Julia Beffon: The T20 Champions League gets under way tonight, but I can't get excited about it.

I usually love the wham-bam version of the game, but the Pakistan match-fixing scandal on their tour to England has left me utterly jaundiced.

Half the enjoyment of watching sport is its unpredictable nature. Suspecting that some on the field are not playing to the same rules somehow makes it worse than watching a match where you already know the score.

I'm not naive enough to believe that it is only the Pakistanis who are supplementing their incomes with kickbacks from bookmakers, so all participants in the Champions League come under suspicion by default.

The idea dreamt up in England this week to try to persuade Pakistan to legalise gambling as an answer to this perennial problem is quite special. I suppose the threat of being jailed for match-fixing, instead of treason, will definitely deter Pakistan's cricketers from taking bribes.

Over in New York, a different type of hot air is causing problems. The action has been more honest, but players at the US Open have been battling the worst winds in memory - that's what Billie-Jean King claims, and who am I to doubt her?

As the doyenne of US tennis said, because so many tournaments are now played indoors, under perfect conditions, the younger players are no longer encouraged to practise when weather conditions are less than optimal.

It's given a surprising advantage to the older players, who have more experience battling the gusts. In general, the oldies are fighting back, particularly in the women's game, which was in danger a few years ago of becoming something for under-20s only. With the return of Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin and the enduring quality of the Williams sisters, the average age at the top of the rankings is pushing 30.

But it's one of the younger guard, Vera Zvonareva, who I've been pulling for this year. She's made the quarterfinals in all the grand slams this year and it would be a wonderful redemption for her to win, considering her spectacular unravelling at Flushing Meadows last year. She's the one, remember, who blew up after battling her bandages more than her opponent.

The wind definitely aided Roger Federer in his quarterfinal against Robin Soderling, where the elder statesman of the tour - at 30 - was able to use his experience and craft to adjust to the conditions. Delicate drop-shots into the wind and raking ground strokes from the other end allowed the supremely talented Swiss to easily avenge his French Open demolition.

But Rafael Nadal is a force of nature himself. He seems impervious to the wind in his single-minded pursuit of the only grand slam title still to elude him.