“It’s just completely different conditions that we’re playing in, so it’s very hard to compare tennis, say, from 50 years ago to today.
“But I am extremely honored to definitely be part of the conversation.”
The Golden Slam is also a potential for Djokovic, but he’s now not sure whether he will travel to the Olympics.
“I’ll have to think about it,” he said. “Right now, as I said, my plan was always to go to Olympic Games. But right now I’m a little bit divided. It’s kind of 50/50 because of what I heard in the last couple days.”
Former president Donald Trump remains under investigation by prosecutors in New York after his family business and longtime accountant were indicted on tax-related crimes, but he’s reportedly confident that criminal charges would only make him more popular.
Two witnesses who testified before the Manhattan grand jury confirmed the ex-president is still being investigated, reported The Daily Beast, although longtime advisers have reassured Trump that his Republican base will remain loyal if he chooses to run again in 2024.
“The numbers don’t change — rock solid,” said Trump pollster John McLaughlin, who says his own polling data shows criminal charges would not dent that support. “Attacks on President Trump galvanize his base.”
Trump claimed at a Sarasota, Florida, rally over the weekend that he was ignorant of the tax laws his chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg is accused of breaking, but legal experts say his past claims to being the “king of tax law” could prove “devastating” to his defense.
“Those prior inconsistent statements will undermine his claim of lack of knowledge on cross-examination,” said Carl Bornstein, a former New York prosecutor who now teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
Despite his alleged confidence in weathering a criminal case politically, the former president has privately lamented the continuing investigations into Trump Organization would add to his growing stack of legal bills, sources told The Daily Beast.
Marcus Rashford feels he is just seven steps away from something “special” as Euro 2020 fast approaches. The Manchester United and England star has been a national hero for his fight against the government over free school meals and for leading the battle against child poverty during the pandemic.
But the 23-year-old admits his first love has always been football and if he can help England win the European Championships at Wembley next month it can only increase his powers to do more good in the country as a whole.
“We will take it game-by-game,” Rashford said. “It’s seven games to do something special for your country.
“Football’s important to me. From when I was kid I’ve always dreamed of playing football. It’s always been on my mind and it’s put me in a positon to do what I’ve been doing this last year.
“But nothing changes in terms of football, I’m still hungry and determined to win things and win trophies.
“As long as that stays, there’s not an issue with doing the other things as well.”
Without elaborating, Rashford even said he feels the whole squad is better set-up mentally to go into the tournament than his two previous squads were.
Fears of hooliganism and general security concerns overshadowed the build up to both Euro 2016 after the Paris bombings and the more alien culture of Russia in 2018, this time the players have a clear run at things.
“In the past there’s been too many I’d say outside influences but for this tournament I feel the camp is very relaxed but also determined and focused,” Rashford continued.
“It’s just about doing that as consistently as we can. I think everyone’s got a clear mind.
“Hopefully we can bring the best version of England to that tournament. If we do that, I have confidence in the team, the squad, the manager and the staff.”
Captaining the side against Romania on Sunday was the perfect pick-me-up for missing out in the Europa League final with United against Villarreal the previous week.
Southgate rang Rashford to check on him a couple of days after that disappointment, but he need not have bothered.
THRILLING trailer released for ‘Alita: Battle Angel’
Alita Battle Angel has achieved cult status following its release in 2019. The science-fiction movie received some critical acclaim, but underperformed at the box office, earning just $ 400 million on a $ 170 million budget. Since then, many of the actors involved in the film joined fans in calling for a sequel, Alita Battle Angel 2 – otherwise known as Alita Fallen Angel. Waltz, who starred in the film as Dr Dyson Ido, is not confident one will arrive, however.
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Speaking to Collider during the film’s release, Waltz was first asked if he would return to the series in a future movie.
He replied: “Of course! Of course, I would! But, you know, I’m as wise as you are.
“I haven’t heard anything and I’m a little disappointed and surprised that I haven’t heard a thing so far, because I know that it has followers.”
