• April 4 down the years

An epic Davis Cup encounter

Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski won their doubles match against the USA © Getty Images

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1999
Britain met the USA in an epic Davis Cup tie in Birmingham. The match went to the fifth set of the fifth match. It started in the same way. Britain were lucky Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi refused to play - but Jim Courier was a formidable third string. He won two out of three tie-breaks before beating Tim Henman 7-5 in the fifth. Then Todd Martin handled Greg Rusedski's serve so well that he won in straight sets, 6-2 in the third. Rusedski and Henman weren't natural doubles partners, but they combined well enough on the second day to beat Martin and Alex O'Brien in another five-setter. In the reverse singles today, Henman was lucky not to go two sets down against Martin, who was about to lead 5-3 in the second when he got a bad call. Henman won the next three sets, the third on a tie-break. In the decider, Rusedski twice came from behind, winning the second set on a tie-break and the fourth 7-5 - but he was foot-faulted 12 times, and Courier came through 8-6 in the very last set. This was Britain's best Davis Cup pair for many years, and even at home it wasn't quite good enough to beat America's second best.

1998
Jonny Wilkinson made his England debut at 18. It wasn't a particularly dramatic entrance: he came on late in the second half and didn't take any kicks at goal. Not that he was needed. England led 25-7 at half-time, and Ireland had to take what comfort they could from drawing the second half 10-10. Denis Hickie scored both their tries, but England scored four, and Paul Grayson kicked 15 points. The win gave England the Triple Crown and a total of 146 points for that year's Championship, a Five Nations record. But France scored only two points fewer and won the Grand Slam.

1999
Mark Foster won the inaugural 50 metres butterfly at the World Short-Course Swimming Championships, just ahead of China's Zhang Qiang and Joris Keizer of Holland. It was Britain's fourth gold medal of the Championships, their best ever haul. On the same day, James Hickman almost added to his gold medal the day before by finishing second in the 200 metres individual medley, and Helen Don-Duncan won silver in the 200 backstroke.

1937
Byron Nelson was famous for winning a record 18 golf tournaments in 1945, including an astounding 11 in a row. He also won five Majors, beginning with the Masters today. He started with a bang, a first round of 66 that helped him lead by three strokes at half-way. Then he had a mare, a 75 that left him four behind Ralph Guldahl going into the last round. But swings and roundabouts. Guldahl had a shocker himself, shooting 76 to Nelson's 70, and lost the event by two shots. He finished second again on the same day next year before going one better on April 2, 1939.

Ieuan Evans made his international debut at the 1987 Five Nations © Getty Images

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1987
World-class winger Ieuan Evans scored the first of his 33 tries for Wales, a national record at the time. He dived over in the corner after 11 minutes, and a second try by lock Bob Norster put Wales 8-0 up against Ireland in Cardiff. With Jonathan Davies as dashing as ever at fly-half, working well with Robert Jones, things were looking good. But full-back Mark Wyatt missed too many place kicks, Ireland came back to win 15-11, and Wales finished joint bottom of the Five Nations with England.

1952
Rosi Ackermann was born Rosemarie Witchas. The top high jumper of her day, she was the first woman to go over two metres (August 26,1977). It was the last of her seven world records and the last set by a woman using the straddle technique. She was Olympic champion in 1976 and won gold at the European Championships in 1974 and silver four years later. Minor gongs included the inaugural World Cup in 1977, three European Cups, and three European Indoors. But she was born and trained in East Germany, so bin it, really.

1982
Niki Lauda won the United States Grand Prix West in California, in a year when 11 different drivers won races, including the champion at last on August 29.

1959
France won the Five Nations outright for the first time. Against Wales in Paris, one of the greatest packs in their history dominated a brave Welsh eight. Props like Aldo Quaglio and Alfred Roques, with big Bernard Mommejat and captain Lucien Miâs in the second row, gave the loose forwards a platform for causing havoc in the loose. Jean Barthe was a mobile No.8, Michel Crauste and François Moncla superb on the flank. Terry Davies gave Wales the lead with an early penalty, but Moncla scored both tries in an 11-3 win that should have been a lot bigger, and France were champions with a match to spare. They were still celebrating when they lost 9-5 in Dublin a fortnight later.

1915
In debt and bad health, Drewy Stoddart shot himself with a revolver. A star of two sports, Andrew Stoddart played in 16 cricket Tests, half of them as captain, including two Ashes series away from home. The 1894-95 team wasn't even called England but AE Stoddart's XI. He made his highest Test score of 173 to set up a 2-0 lead, then 68 to win the fifth Test after Australia had come back to 2-2. Three years later, the death of his mother reduced him to two Tests, both of which were lost. He then added to the reputation of the English as whingeing Poms by criticising the insults his team had received from 'a section of the public and the Press.' A batsman with all the skills, he made only two centuries in Tests and no fifties in his last 14 Test innings - but all his matches were against strong Australian teams. As a rugby union three-quarter with pace and swerve and great hands, he played 10 matches for England, again half as captain, scoring tries against the 'New Zealand Natives' and Ireland, and took over the captaincy of the Lions when the tour skipper was drowned during the 1888 trip Down Under.

2003
Playing for the Texas Rangers against the Cincinnati Reds, Sammy Sosa hit his 500th home run in Major League baseball. Plenty of others had reached that landmark before, but Sosa was the first Hispanic.

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