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.

Perspective

We like to obsess over stats or pontificate about why England’s backs lack creativity. It puts a downer on our weekend if our team lose to their hated rivals. The tragic death of Phil Hughes of course puts things in perspective.

The capacity of Bernard Hopkins to defy age, and often much younger opposition, has been superhuman. Until last month.  Kovalev won every round of their unification bout, & B-Hop took heavy punishment in the 12th. You hope he retires now, with his senses still intact.

Roger Federer, especially in the early part of his career, also seemed to have a superhuman ability- to avoid injury. Latterly he’s not been immune, and after a gruelling semi versus Wawrinka was not fit for the final of Masters. A few days rest for his back did the trick however, & this time he was teamed with Stan the Man for the Davis Cup final. Federer split his singles matches, but the back was strong enough for him to partner Stan to win the doubles rubber & the Cup on the Sunday. Only Olympic singles gold is now missing from Roger’s CV.

Talking of obsessing over statistics. Real Madrid are currently on a club record 17 match win streak. Los Blancos had a patchy start to La Liga but clearly Ancelotti has now found the right blend for his Galacticos.

Manning & The Vets

Andy Murray had intended to have more rest after the US Open. When qualification for the O2 season-ending tournament looked in doubt, he changed his schedule to chase ranking points.  It worked out brilliantly. After 14 months without a title, he won three tournaments in five weeks (Shenzhen, Vienna & Valencia).

The resurgence of Roger Federer continues, he won two Masters titles & Basel. He matched Djokovic by reaching the SFs in NY and looks certain to finish at least as world no. 2.

Results last year had suggested the Swiss great was in decline. Similar questions had been posed of Serena Williams with her Major record in 2014. Australia 4^th round, 2^nd round in Paris & round 3 Wimbledon.  Her finish to the season, with US & WTA Championship titles which confirmed her no. 1 ranking, was an emphatic answer.

Bradley Wiggins benefitted from fresh legs-no Grand Tours this year, finally getting the better of Tony Martin in the world time trial championship.

Peyton Manning broke yet another NFL record, this time for touchdown passes. Once again the Broncos & the Patriots are leading the AFC standings, and the Manning Brady rivalry will resume tomorrow in Foxborough.

Holywood Ending

It was the standout performance of August for many sports fans, including this one. Rory McIlroy was awesome winning the PGA. Three shots behind at the turn, other players would have panicked & pushed for too much or folded a la Greg Norman. Could he beat the records of Woods or even Nicklaus ? While he will be a hot favourite for the Masters, those records are still a long way off and injury, continued motivation & the emergence of new players have to be reckoned with. Certainly the other players must now fear him as Woods was once feared. The Ulsterman has a good chance to overhaul the record for most majors won by a European.

Roger Federer has showed signs he’s back to his best form this year. Victory in Cincinnati was his first Masters title for two years. This time last year he had just one win with seven losses v top 10 opposition, this year is a much healthier 12-4. Coach Edberg has encouraged more net approaches & so less baseline coverage for those 33 year old legs. The same game plan could also work for Andy Murray, who has not yet reached his former level since his back surgery.

A word for Mk Dons. A 3^rd string Man Utd side perhaps for the League Cup tie, but still a massive upset.