He added: “I know that people liked it and aside from what others said, I loved it and I liked working on it, and I liked the result.”
Alita Battle Angel 2: Christoph Waltz spoke out about a sequel to the film (Image: 20TH CENTURY FOX)
Alita Battle Angel 2: Fallen Angel could be a scrapped idea (Image: 20TH CENTURY FOX)
Going on to give further details about the film’s sequel, Waltz said: “You know, [the film was produced by] Fox, and Fox doesn’t exist anymore. Now it’s Disney.”
On March 20, 2019 Disney acquired the 21st Century Fox Company, which included 20th Century Studios.
This acquisition included the purchase of all the 20th Century Fox intellectual properties, including Alita Battle Angel and the X-Men series.
Waltz added: “Maybe [Alita 2] doesn’t fit into the Disneyfication [of 20th Century Studios].”
Alita Battle Angel 2: Christoph Waltz is not confident in a sequel (Image: 20TH CENTURY FOX)
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Waltz went on: “But I have no clue … Maybe they’re working on something and I wouldn’t be the first person to hear, but meanwhile, I haven’t heard anything.”
Considering Waltz’ character is one of the main stars of the story, it would make sense for him to have heard about the sequel first if it were going ahead.
Speaking in April, he said: “Speaking to Forbes, Robert said: “I think anything is possible. Disney bought Fox, and they have Disney Plus, so that is worth the conversation.”
Rodriguez went on: “I know other people would love to see another, and I would love to do another one.
“As far as where it would go or how it would be made, I think streaming has opened up many opportunities such as sequels.
“It’s already a pre-sold concept, it’s already got a built-in audience that wants to see it, and then it’s delivered to them in a way that’s the easiest for them to consume. So, it’s not a bad idea.”
The director’s suggestion of turning it into a series is interesting considering its origins.
Alita Battle Angel was based on a Japanese Manga called Battle Angel: Alita.
The series was released in various books, so a TV show could be the next step for the series.
With Alita actor Rosa Salazar confirming: “I would play Alita ‘til my last breath. I would, and thanks to the performance capture technology, I probably could,” fans can look forward to seeing her make a return to the big screen.
Holidays to some foreign destinations are set to resume from May 17, and according to Greece’s Tourism Board, the nation is “confident” it will make it onto the “green list”. Though the nation has set out guidelines to welcome back vaccinated Britons, an official health passport has not yet been confirmed.
Despite this, the country says one is “forthcoming”.
According to The Times, until then, the nation will accept paper NHS vaccination appointment cards.
In a statement, the Greek Tourism Board said: “Our understanding is that a health pass will be forthcoming.”
So far, it is not clear what this health pass will be however the European Union (EU) is currently working on official bloc-wide documentation.
There are concerns from some nations, though, that this could encourage “forgery”.
It is not yet clear which countries will be on the UK’s “green list”.
The Government’s Global Travel Taskforce is currently in discussions over this and will use the latest COVID-19 data from around the world to determine which nations can be categorised as “safe”.
Travellers returning from “green” countries will not be required to self-isolate when they land in the UK.
“All countries we keep under constant review and judge the state of the pandemic in those countries.
“This work is done actually not by the Government itself, it’s done by the Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC).
“They look at the issue and they will make their determination based on what they think we need to do and clearly if they think there is a variant of concern for instance if they think the disease is taking off rapidly in that country or they have any other reason for concern then it will move onto the red list and downwards if it is going in a different direction.
“It is the JBC that does it and we keep it under constant review.”
He declined to offer any hints as to which nations will be included on the list.
According to Sky News, Portugal is also confident it will be categorised as “green”.
Last month tech giant Samsung voiced its concern over semiconductor shortages affecting the production of electronics.
With this in mind, Nintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa has now provided an update to Nikkei about the Japanese company’s Switch hardware production – stating how it’s been “able to secure the necessary materials” in order to continue producing semiconductors in the immediate future.
