Maria Sharapova looks to end 11-year drought against Serena Williams

July 8, 2015

London, Jul 8: Serena Williams fired a warning to Maria Sharapova ahead of their Wimbledon semifinal clash as the world number one admitted she saves her best performances for clashes with her fiercest rival.

Maria SharapovaWilliams and Sharapova meet on Thursday in the latest instalment of a bitter rivalry that took root on Centre Court in 2004 and still festers more than a decade later.

Sharapova caused one of the great Wimbledon shocks 11 years ago when, aged just 17, she defeated Serena in the final to claim her first Grand Slam title.

The duo's relationship has remained frosty ever since, occasionally turning nasty -- as it did when they traded barbs about Sharapova dating Williams' ex-boyfriend Grigor Dimitrov and the American's own relationship with her French coach Patrick Mouratoglou.

But, while Sharapova has collected five Grand Slam titles and built a global brand that makes her the world's highest paid female athlete, the 28-year-old has still been left trailing in Serena's wake and the Russian hasn't come out on top since 2004.

The 33-year-old American has a 17-2 lead in their head to head record, winning their last 16 meetings and depriving Sharapova of three major titles -- in the 2007 and 2015 Australian Open finals and the 2013 French Open final.

Serena has also won all four of her semifinal meetings with Sharapova, defeated the Russian in their previous Wimbledon clash in the last 16 in 2010 and routed her in the 2012 Olympic final at the All England Club.

After battling back to defeat Victoria Azarenka 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the last eight -- extending her winning run at Grand Slams to 26 matches and her 2015 record to 37-1 -- Serena can't wait to take on Sharapova again.

"I love playing Maria. I think she brings out the best in me. I thought we had a wonderful final in Australia. It was very entertaining," said Serena, who remains on course to hold all four major titles at once and is in the hunt to clinch the first calendar Grand Slam since 1988.

"For me, I don't feel like I have any pressure going into this match.

"It's just totally different for me. I don't have anything to prove. I won all the Grand Slams, multiple times. Now it's just I'm here just to enjoy it.

"It's actually making me play better, which is crazy."

Sharapova is in her fifth Wimbledon semifinal, and her first since 2011, thanks to a hard-fought 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 last eight victory over Coco Vandeweghe.

Asked if her lack of success in the Serena match-up would be weighing on her mind, Sharapova gamely insisted she still relishes the challenge of playing the American.

"I think it's always a new match. I haven't had great success against her. I would love to change that around. That's how I look at it," the world number four said.

"Definitely no secrets between each other's games, but it will be an incredible moment for me to step out on Centre Court against her again.

"If you look at Grand Slam champions, you look at their draws, everyone comes from a few challenges, being down in matches.

"There's no easy road to victory. You're going to have your bumps. That's the way I see it."

The other semifinal may end up being overshadowed by Serena v Maria Part 20, but there is still plenty of intrigue in the meeting between Agnieszka Radwanska and Garbine Muguruza.

Radwanska defeated Madison Keys 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 to reach her fourth Grand Slam semifinal and her third at Wimbledon.

The Polish 13th seed reached the Wimbledon final in 2012, losing to Serena, and she hopes her experience of the latter stages of a major will stand her in good stead against Spanish 20th seed Muguruza, who will be appearing in the last four of a Grand Slam for the first time.

"Being in a final, that was a huge experience for me. It helps. Experience is always very important, especially in a Grand Slam," the 26-year-old Pole said.

Muguruza, 21, beat Swiss 15th seed Timea Bacsinszky 7-5, 6-3 to become the first Spanish woman to make the Wimbledon semifinals since Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in 1997.

"Centre Court is special," she said. "I like to play on big courts because it's extra motivation."

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
May 19,2020

Karachi, May 19: Babar Azam wants to take a leaf out of Imran Khan's aggressive captaincy and besides cricket, he is also brushing up his English to become a "complete leader" like the World Cup-winning all-rounder.

