French Open 2017: I had doubt whether I could win another Grand Slam title, admits Rafael Nadal

Agencies
June 12, 2017

Paris, Jun 12: Rafael Nadal admits he doubted he`d ever win another Grand Slam title after a three-year drought at the majors and an ongoing battle with injuries and poor form.

Nadal

On Sunday, the 31-year-old Spaniard coasted to a record 10th French Open title, demolishing Stan Wawrinka in a brutally one-sided final which also earned him a 15th Grand Slam crown.

Nadal triumphed 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 to become the first man in history to win the same major 10 times.

His collection of Slams now stands just three behind great rival Roger Federer, a staggering statistic coming just a year after he quit Roland Garros with a wrist injury.

His last Grand Slam title before this year`s Roland Garros came in Paris in 2014 and he admitted that there were doubts over whether or not he`d recover his former powers.

"I have doubts every day but that`s good as it makes me work hard with more intensity," he said.

"You have to be humble and accept that you have to work to improve things.

"I have doubts today, I had doubts in the last three years, I will have doubts in a few days.

"Life is never clear. If you have no doubts, then you are very arrogant. I am not an arrogant person."

After winning his ninth Roland Garros and 14th major in 2014, Nadal`s best performance at the Slams was two quarter-final spots.

His world ranking slipped as low as 10 in 2015 and his 2016 French Open was ended prematurely after the second round by a wrist injury.

But he finished runner-up at the Australian Open in January, losing in five sets to Federer and he was back in business.

He dominated the clay court season with titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid.

He lost just one match on clay all year while his win on Sunday took his Paris record to a staggering 79 wins and just two losses.

Against world number three Wawrinka, his record is now 16 wins and three losses. On clay, it`s 7-1.

Nadal went through the tournament without dropping a set for the third time in his French Open career.

He lost just 35 games in total, second only to Bjorn Borg`s record of 32 in the Swede`s 1978 title-winning season.

"To win 10 Roland Garros titles is magical," added Nadal.

"I had tough times last year so it`s great to have big success again."

Despite his dominance at the French Open, Nadal said he never took victory for granted.

He was aware of being within touching distance of the title in Australia in January when he was a break up in the final set only to lose to Federer.

"At 4-1 in the third set I knew I was close. At 5-1, I thought probably I am going to win this.

"But I have come close before -- in Australia this year and in 2012 in Australia (when he lost an epic final to Novak Djokovic).

"So my mentality was that I cannot give Stan the chance to get back into the match.

"But I knew that I had been playing too good in the tournament to play a bad final."

Nadal said he had not given up hope of taking back the world number one ranking that he last held in June 2014.

"If I win I have chances to become number one -- if I play well, why not?"

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Agencies
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma on Sunday became the third-fastest batsman to register 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

He achieved the feat in the ongoing third ODI against Australia here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Only Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have achieved the feat faster than Rohit.

Sharma brought up the milestone in the first over of the Indian innings as he clipped Mitchell Starc away for a single.

With this, the right-handed batsman has become just the sixth Indian to achieve the milestone.

Apart from Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar have more than 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

Overall, 20 batsmen have more than 9,000 ODI runs to their name.

In the match between India and Australia, the former won the toss and elected to bat first.

Steve Smith played a knock of 131 runs to propel Australia to 286/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

 

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News Network
March 5,2020

Mumbai, Mar 5: Former India spinner Sunil Joshi was on Wednesday named chairman of the national selection panel by the BCCI's Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC), which also picked ex-pacer Harvinder Singh to the five-member group.

The CAC, comprising Madan Lal, R P Singh and Sulakshana Naik, picked the two selectors with Joshi replacing South Zone representative MSK Prasad.

In an unprecedented decision, the BCCI said the CAC will review the panel's performance after one year and make recommendations accordingly.

"The committee recommended Sunil Joshi for the role of chairman of the senior men's selection committee. The CAC will review the candidates after a one-year period and make the recommendations to the BCCI," read a statement from BCCI Secretary Jay Shah.

Harvinder was chosen from central zone and replaces Gagan Khoda in the panel.

The existing members of the selection panel are Jatain Paranjpe, Devang Gandhi and Sarandeep Singh.

"We have picked the best guys for the job," Lal told news agency.

The CAC had shortlisted five candidates for interviews -- Joshi, Harvinder, Venkatesh Prasad, Rajesh Chauhan and L S Sivaramakrishnan -- from a list of 40 applicants.

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News Network
June 3,2020

Colorado, Jun 3: Formula One boss Chase Carey has said that races will go ahead even if a driver tests positive for coronavirus.

His remarks come as organisers revealed a revised 2020 calendar and the schedule for the first eight races was put in the public domain.

"An individual having been found with a positive infection will not lead to a cancellation of a race. We encourage teams to have procedures in place so if an individual has to be put in quarantine, we have the ability to quarantine them at a hotel and to replace that individual," the official website of Formula One quoted Carey as saying.

"Some things we'd have to talk through and work through. The array of 'what ifs' are too wide to play out every one of them, but a team not being able to race would not cancel the race. I do not think I could sit here and lay out the consequences," he said.

Carey added the organisers will be having the necessary procedures in place so that the race does not get cancelled if a driver ends up testing positive for coronavirus.

"But we will have a procedure in place that finding infection will not lead to a cancellation. If a driver has an infection, teams have reserve drivers available," Carey said.

"We would not be going forward if we were not highly confident we have necessary procedures and expertise and capabilities to provide a safe environment and manage whatever issues arrive," he added.

The Formula One 2020 season will be beginning with the Austrian Grand Prix in July.

F1 currently expects the opening races to be closed events but hopes that fans will be able to attend again when it is safe to do so.

The season will kick off with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on July 5, followed a week later by a second race on the same track.

The Hungarian Grand Prix will follow a week after that, before a break. There will be then two back to back races at Silverstone, followed by the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The Belgian Grand Prix will follow that, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza a week later on September 6.

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