However, in Japan and around the globe, there’s still the possibility of system shortages at retailers in the future due to ongoing demand. Here’s the full translation (thanks, VGC):
“We have been able to secure the necessary materials for the immediate production of semiconductors for Switches. However, in Japan and other countries, demand has been very strong since the beginning of the year, and there is a possibility of shortages at some retailers in the future. It is difficult to say how we will deal with this, but in some cases we may not be able to prepare enough for orders.”
Furukawa’s latest interview lines up Bloomberg’s sources last month suggesting Nintendo would face the same challenges as its rivals this year – a shortage of tech and components:
“Beyond securing silicon from the likes of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., the Switch maker also faces scarcity of more generic parts like display driver integrated circuits and Bluetooth modules, people familiar with its operations said.”
Even before the pandemic, Nintendo was struggling to keep the system in stock. As of December last year, the unit has shifted 79.87 million units worldwide. In addition to this are scalpers, which are taking advantage of the limited supplies.
To top it off, there have been rumours in recent times about Nvidia stopping production of the Tegra X1 Mariko (the SoC powering both Switch) and Nintendo releasing a system with a Samsung display.
Have you had any issues getting hold of a new Nintendo Switch in recent times? Tell us down below.
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer insists his side are confident heading into the latter stages of the Europa League. United have made it through to the quarter-final of the competition after beating AC Milan 1-0 on Thursday, clinching the tie 2-1 on aggregate. Paul Pogba scored the only goal of the game at the San Siro after coming on as a second-half substitute.
Solskjaer was understandably delighted to have made it through to the last eight of a second competition this season.
“Very happy of course,” Solskjaer told BT Sport.
“We’ve come through a very difficult tie against a fantastic club and we’ve overcome some difficulties.
“You give yourself a chance to win a game of football when you keep a clean sheet.
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“I’ll be honest, and the lads and staff would agree, we weren’t good at all especially the first half we were awful.
“The first 10-15 minutes, we started well, kept control of the ball but it was like a switch – we turned off, kept giving away balls, bringing pressure on ourselves and we were lucky.
“Second half it always helps to have a world class player like Paul to make a difference and he did that. But we know we need to be better than tonight.
“It’s a very good win and the positive is that we are through, we have players coming back and the squad looks better.”
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is confident Mohamed Salah will not leave in the summer transfer window – even if they miss out on Champions League football. The Reds have been shocking this calendar year as their Premier League title defence fell apart.
The Liverpool boss made the assertion in light of their fifth home defeat in a row – a feat has never happened before in the history of the club.
Salah was hauled off after an hour against Chelsea despite the Reds desperately needing a goal.
And the Egypt international was less than pleased with Klopp’s decision, having a tantrum as his agent cryptically tweeted elsewhere.
Speculation has been mounting over the past few months that the former Roma star has his sights set on leaving the club.
Following Thursday night’s incident, those rumours have only increased but Klopp has insisted Liverpool’s top goalscorer is going nowhere.
With Liverpool sitting seventh in the Premier League, missing out on the Champions League is now a very realistic scenario.
But Klopp insisted his players have a deep loyalty to the club.
He said: “That is nothing we have to worry about. It was always like this. I know we have loyalty from the players.
“It is not a situation where a player in the squad says we are not in the Champions League so I have to leave. That will not happen. I know them well enough to know that.”
Salah has not spoken since coming off against Chelsea but Klopp addressed the situation, insisting he was keeping the 28-year-old fresh for future games.
The German said: “I just brought on fresh legs. Mo [Salah] looked like today he suffered a bit, he played a lot of games.
“I could have taken off Sadio or Bobby, that is all clear but at that moment it looked like Mo.
“Milner we bought on to wake them up a bit and keep them in the game because we needed one situation.”
“In that moment he looked like he felt the intensity tonight and I didn’t want to risk it. It is all fine, I make decisions that I think are right in the moment.”
Former president Donald Trump remains under investigation by prosecutors in New York after his family business and longtime accountant were indicted on tax-related crimes, but he’s reportedly confident that criminal charges would only make him more popular.
