Treffen » semifinals while aiming for a calendar-year Grand Slam

MANCHESTER, England -- For a football coach widely regarded as the best in the business, there are many uncertainties shrouding Pep Guardiola as he starts his tenure at Manchester City.Can Citys squad adapt to his methods? Can he achieve the consistency in a grueling Premier League season that his Barcelona and Bayern Munich teams have had down the years? Whats it like to play a match the day after Christmas?These were some of the challenges he raised as he faced the media for the first time on Friday.Halfway through the season, I might be able to explain better, Guardiola said.The 45-year-old Spanish coach openly acknowledges his move to England -- for the first time in his career as either a player or a coach -- will be a learning experience. It will come, however, in the glaze of the toughest and most-watched league in the world.He has won 22 trophies since 2008 as coach of Barcelona (2008-12) and Bayern (2013-16), but things are unlikely to come as easy in England.Guardiola has met Sheikh Mansour, Citys Abu Dhabi-based owner, three times since being hired but hes been set no specific targets. City won the Premier League in 2012 and 2014, but only finished fourth last season.He didnt say, `You have to win Premier League or Champions League, Guardiola said. He told me, `Do your job as best as possible, do your job like you are, and after that we are going to see.One of the few familiar sights for Guardiola this season will be Jose Mourinho.There was plenty of controversy when the pair met while coaching Spanish powerhouses Barcelona and Real Madrid in the early 2010s. Now, they will work within a few kilometers of each other in the Premier League, with Mourinho hired by Manchester United in May.Guardiola showed respect toward Mourinho ahead of the renewal of their often-stormy rivalry.The big coaches, Jose is one them, help me reach another level, Guardiola said.He wants to win, I want to win. We know each other pretty well from before. It is great that big managers are here, top managers are here. Big managers take me as a manager to a different level.His first league game -- against Sunderland, managed by the experienced Sam Allardyce -- will likely be an eye-opener for Guardiola.I never go to stadiums where it is freezing and windy. And I say, `Why not come play good (football) when it is freezing and windy? Guardiola said. That is a target for me, a personal ambition. I want to prove (myself).I never played in Premier League before, he added. And Sunderland and `Big Sam, I play the first one. That is why I am here, to see how it is, and I have to adapt to the qualities of my players.I will need a bit of time to discover the style of play here. It is going to be more physical.Guardiola also talked about individual players whose futures at City have come under scrutiny.- On the 33-year-old Yaya Toure, who was sold to City by Guardiola and is in the final year of his contract: I count on him.- On Raheem Sterling, signed last offseason for $76 million but heavily criticized after his first season at City: Of course he has a little problem with the money they paid, and that is in the mind of the people. But Im encouraged and I am looking forward to working with him and showing him how good a player he is.- On Vincent Kompany, Citys injury-prone captain and center back: We spoke to him and said just focus on your body and come back to what you were in the past. Vincent will show his qualities.Guardiolas Barcelona and Bayern teams played easy-on-the-eye, attacking football and a tough pressing game. Dont expect that to change at City.At the end, what we want is so simple, Guardiola said. When the opponent has the ball, take it back as quick as possible. When we have the ball, try to move as quick as possible, to create as much chances as possible. Thats all. Thomas Morstead Womens Jersey . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. Marcus Davenport Saints Jersey . -- Nate Robinson has played for seven teams, so beating one of them is no longer a rare occurrence. http://www.authenticsaintssportsonline.com/saints-alvin-kamara-gold-jersey/ . Datsyuk will miss Tuesdays game against New Jersey and could be sidelined longer, while Cleary will likely miss at least the next three games. Its been an injury-plagued season for Datsyuk, who has suited up for just 39 games. Ted Ginn Jr Womens Jersey . Reassurance came from Paul Tesori, his caddie and close friend whose newborn son is in intensive care in a Florida hospital. "Paul sent me a text this morning, just told me he loved me and wanted to go out and fight as hard as I would any other day," Simpson said Sunday after doing just that. Marshon Lattimore Saints Jersey . With Parker having a quiet game for once, Nicolas Batum and Boris Diaw provided the scoring as France won its first major basketball title by beating Lithuania 80-66 on Sunday. It was a victory that ended a decade of frustration for Parker and a talented French generation, which lost the final against Spain two years ago and took bronze in 2005. LONDON -- Venus Williams sighed at the reporters question.After getting to her first Wimbledon semifinal since 2009, and first at any Grand Slam tournament since a year later, she was asked what she learned in recent times, while dealing with an energy-sapping disease and a series of earlier-than-usual exits from majors.Its hard to say just one lesson, she began. Its easy to be afraid; you have to let fear go. Another lesson is you just have to believe in yourself. You just have to. Theres no way around it. Youve got to believe in yourself. No matter how things are stacked against you, you just have to, every time.Williams never lost that belief, the self-confidence that she still could compete at the highest level, the certainty that it made no sense to give up, to retire from the tour.The good part is, I always felt like I had the game. This is always a plus, when you know you have the game, said Williams, who owns seven Grand Slam titles, including five at the All England Club, but none since 2008. So you just have to keep working until things fall into place.At age 36, they have.On Friday at Wimbledon, Williams will meet No. 4-seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany for a berth in the final. Kerber has won three of their previous five matchups.The American is the oldest woman to participate in a major semifinal since Martina Navratilova did it at Wimbledon in 1994 at age 37.Its nice to see, because she puts in the work, said David Witt, Williams coach. She hasnt been back, but not because of her play. Any given tournament, shes capable of beating anybody in the tournament. Its just a matter of winning six, seven matches in a row and keeping your level of play at a high level.Someone who knows all about that is Williams younger sister, No. 1-seeded Serena, who faces 50th-ranked Elena Vesnina in Fridays other semifinal. If VVesnina -- who has never so much as taken a set off Serena in five previous meetings -- were to pull off the upset, she would be the first unseeded woman to reach the Wimbledon final in the Open era, which began in 1968.ddddddddddddThe 29-year-old Russian had never been past the fourth round at a major before this week.Serena, meanwhile, is bidding for her seventh Wimbledon championship and, of even more significance, her 22nd Grand Slam trophy overall, which would equal Steffi Graf for the most in the Open era (Margaret Court holds the all-time mark of 24).Serena has come close to drawing even with Graf before: At the U.S. Open last September, she lost to Roberta Vinci in the semifinals while aiming for a calendar-year Grand Slam; at the Australian Open in January, she lost to Kerber in the final; at the French Open in June, she lost to Garbine Muguruza in the final.Way back in 1999, the Williams sisters both reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open. Now here they are, almost 17 full years later, both in the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the 11th time. On all 10 previous occasions, one or the other took home the trophy.If both win Thursday, they would play each other on Saturday in what would be the siblings ninth meeting in a Grand Slam final and fifth at Wimbledon.For Serena, it would mean shes participated in the last three major title matches, seven of the past eight.For Venus, it would be her first Grand Slam final since 2009, when she lost at Wimbledon to -- guess who? -- Serena.With everything shes been through, I think its built a ton of character in her, Serena said, and in me, just by being around her.---Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich ' ' '