ball

He said: "As both American and Ukrainian delegations have said, the ball is now in the Russian court. Russia must now agree to a ceasefire and an end to the fighting too."

He had a tendency to push the ball.

He'll do what he can to keep the ball in Russia's court, but he knows there's every chance it could end up back in his.

"We'll take this offer now to the Russians and we hope they'll say yes to peace. The ball is now in their court," he added.

That uncertainty increases with what he described as Chief Justice John Roberts' inconsistency on his commitment to only call balls and strikes as a justice.