Harry Styles has personally reached out to one Wimbledon star after her successful run in the tennis tournament forced her to miss his gig.
Millions of fans in countless countries have had the chance to see the Cheshire-born singer live on stage as part of his major Love On Tour global tour over the last year or so – but unfortunately for tennis player Elina Svitolina, she wasn’t going to be one of them.
If you haven’t been keeping up to date with Wimbledon this year, the 28-year-old Ukrainian wildcard has been one of the unexpected stand-outs so far.
Just this past Sunday, Svitolina made it through to the quarter finals after beating 33-year-old Belarusian Victoria Azarenka in what was an undeniable three-set thriller on Court One, cementing her place as the talk of the tournament – but ahead of that fourth round match, the Ukrainian revealed that her successful run had come at a bit of a cost.
And that cost was missing out on seeing her favourite pop star Harry Styles live in concert.
Svitolina took to social media to reveal that she had bought tickets to go and watch Styles in Vienna as his Love On Tour run arrived in the Austrian capital last Saturday, but due to playing one of the most important matches of her career so far the next day, she was unable to go.
“Hey guys!! I was supposed to go to see my fav @harrystyles concert in Vienna tomorrow,” Svitolina wrote on Instagram.
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“But Wimbledon changed my plans. Someone want to go? I have two tickets.”
Harry Styles on stage on the Love On Tour tour / Credit: Harry Styles (Credit:
After Svitolina’s impressive victory grabbed headlines, thousands of fans headed to social media to congratulate the former world number three on her success – but it appears it wasn’t just tennis fans that reached out.
Harry Styles also personally got in touch with Svitolina to offer her the chance to reschedule her previous gig plans before his tour is over.
Commenting underneath a post about Svitolina missing his Vienna gig on the official Wimbledon Instagram account, Styles wrote: “Congratulations! We have four shows to go, you’re welcome at any of them.
“Good luck with the rest of the tournament. H.”
The remaining dates in Styles’ Love On Tour this month are Barcelona tomorrow (12 July) Madrid on Friday (14 July), Lisbon on 18 July, and Reggio Emilia in Italy on 22 July.
So if Svitolina gets all the way to Saturday’s women’s singles final, then Barcelona and Madrid are of course out of the question, but there’s a chance she could still catch Styles in Portugal or Italy if she takes the singer up on his generous offer.
Manchester MMA star Tom Aspinall slams ‘unfair’ start times for UFC 304 at Co-op Live
Danny Jones
Local MMA star Tom Aspinall has come out to criticise the start times for UFC 304 here in Manchester, calling it ‘unfair’ for fans here in the UK.
In case you missed that rather big announcement, the UFC is returning to Manchester after nearly a decade and will be the very first sporting event held at the brand-new Co-op Live Arena, which is finally set to open this week following multiple delays (touch wood).
However, in an effort to keep broadcasters and the UFC‘s massive audience back in the US, the fight card will be starting until around 3am – and that’s at the very earliest.
Responding to the decision the Atherton-born and Salford-based fighter posted a video on his socials saying, “As a fan who wants to watch it live, I think it is absolutely terrible”.
He goes on to say that “it’s just not fair on the fans – the UK fans obviously. It’s predominantly an American audience so I understand that, they want to sell to them, but why can’t they sell to them in the afternoon which is our evening time?
While he admitted it “doesn’t make that much difference” to him as a fighter, the 31-year-old went on to ask, “Why can’t the American watch it in the afternoon and Manchester, the UK and European fans can all fly to the event and sell out this new arena?”
“I mean, it’s going to sell out regardless, mate”, Aspinall reiterated, adding that “we’re very lucky to have a pay-per-view event in Manchester” but that forcing the British audience and Mancs to watch something just down the road at a US-convenient time just doesn’t seem right.
There’s been plenty of backlash amongst MMA fans online too, with many stating that it simply goes to show that the UFC as an organisation “don’t care” about overseas supporters as much as they claim to.
As the current interim heavyweight champion, Aspinall will be right up at the top of the billing for UFC 304, which is the first time the event has been in the UK full stop since 2016.
We can only hope for similarly victorious scenes for the North West this July.
As for the shiny new venue, Co-op Live, after a fair few teething problems it looks like they are now on course to open just a week or so after the initial launch date. Not so bad.
Featured Images — Tom Aspinall (via TikTok/Instagram)
Sport
Wayne Rooney joins the cast of Gary Neville’s The Overlap
Danny Jones
Wayne Rooney has secured a new job just a few months on from departing as Birmingham City head coach, with the Manchester United and England legend being named as the latest member of The Overlap team.
Set to join the cast of the popular Stick to Football online series alongside the likes of former teammates Gary Neville and Roy Keane, as well as the rest of the recurring panel.
Rooney is also set to feature on various other shows across The Overlap channel, including the likes of their regular fan debates and other interviews with athletes and well-known figures.
They announced the signing in true transfer window fashion as well.
As transfer expert Fabrizio Romano quips in the video, Rooney “has signed an agreement with The Overlap” and is expected to make his debut very soon
‘Wazza’ has appeared as a pundit on Sky Sports in recent weeks and has even been spotted playing some FIFA with comedy YouTuber AngryGinge as part of his pro clubs series, but hasn’t been in a steady role since being sacked as the Birmingham manager at the start of the year.
Having already appeared as a guest in one of the most popular episodes of Stick to Football and clearly sharing a strong chemistry with his old friends – as well as the likes of fellow Scouser Jamie Carragher, Jill Scott and Ian Wright – it looks to be a natural fit for the sport-based channel.
The 38-year-old revealed some pretty interesting details about his playing and managerial career last time around, not to mention some of the other offers he’s had since…
Rooney reiterated during his own interview that his primary focus is still on coaching and finding his next managerial role, but for the time being, he’ll be bringing the insight of another ex-pro to the popular YouTube channel.
Speaking on his latest move, the former striker said, “I’m excited to announce that I will be joining my good mate Gary Neville and the team at The Overlap to appear on the channel across some of their brilliant shows on YouTube and the podcast. I can’t wait to get started”.
With an episode from at least one of their series going out most weeks, you can expect to see the footballing legend back on the channel soon.
Emily Sergeant -
11th July 2023 
