Maria Sharapova proud of 'amazing' clay victory

June 8, 2014

Maria SharapovaParis, Jun 8: The Russian, 27, beat Romania's Simona Halep 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 in just over three hours at Roland Garros.

"I didn't grow up on clay; didn't play on it," she said. "I just took it upon myself to make myself better on it.

"There is no one else that was going to do that for me. I had to do the work and I worked to get to this position."

Sharapova won Wimbledon aged 17 and within four years had added the US Open and Australian Open titles, but in her early years she famously described her movement on clay as being "like a cow on ice".

"You can't go out there and just do it without putting in the effort, putting in the work," she added.

"You're not just born being a natural clay court player. OK, maybe if you're Rafael Nadal, but certainly not me.

"It's really amazing. There is no substitute to these titles."

Sharapova missed the second half of 2013 with a shoulder injury and will move back up to fifth in the rankings next week, with no points to defend for the rest of the year after Wimbledon.

Halep had been hoping to cap a remarkable 12 months that has seen her rise from outside the top 50 to a new high of three in the world next week.

The 22-year-old broke down in tears at the end of the final, but was soon able to reflect on a breakthrough fortnight in the French capital.

"I was crying at that moment for a few minutes, and then I was smiling," she said.

"Because it was my first Grand Slam final I have to be happy, to smile, because I did everything on court.

"I played very good tennis, so I'm really proud about these two weeks."

Sharapova was warned for her pace of play between serves in the final set, a feature of her matches over the fortnight, but Halep played it down.

"It's her style and I don't want to say anything about this," said the Romanian.

"It's normal. She does this always, for me it wasn't too bad, but sometimes I felt a little bit nervous during that moments."

Sharapova, who also won the French Open in 2012, said: "I think the rules are a bit different at the Grand Slams, and I might have to speed it up a bit at these tournaments."

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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
May 14,2020

May 14: Veteran South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players before and after the T20 World Cup as a way to stage the event as per schedule later this year.

Like other sports, cricketing action too has come to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fate of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November is shrouded in uncertainty.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel was going to be an issue despite Australia being less affected by the deadly contagion.

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lot of countries and they are talking about December or January. Even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said.

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation," said the former captain.

Several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Australia and India, have travel restrictions in place and the veteran Proteas batsman joked travelling by boat is not an option.

"But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," du Plessis said.

In March, South Africa's ODI series against India was called off after the first match in view of the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 44 lakh people worldwide while causing close to 3 lakh deaths.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Jeddah, Jan 9: Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde criticised the new Supercopa format and said that "football has become a business and as a business it looks for income".

"The bottom line is football has become a business and as a business it looks for income. That's the reason we are all here," Goal.com quoted Valverde as saying ahead of Barca's semi-final against Atletico.

"It's a completely different format to what we're used to. It was always the first title and the opener of the season and to me, that seemed fine," he added.

The Supercopa was traditionally a two-legged affair played between the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Rey at the beginning of the season, but following last term's one-off meeting between Barca and Sevilla in Tangier, Morocco, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) went ahead with a full revamp.

Instead of just two teams being involved, the Supercopa has been expanded to also include the runners-up from La Liga and the Copa - meaning Barca and Valencia are joined by Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. It is also set to be hosted in Saudi Arabia for the next three editions.

"It's been changed and let's see, it will be judged once it has happened. It's interesting, with four good teams, but from a sporting point of view, I'm not sure," Valverde said.

"We must bear in mind that the football we are involved in is an industry, sources of income are sought and in the same way that there are special connotations in this country, there are also in Morocco, where we played last year," he added.

Barcelona will face Atletico Madrid in the semifinal of the Supercopa at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah on January 10.

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