1 The US Open tennis tournament concluded yesterday. This is the last grand slam tournament of the calendar year. This tournament was eagerly awaited by tennis fans, as there was the possibility of world no. 1 player Novak Djokovic completing the calendar year grand slam because he had earlier won this calendar year’s other grand slams, ie Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon. In the men’s section this feat of completing calendar year grand slams was last achieved by Rod Laver in 1969, and in the ladies section by Steffi Graf in 1988. Therefore all eyes were on Djokovic, and he reached the final of the tournament, where he faced world no. 2 player Daniil Medvedev. But the match proved to be anti-climax as Medvedev trounced Djokovic in three straight sets 6-4, 6-4, and 6-4, and thus one more player could not complete the calendar year grand slam. Before this tournament, Djokovic had lost only thrice in the grand slam finals to players other than Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, and they are Stan Wawrinka in US open finals in 2016 and French open finals in 2015, and Andy Murray in the 2012 US Open finals.
In the ladies section of this US open what happened was beyond anyone’s thoughts before the tournament began. It so happened that two unseeded players reached the finals, and it happened the first time during the grand slam finals. The players were Canada’s Leylah Fernandes and Britain’s Emma Raducanu. As Emma was not among the top 100 ranked players, she had to play qualifying rounds to qualify for playing the main tournament. The Surprise of the surprise is that Emma Raducanu beat Leyulah Fernandes in the final in straight 2 sets 6-4, 6-3, and in the process, she achieved a rare feat of a player coming through qualifying rounds in the grand slam tournament and winning the same.
2. This item is also related to sports, as per the news reports in certain sections of media Indian cricket will be going for a change in a certain area after the T20 world cup in November 2021. It is being foreseen that Virat Kohli could step down as captain for ODI and T20I teams and Rohit Sharma will be succeeding him. Press reports are quoting BCCI sources as saying Virat Kohli had taken a call to share leadership responsibilities with Rohit, and it has been reported that he has discussed the same with Rohit and team management over the last few months, particularly after Team India’s triumph in Australia, one that coincided with Kohli becoming a father.
It is expected that Virat himself will make this announcement. He is of the view that he needs to concentrate on his batting and go back to becoming what he’s always been the best batsman in the world. As Virat is feeling his batting, across formats, needs more time, as India looks two more world cups-T20I and ODI- between 2022 & 2023 respectively. The report further adds that Virat is also the first to realise that his overall responsibilities as captain across 3 formats are taking a toll on his batting. He needs the space and freshness because he has a lot to offer. If Rohit takes over as white-ball captain, Virat can continue leading India’s red ball (test team) aspirations and work on his T20 and ODI batting. He is just 32 and given his fitness he well easily play top cricket for 5 to 6 years at least.
If the split captaincy decision is confirmed, it would be the third time Indian cricket would be implementing the option: In 2007, Anil Kumble was captain of the Test team, while MS Dhoni-led the T20 and ODI sides. In 2015 Kohli was made captain of the Test side after Dhoni retired from Test cricket. Dhoni continued as captain for ODI and T20 sides.
A number of cricket sides currently implement the split captaincy option including Australia, England, South Africa, West Indies, and Sri Lanka.
In my opinion, this step will be in the right direction, as for the last few seasons Virat’s batting has suffered, and it is almost 2 years since he has scored a century in any format of the game, and earlier he was considered as the player who might also score a hundred 100s and equals Sachin Tendulkar’s record.
Waiting for your views and comments.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
13th September 2021.