French Open: Blockbuster in store today

June 5, 2016

Paris, Jun 5: Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray meet in a seventh Grand Slam final on Sunday with the clock ticking on their French Open title aspirations.

frenchWorld number one Djokovic, the winner of 11 majors, is bidding for a first French Open to become just the eighth man to complete the career Grand Slam.

Victory on Sunday would also give him the ‘Novak Slam’ as he already holds the Wimbledon, US and Australian Open titles.

But the 29-year-old has lost all three finals he has made in Paris.
Murray, also 29 and a rival of Djokovic since their junior days, has previously fallen three times at the semifinal stages.

The last British man to win in Paris was Fred Perry in 1935 while Bunny Austin was the last finalist from his country in 1937.

“It’s obviously a very big match for both of us. Novak trying to win the career slam and me trying to win my first French Open,” said Murray, aware that even Roger Federer needed 11 visits to Paris to win his first and only French Open.

When Federer finally broke through — and completed the career Grand Slam in 2009 — he was already 27.

“Neither of us know how many more chances we’ll have to win here. It took obviously Roger a long time to win this one.”

Djokovic was runner-up to nine-time winner Rafael Nadal in 2012 and 2014 and was stunned by big-hitting Stan Wawrinka 12 months ago.

He will be playing in his 20th Grand Slam final and seventh against Murray having won four times against the Scot in Australia but losing at the US Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013.

‘High priority’

If he does finally break his drought in Paris, he will be the second oldest to complete the career Slam after Andre Agassi who managed the feat in Paris in 1999.

“I put myself in a position in which I wanted to be in of course ever since last year’s final,” said Djokovic, who has already set one impressive benchmark in Paris by reaching the USD 100 million prize money mark. “It’s always high on the priority list when I start a season thinking about Roland Garros.”

Djokovic has dropped just one set at the French Open this year and he shrugged off having to play four days in succession by blitzing young Austrian Dominic Thiem 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in Friday’s semifinal.

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May 11,2020

Karachi, May 11: Pakistan might play more Test matches during their tour of England if it goes ahead as scheduled in July after the West Indies pulled out of an assignment there in June owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pakistan Cricket Board and the England and Wales Cricket Board officials are due to have a video conference on May 18 to discuss how they should proceed with the tour given the situation because of the pandemic.

"At present we have to play three Tests and three T20 internationals but the number of Tests could be increased and the tour could start a bit early in July," a PCB source said.

The source said that the ECB could offer to organise a four or five Test series against Pakistan if the West Indies tour didn’t go ahead.

Issues that are likely to be discussed in the May 18 meet are a quarantine period for Pakistani players when they arrive in England in July and limiting the venues for the matches and playing before empty stadiums.

PCB CEO Wasim Khan confirmed the video conference but said so far, the ECB has not spoken to them on increasing the number of matches on the tour which is scheduled between July and September.

"Things will be clear after the meeting but whatever decision we take we will consult our captains and head coaches before giving any confirmation," Khan said.

The PCB has so far kept mum on the chances of the series taking place in England because of the COVID-19 situation.

But with the British government due to announce measures to ease the lockdown in the country, it appears Pakistan could be touring on schedule.

Some former players have, however, asked the PCB to tread on the side of caution.

"If the West Indies have decided to postpone their series in June because of safety reasons and because of the situation then the PCB should also be very careful before taking up any offer from the ECB," a former captain said.

The West Indies Cricket Board said its players have to be convinced of their safety for it to commit to the assignment, which "is not possible in June."

"...we will continue our discussions with the ECB and other Internationals Boards on trying to find new dates," it said in a recent press release.

"We will only travel to England to play the series if our players can be assured that it is safe to do so," it added.

Pakistan is also scheduled to play an ODI series against Ireland while in UK but that series could be rescheduled and also be held in England.

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April 30,2020

New Delhi, Apr 30: Indian skipper Virat Kohli on Thursday mourned the demise of veteran Bollywood actor Rishi Kapoor, called his death 'unreal and unbelievable' loss.

"This is unreal and unbelievable. Yesterday Irrfan Khan and today Rishi Kapoor ji. It's hard to accept this as a legend passes away today. My condolences to the family and may his soul rest in peace," Kohli tweeted.

Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan also expressed his heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.
"It's shocking to hear about the sudden demise of #RishiKapoor ji. My heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. May his soul rest in peace," Dhawan tweeted.

Earlier today, actor Amitabh Bachchan confirmed the news of the demise of the 67-year-old Rishi Kapoor. Rishi Kapoor was admitted to the Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital in Mumbai on Wednesday.

In September 2019, the veteran actor returned to Mumbai after staying in New York for almost a year for cancer treatment.

He was last seen in the 2019 film 'The Body' alongside Emraan Hashmi and Shobita Sobhita Dhulipala.

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January 2,2020

New Delhi, Jan 2: On the first day of the New Year 2020, Hardik Pandya announced his engagement with Serbian actor Natasa Stankovic.

The cricketer took to Instagram to share a photo with the actor and captioned the post: "Mai tera, Tu meri jaane, saara Hindustan. 01.01.2020 #engaged".

The 26-year-old shared three pictures and a short clip on the social media platform. In one photo, Stankovic can be seen flaunting her ring.

The couple got engaged in Dubai and were seen taking a ferry ride along with close friends.

On work front, Stankovic was last seen in a song from Bollywood movie The Body starring Emraan Hashmi and Rishi Kapoor. She had also made it to the finals of the TV show Nach Baliye with her ex-boyfriend Aly Goni.

Stankovic first became a household name after appearing as a contestant on famous reality show 'Bigg Boss 8'.

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