key for him now was putting a lap together in qualifying.

“The race speed is on the same level as Verstappen,” said Marko. “When he was in free air, he set the same times, so, so far, so good. Unfortunately, it wasn’t like that in qualifying.

“The positive thing was that he lost most of his time in one turn, Turn 1. Already during testing, in sector three, he was faster than Max on average. The only issue is: you have to get the lap together.

“But we are convinced that he will get much closer to Max in qualifying as well.”