Djoker Holds All the Aces

Novak Djokovic is so dominant it’s getting boring. The unpredictability of sport is a big part of the appeal, but Djokovic is rarely on the losing side nowadays. The Serb’s haul for 2015 includes three Majors, six Masters, & the year-end championship, as he set a new record for total ranking points in a year. Arguably it was the best season in the men’s game for many years, surpassing even the peak years of the Swiss maestro.

There will be many, including this blogger, who will hope the Serb has peaked, so that others can share the spoils of victory. Next year, there’s also Olympic gold on offer, and Novak would love to upgrade his bronze from Beijing 2008. 

Before 2011, the World Cup record of the All Blacks did not match up with their winning record elsewhere. The label of them as chokers on the biggest stage has now been emphatically buried.

Sporting greats are set apart by their composure & execution under pressure. Dan Carter’s drop goal in the final was the best example I’ve seen this year. The Aussies had pulled back to within four points, 10 minutes left to play, the fly-half struck it beautifully, right through the middle of the sticks.

Risk & Reward

It was one of the all-time great underdog victories. Japan’s previous world cup record read P22, W1 D1 L 22. The opposition, South Africa, are two-time world cup winners.

The lead changed hands four times in the first half, but according to the usual script Japan would succumb and the Springboks would come though after being given an almighty scare. On 44 minutes, South Africa had a six point lead, & by the 63^rd it was seven, but Japan refused to yield. On 79 minutes, trailing by 3, surely they would go for the penalty & take the draw? No, they had the guts to risk going for the win & were rewarded with a sensational victory.   

 

Novak Djokovic is on course to have one of the standout seasons of recent years. It ranks with McEnroe in 1984 (W82 L3), Federer 2006 (92-5), Nadal 2010 & his own stellar season of 2011.

Worryingly for his rivals in the indoor season , the Serb hasn’t lost on indoor (hard) court for 31 matches. Among his contemporaries only Wawrinka , Murray & Nishikori  look capable of beating him in a best-of five match. Of the younger guns, Coric is not yet at his level, Dimitrov has had an off year, & Krygios is too flaky.

At the US Open Murray ran into Kevin Anderson in the best form of his career, but still has a massive prize to play for. GB will play Belgium in the Davis Cup final after Murray won three rubbers for the second tie in succession.

 

Great credit is due to Wayne Rooney for breaking Charlton’s England goal record. He’s also closing in on the Man U club record.

Domination

Dominance is today’s theme.

Jordan Spieth, having already won two majors this year, finished only one shot behind the winner at the Open.  Currently he sits three shots off the lead of the US PGA.

Depressingly for her rivals, Serena Williams can win majors even with a bad case of the flu, as she did at the French. A calendar year Grand Slam is still on the cards.

Djokovic brings to mind a Skynet Terminator.  The Serb is as relentless & indestructible as the  T-1000. Arguably he is the best athlete & toughest mentally on the ATP tour. The crop of young talents such as Coric, Zverev, Thiem and the special Ks look to have a long way to go to be capable of challenging. The world no. 1 will play Chardy today in the Montreal semis.

Chris Froome looked to be totally dominant in Le Tour, but his winning margin was trimmed to just over a minute when Quintana dropped him on Alpe d’Huez, the penultimate stage. It‘s incredible that Robert Millar’s 4^th place (1984) was the best British finish until Wiggo in 2012, & now British riders have won it in three of the last four years. This must be a sickener for the French, their last winner being Hinault in 1985.

Stan The Man

Stan Wawrinka produced a thrilling display of attacking tennis to deny Djokovic the full set of Slam titles. Stan’s single-handed backhand is rated by many as the best in the game, but what was so impressive was his ability to come with up the goods under the most intense pressure. It was a welcome victory for those fans, your blogger included, who prefer ‘first strike’ attacking tennis to the counter-punching style of Djokovic.

Wawrinka has finally found the key to going deep in Majors late in his career. On the ITV commentary Courier mentioned a great stat illustrating this. In 34 attempts he had never made a Slam semi, but has now done it four times in the past seven Majors. Much credit must go to his coach Magnus Norman. As noted in a previous blog, Stan aways had the ability, now he has the mental strength, and conditioning, to back it up.

No less impressive was the 20th slam for Serena. Even when she’s suffering with the flu, Williams still had an extra gear when faced with adversity, coming from a set down four times en route to the title. She will surely surpass Steffi Graf’s haul of 22 majors.

After a nine year drought, Arsenal have two trophies in two years. They repeated their FA Cup victory and look like genuine title contenders. League success may depend on Wenger ending the hex Mourinho has over him. Jose’s team were accused of grinding out boring wins towards the end of the season, but still ended up 2^nd highest scorers.

Brief mentions for:

 Stuart Bingham, like Wawrinka, has found success late in his career

James Anderson, record English wicket-taker

Floyd Mayweather, no stranger to success & still peerless.

Bournemouth, deserved second division champions, scoring 98 goals, with Eddie Howe a candidate for manager of the season

Try & Try Again

The Six Nations final day try fest was the exhilarating highlight of the past two months. The staggered kick-offs & points difference favoured the running game as the title contenders tried to rack up the score. Will we see a repeat In November ? The fear factor may induce a return to the attritional style of power rugby.

In the Davis Cup two stand-out gruelling 5 setters stood out, and to describe them as marathons seems inadequate. James Ward’s gritty five hour comeback win over Isner was incredibly surpassed by Mayer v Souza. The 6 hr 43 match was the longest in Davis Cup history, beating Wilander-McEnroe. Although a great spectacle for the fans, such long matches are perhaps too tough for the players. Neither Mayer nor Souza have played since their epic rubber.

Nadal lost a match on clay-to Fognini in the Rio semis. Last year he recovered to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires at Roland Garros. I wonder if one of the young guns like Coric could thwart a 10th title this time.

The Premier league may have the richest TV rights deal in Europe, but not the playing quality to match. No English teams reached the Quarter-Finals of European competition for the first time in 22 years. Arsenal blew a great chance v Monaco & Chelsea couldn’t make an extra man count against PSG.

Two ex-Soviet  boxers  excelled. Golovkin has the reputation as the most fearsome puncher in the world, and Martin Murray was the latest knockout victim of the Kazak. Kovalev followed up beating Hopkins with a dominant stoppage of Jean Pascal.

Serb & Volley

Djokovic won his fifth Aussie Open.   As in their previous recent major matches, it was closely contested at the start with numerous breaks of serve. At 0-2 in the third set, the Serb looked shattered, but found his second wind & it was Murray who finished limply. Of course reaching the final was no mean feat, but the finish to the match will cause the Scot considerable angst.

Perhaps his most wounding recent defeat prior to today was the drubbing inflicted on him by Federer at the 02 in November. The Swiss became only the third man to pass 1000 victories when he won the Brisbane title. In Melbourne though he lost to Seppi for the 1^st time in 11 meetings. This seems to be  a recurring theme in the latter part of Federer’s career –his sole loss to Robredo was at the 2013 US Open.

Another sporting landmark was made by the cue genius Ronnie O’Sullivan, passing Hendry’s mark for century breaks. He won the UK title in December, & made the semis of the Masters  in the process of breaking the record.

Seattle and New England contest the Superbowl tonight. In the championship games, Green Bay blew it, while Denver didn’t blow up the balls (allegedly). The Packers fumbled an onside kick to blow their lead. The Broncos were accused of deflating their (offensive) set of balls to make catching passes easier.

Amir Khan surprised me in December by totally outboxing Devon Alexander with impressive discipline & skill. He would love a megafight, but Pacquiao & Mayweather will most likely look for more lucrative fights elsewhere.