TV Guide: Three World Cup opening ceremonies and the return of Serena Williams

The last time a football World Cup was held in North America, England failed to qualify for it. They ensured that we were still remembered in the opening ceremony, however, as Diana Ross put the ball wide from the penalty spot. It was an even worse miss than Chris Waddle’s hoof into row Z in 1990, although to be fair to Ross, Waddle wasn’t holding a microphone at the same time.

This year, lucky us, we have three opening ceremonies. Mexican band Maná and Venezuelan singer Danny Ocean kick things off in Mexico City before the home side play South Africa (Thursday, ITV1, 6.15pm, match 8pm), then Alanis Morissette and Michael Bublé warble before Canada host Bosnia & Herzegovina in Toronto (Friday, BBC One, kick-off at 8pm) and then, six hours, later Katy Perry is the warm-up for USA v Paraguay in Los Angeles (BBC One, 2am).

England fans must wait until 17 June for their World Cup to start against Croatia, while Scotland have a supposedly gentle opener against Haiti at the unfriendly time of 2am next Sunday (BBC One). At 82 in the world rankings, Haiti may seem less daunting than Brazil, the first match when Scotland last qualified for a World Cup in 1998, but remember: the higher the world ranking, the bigger the banana skin.

The grass-court tennis season begins this week, and with all respect to Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion, or the new French Open champion Mirra Andreeva, the biggest name in the women’s events at Queen’s Club is a 44-year-old doubles player who hasn’t hit a ball in competition for four years (starts on Monday, BBC Two, 1pm).

Serena Williams will make her comeback with Victoria Mboko, the highly rated 19-year-old Canadian. If that goes well, the expectation is that she will have another crack at Wimbledon, where Martina Navratilova was still winning matches at the age of 49.

After getting out three times in the nineties in his last four innings in the Indian Premier League, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi might have been accused of “jug avoidance”, were the 15-year-old not too young to go to the bar. It is a pity, though, that India have not given him a Test debut against Afghanistan (starts on Sunday, day two, TNT Sports 3, 5am). 

Excitement at Monte Carlo that we might see something that had almost become extinct: overtaking at Monaco. Last season there were only four passes, compared with an average of 67 at F1’s other races. But this year the average number of overtakings has risen to 115 as a result of new semi-electric engines, which will give drivers a better chance to pass on the tight bends (starts on Sunday, Sky Sports F1, 2pm).

Photograph by Alamy