The Score Nobody Asked For
Grammar: Advanced conditional structures
A Level 6 English lesson exploring sport.
What's in this lesson
A Level 6 (proficiency) ESL lesson on sport, practising advanced conditional structures. The worksheet has a reading, target vocabulary, a grammar reference with practice and discussion questions.
From the reading: The Score Nobody Asked For
In the spring of 2026, something unusual happened at a Grand Slam press conference. Novak Djokovic, arguably the most decorated player in tennis history, walked in carrying a laminated sheet of numbers. He did not discuss his match. He read out the earnings of a ball kid — roughly twelve dollars per day — and then the earnings of the tournament sponsor. The room went quiet. Had the ATP and WTA acted sooner on the revenue-sharing proposals that players had circulated for three years, said Djokovic, none of this would have been necessary. It was, by any measure, a precise and deliberate escalation.
Vocabulary
- difficult to dismiss
- pushed back
- ring-fenced
- went quiet
Grammar
- Had it not been for
- Had it not been for the coalition, the talks would never have started. — counterfactual without if
- Were + subject +
- Were the tours to adopt the levy, lower-ranked players would benefit. — formal hypothetical, present or future
Discussion questions
- Should professional athletes be paid based on results, or just for competing?
- Have you ever felt that a system was unfair but said nothing about it?
- Is sport a business, a spectacle, or something else entirely?