Serena Williams eager to hit with big guns again

Agencies
March 8, 2018

Indian Wells, Mar 8: Serena Williams is through taking baby steps on the comeback trail after the birth of her daughter Alexis Olympia in September.

The 23-time Grand Slam singles winner is ramping up her return this week by playing in Indian Wells, her first WTA Tour event since she won the 2017 Australian Open.

After a couple of exhibitions and a Davis Cup doubles match, Williams is eager to hit with the big guns as she opens her campaign on Thursday night against Zarina Diyas.

"I'm ready to just jump in and get started and see what happens," the 36-year-old American told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. "Obviously I'm going to have a few hiccups, I would imagine, and I'm ready for that."

Earlier this week she played one tiebreaker in an exhibition tournament in New York. In February she played a doubles rubber for the US Fed Cup team and took part in another exhibition in Abu Dhabi in late December.

Indian Wells features a star-studded women's field in a tournament that looks wide open.

Many of the players on Wednesday said they welcomed Serena's return.

"We are all going to look to see how she is playing," said reigning Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza.

"She is one of the best players so it is good that she is back, especially after being a mom. It is great."

French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko said Serena's contribution to women's tennis cannot be overstated.

"She is an amazing athlete," said sixth seed Latvian Ostapenko. "She is a very special and what she has done for women's tennis is huge."

But Czech fifth seed Karolina Pliskova said it is going to take more than one WTA event for Serena to get back in championship form.

"Obviously it is tough to get back even for a champion like her," Pliskova said Wednesday. "I don't have that experience with having a baby, but I think it changes the body and the mindset a lot.

"We will see in the first round. For sure she is going to be a little bit nervous. I don't know what kind of shape she is in and if she was practising or not practising.

"She can play good tennis again but I don't know if it is going to be at this tournament maybe it will take her a while."

The first clues to Williams' form will be displayed in Thursday's night game against Diyas, Serena's first match in Indian Wells will be Thursday night against Diyas, the 24-year-old world number 53 from Kazakhstan.

Serena boycotted this event, with her sister Venus, for 14 years after she was booed in 2001 final. She returned in 2015 bu to pull out before her semi-final against Simona Halep with a knee problem.

Times have changed for the most successful female player of the Open era. If you asked her 10 years ago if she envisioned herself playing after the age of 30, Serena would have replied no.

But that was before she started collecting Grand Slam titles like others collect antique furniture or vinyl records.

"There's nobody's rule that says you have to retire at 30," she told The Wall Street Journal.

"All the best players in the world now are well into their 30s, so you know, technology is better at enabling athletes to play a longer life."

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News Network
May 30,2020

New Delhi, May 30: Former world chess champion Viswanathan Anand will be finally reaching India late on Saturday after being stuck in Germany for over three months due to the travel restrictions imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Yes.. Anand will be returning today," the chess maestro's wife Aruna told PTI on Saturday morning. Anand, who boarded an Air India flight (AI-120) from Frankfurt on Friday night will reach Bengaluru via Delhi.

He is expected to reach Bengaluru at 1.15 pm. The five-time world champion will undergo 14 days quarantine as per rules laid down by the Karnataka government.

"He will complete quarantine procedures and come to Chennai as per protocol," Aruna Anand said. The flights from Germany are only scheduled to land only in Delhi and Bengaluru.

The chess ace was in Germany to play in the Bundesliga chess league and was to return to India, but was forced to stay put after the COVID-19 outbreak disrupted sporting schedules across the globe, apart from restricting movement.

He was staying near Frankfurt and was doing online commentary for the Candidates tournament which was called off mid-way due to the pandemic and led the Indian team in the Online Nations Cup early this month.

Anand had been in touch with his family in Chennai on a regular basis via video calls and kept himself busy with chess-related work.

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Agencies
January 25,2020

Headingley, Jan 25: England have become the first team in the world to score 500,000 runs in Test cricket. They achieved the feat during the ongoing fourth and final Test against South Africa being played at The Wanderers.

On Friday - the opening day of the Test match -- England captain Joe Root's single through the covers took the Three Lions to a landmark 500,000 run-mark in the longest format of the game. They achieved the feat in their 1022nd Test match.

Australia comes second in the list, with 432,706 runs in 830 Tests. India, meanwhile, are third, with 273,518 runs in 540 Tests, followed by West Indies (270,441 runs in 545 Tests).

In the third Test played at St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, England had become the first team to play 500 Test matches on foreign soil. Australia are the second team to play the most away Test with 404 matches they have played so far.

India have played 268 Tests on foreign soil in which they have won 51, lost 113 and 104 have ended in a draw.

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News Network
July 12,2020

New Delhi, Jul 12: Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar has urged the International Cricket Council (ICC) to do away with 'umpire's call' whenever a team opts for a review regarding a leg-before wicket (LBW) decision.

The Master Blaster has also said that a batsman should be given out if the ball is hitting the stumps.

Whether more than 50 per cent of the ball is hitting the stumps or not should not be matter, he further stated.

"What per cent of the ball hits the stumps doesn't matter, if DRS shows us that the ball is hitting the stumps, it should be given out, regardless of the on-field call," Tendulkar tweeted.

With this tweet, the former India batsman also shared a video, in which he has a discussion with Brian Lara regarding the working of DRS.
"One thing I don't agree with, with the ICC, is the DRS they have been using for quite some time. It is the LBW decision where more than 50 per cent of the ball must be hitting the stumps for the on-field decision to be overturned," Tendulkar said in the video.

"The only reason they (the batsman or the bowler) have gone upstairs is that they are unhappy with the on-field decision, so when the decision goes to the third umpire, let the technology take over, just like in tennis, it's either in or out, there's nothing in between," he added.

This call for doing away with umpire's call has been recommended by many former players.
Whenever a verdict pops up as 'umpire's call, the decision of the on-field umpire is not changed, but the teams do not lose their review as well.

ICC recently introduced some changes to the game of cricket, and they gave all teams liberty of extra review as non-neutral umpires will be employed in Test matches due to the coronavirus pandemic.

As a result, all teams will now have three reviews in every innings of a Test match. 

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