Tennis: Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer star in US Open 'Fantastic Friday'

September 11, 2015

New York, Sep 11: "Super Saturday" is history at the US Open but rain has created a "Fantastic Friday" at Arthur Ashe Stadium with Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in starring roles.

RogerShowers postponed Thursday's scheduled women's semi-finals to Friday, US Tennis Association officials moving them ahead of the men's semi-finals to create a day of high drama on the biggest stage in tennis as Williams chases tennis history, Federer seeks his first Slam title since 2012 and Djokovic seeks his third Slam of 2015.

It comes in the first year since organizers scrapped the old "Super Saturday" schedule of men's semi-finals and women's final in one day in favor of a regular Grand Slam format, giving players a day off before their semi-final and final, weather permitting.

But this year, the last year the US Open will be played without a retractable roof over Arthur Ashe Stadium, fates have tossed together four matches in a rare Friday spectacle.

Top-ranked defending champion Williams will play Italy's 43-ranked Roberta Vinci in the second women's semi-final after Romania's second-ranked Simona Halep faces Italian 26th seed Flavia Pennetta.

Williams, already holding all four major titles, is chasing the first calendar Grand Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988 and trying to match Graf's Open Era career record of 22 Slam singles titles, two shy of Margaret Court's all-time record.

The 33-year-old American will try to match Chris Evert's Open Era record by capturing her fourth consecutive US Open singles title and set an Open Era record with her seventh career US Open title.

Serbian world number one Novak Djokovic, the reigning Wimbledon and Australian Open champion, follows against defending US Open champion Marin Cilic for a berth in Sunday's men's final.

Then comes the Broadway big finish for the other final berth when Swiss fifth seed Stan Wawrinka, the reigning French Open champion, meets 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, trying to become, at 34, the oldest US Open men's champion since Ken Rosewall in 1970.

Williams has won all four career meetings against Vinci without dropping a set. She also is 7-0 against Pennetta and 6-1 against Halep in their career rivalries.

Only five players have completed the calendar-year sweep of the Australian, US and French Opens and Wimbledon -- Americans Don Budge in 1938 and Maureen Connolly in 1953, Australians Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969 and Margaret Court in 1970 and Germany's Graf in 1988.

Djokovic is 13-0 all-time against Cilic and if he stays perfect in the rivalry he will reach his fifth US Open final in six years, having only won the title in 2011.

Last year, Djokovic lost to Japan's Kei Nishikori in the semi-finals.

Federer has not won a major since his seventh Wimbledon title in 2012 and has not lifted the US Open trophy since 2008, but beat Djokovic in the final at Cincinnati in their US Open warm-up, avenging a loss to him in the Wimbledon final.

The odds are on a potentially classic final between Australian Open and Wimbledon winner Djokovic and Federer on Sunday.

Federer has a 21-20 lead over Djokovic in their career rivalry.

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April 8,2020

London, Apr 8: England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler has raised more than 65,000 pound (USD 80,000) to help fight the coronavirus by auctioning off his World Cup final shirt.

Buttler's shirt, which he wore when completing the last-ball run-out that saw England beat New Zealand at Lord's last year, was sold to raise money for specialist heart and lung centres provided by the Royal Brompton and Harefield hospitals in London.

Buttler, who earlier in the showpiece match had hit a fifty and batted in the Super Over, put his long-sleeve keeping jersey up for sale on eBay a week ago.

By the time the auction closed on Tuesday, the shirt had attracted 82 bids with the winner paying 65,100 pound.

Buttler, speaking on Monday, said: "It's a very special shirt but I think it takes on extra meaning with it being able to hopefully go to the emergency cause.

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June 24,2020

New Delhi, Jun 24: Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan deeply regrets his "silly mistake" of not reporting a corrupt approach by an Indian bookie to the ICC, leading to his one year suspension from the game.

Shakib was banned for two years, one year of it suspended, for failing to report corrupt approaches during an IPL edition by an alleged Indian bookie named Deepak Aggarwal.

"I took the approaches too casually When I met the anti-corruption guy and told them and they knew everything. Gave them all the evidence and they knew everything that happened," Shakib told Harsha Bhogle on 'Cricbuzz in Conversation'.

"To be honest, that's the only reason I was banned for a year, otherwise I'd have been banned for five or 10 years," he added on the ICC's investigation.

The 33-year-old, who was in brilliant form before the ban, amassing 606 runs in the 2019 World Cup in the UK, said he regrets how he went about the situation.

"But I think that was a silly mistake I made. Because with my experience and the amount of international matches I've played and the amount of ICC's anti-corruption code of conduct classes I took, I shouldn't have made that decision, to be honest."

Lesson learnt, Shakib's advice to all young criceters is to never take any such message lightly.

"I regret that. No one should take such messages or calls (from bookies) lightly or leave it away. We must inform the ICC ACSU guy to be on the safe side and that's the lesson I learnt, and I think I learnt a big lesson," he added.

The all-rounder, whose ban ends on October 29, said he became a bit arrogant and never felt he was doing anything wrong by not reporting the bookie's approach immediately.

"Because you do most things right in your life, you tend to get arrogant with some decisions. You may not realise but you're doing wrong by the books. It never came to my mind that I am doing something wrong

"It was just a feeling of 'okay, what's going to happen, leave it' and I continued with my life. But that's the mistake I made. And that happens," Shakib said.

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June 30,2020

Malabar, Jun 30: I-League club Gokulam Kerala's former assistant manager Muhammad Alloush on Monday died due to COVID-19. He was 44.

Alloush, who was with the football club in its inaugural season, was working as technical director at Egyptian club Tanta SC at the time of his demise.

Alloush's mother had also succumbed due to the deadly virus earlier.

"We're deeply saddened by the death of our former assistant manager Muhammad Alloush, aged 44, after contracting Covid_19. The thoughts of everybody at Gokulam Kerala Football Club are with Alloush's family and friends at this sad time. Rest in peace, Alloush," Gokulam Kerala FC tweeted.

Meanwhile, with a spike of 18,522 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India's coronavirus count stands at 5,66,840, said the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry on Tuesday.

According to the Ministry, 418 deaths due to COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours. The number of deaths in the country now stands at 16,893.

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