Last week, the star batsman took over the reins of Pakistan's white-ball cricket after being appointed as the ODI skipper.

Azam, who was one of the world's leading batsmen across formats last year and already the T20 skipper, replaced wicket-keeper batsman Sarfaraz Ahmed as the ODI captain for the 2020-21 season.

"Imran Khan was a very aggressive captain and I want to be like him. It is not an easy job captaining the Pakistan team but I am learning from my seniors and I have also had captaincy experience since my under-19 days," Azam said.

He said that to be a complete captain one must be able to interact comfortably with the media and express oneself properly in front of an audience.

"These days I am also taking English classes besides focussing on my batting," he said on Monday.

The 25-year-old Babar said he was not satisfied with Pakistan's current standing in international cricket.

"I am not happy with where we stand and I want to see this team go up in the rankings."

Babar said captaincy would be a challenge for him but it would not affect his batting.

"It is an honour to lead one's national team so it is not a burden for me at all. In fact, after becoming captain, I have to lead by example and be more responsible in my batting."

Babar hoped the T20 World Cup is held this year in Australia as he wanted to lead his team in the ICC event.

"It would be a disappointment if the event was not held or rescheduled because I am looking forward to playing in the World Cup and doing well in it," he said.

About plans for Pakistan to fly to England in July to play three Tests and three T20 internationals amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Babar said a lot of hard work and planning would be required to make the players feel comfortable and safe.

"Touring England won't be easy. Health and safety of players is of great importance and the tour will only be possible when proper arrangements are in place," he said.

"Both England and Pakistan team fans, along with the cricketers, are missing cricket because of the pandemic."

"We will still try to perform to the best of our ability despite no support from the fans in the stadium," he added.

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Agencies
April 14,2020

Tokyo, Apr 14: Tokyo organizers said Tuesday they have no B Plan in the event the Olympics need to be postponed again because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Masa Takaya, the spokesman for the Tokyo Olympics, said organizers are proceeding under the assumption the Olympics will open on July 23, 2021. The Paralympics follow on Aug. 24.

Those dates were set last month by the International Olympic Committee and Japanese officials after the coronavirus pandemic made it clear the Olympics could not be held as scheduled this summer.

We are working toward the new goal, Takaya said, speaking in English on a teleconference call with journalists.

We don't have a B Plan. The severity of the pandemic and the death toll has raised questions if it will even be feasible to hold the Olympics in just over 15 months. Several Japanese journalists raised the question on the call.

All I can tell you today is that the new games' dates for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games have been just set up, Takaya said.

In that respect, Tokyo 2020 and all concerned parties now are doing their very best effort to deliver the games next year." IOC President Thomas Bach was asked about the possibility of a postponement in an interview published in the German newspaper Die Welt on Sunday.

He did not answer the question directly, but said later that Japanese organizers and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe indicated they could not manage a postponement beyond next summer at the lastest.

The Olympics draw 11,000 athletes and 4,400 Paralympic athletes and large support staffs from 206 national Olympic committees.

There are also questions about frozen travel, rebooking hotels, cramming fans into stadiums and arenas, securing venues, and the massive costs of rescheduling, which is estimated in Japan at 2 billion- 6 billion.

Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto addressed the issue in a news conference on Friday. He is likely to be asked about it again on Thursday when local organizers and the IOC hold a teleconferene with media in Japan.

The other major question is the cost of the delay; how much will it be, and who pays? Bach said in the Sunday interview that the IOC would incur several hundred million dollars in added costs. Under the so-called Host City Agreement, Japan is liable for the vast majority of the expenses.

This is impossible to say for now, Takaya, the spokesman said.

It is not very easy to estimate the exact amount of the games' additional costs, which have been impacted by the postponement."

Tokyo says it's spending 12.6 billion to organize the Olympics. But a Japanese government audit published last year says the costs are twice that much. Of the total spending, 5.6 billion in private money. The rest is from Japanese governments.

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