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Fans react as Novak Djokovic opens up on his unexpected em….
Fans react as Novak Djokovic opens up on his unexpected em….
Novak Djokovic has been told that his ordeal in Australia at the start of the year has likely extended his career, giving him an advantage over rivals Rafael Nadal and now-retired Roger Federer as he looks set to play long enough to break the biggest records in the sport. The world No 5 has already learned that he will be allowed to return in January after being deported on the eve of the Australian Open ten months ago.
Djokovic’s unprecedented 2022 season finally drew to a close on Sunday as he lifted a record-equalling sixth ATP Finals trophy. It was a stark contrast to the start of the year for the Serb, when he found himself in a government detention hotel in Australia after having his visa cancelled twice before he was ultimately deported.
The 21-time Grand Slam champion has already received the good news that he can return to the country for the 2023 Australian Open after his three-year ban was lifted, but he has now been told that he has “emotionally” been able to extend his career after what happened in January, even if it left him with a lack of matches across best-of-five sets.
Fans react as Novak Djokovic opens up on his unexpected em….
“Novak has been so close to being allowed to go to the Australian Open and so close to being allowed to go to the US Open, that it would have never affected his training blocks or his practice sessions,” Mats Wilander told Eurosport, also referencing the US Open which Djokovic was left unable to play as he failed to meet vaccine entry requirements for America.
“And I think because he wasn’t allowed to go, I think obviously physically it might be a tough thing for him to play five sets, seven matches, but he can deal with that.” While he noted that the recently-crowned six-time ATP Finals champion had fewer Grand Slam matches under his belt for the season, he thought that the Serb had been left better off “emotionally” and able to extend his playing career.
The retired former world No 1 continued: “But emotionally, I feel like he’s added another year or two to his career because he must probably be slightly upset about what happened. But obviously Novak understands completely what it is that happened and there’s nothing you can do about it. And is it right or wrong? It doesn’t really matter…. So I think he’s able to understand that.”
The 35-year-old was quickly able to get back to his winning ways after spending three months away from the tour when he was unable to play the North American hard-court swing. After winning Wimbledon, he lost just one official tournament match to Holger Rune in the Paris Masters final while picking up titles in Tel Aviv, Astana and Turin. And Wilander thought it was evidence that he would remain unplayable despite his saga Down Under.
“But I think that he looks so fresh, he looks so good. I can’t quite understand or believe that he did not win the tournament in Paris. I was shocked that he didn’t win that. But he played good enough and you can’t win everything,” the Swede explained. “Then, in Turin, he’s better than everybody else.
“I mean, it was just a perfect storm for him and he was in the middle of it and he was just flying along. And you’re not going to touch him when he’s in that mood. Am I surprised that the younger guys can’t hit through him? Sometimes I’m a little surprised, but it’s more Novak.”
READ ALSO: Rafael Nadal Details Novak Djokovic Scare Right at the Beginning of Their Historic Rivalry
Continuing to praise Djokovic, the seven-time Major champion concluded: “It’s insane what he can do in the tennis court with his movement and his defence and most of all, his will to win the ‘small matches’ to him who is maybe the greatest player of all time. He finds a way to just make it mean everything. I’m so impressed.”
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Max Verstappen has once again claimed that he is the target of ‘British bias’ in the media after watching the fallout from his battle with Lando Norris. The three-time world champion’s defending was criticised by a number of drivers, including Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen and Norris shared a titanic battle at the Circuit of the Americas last weekend, but the flashpoint came at Turn 12 as the Dutchman deployed a signature tactic, lunging deep into the corner to get to the apex first before running both himself and his title rival off the road.
Norris opted to keep his foot in and overtook the Red Bull driver around the outside, although this decision landed him a five-second time penalty that dropped him back behind Verstappen in the general classification. This sparked a major debate with other drivers – Hamilton included – calling for the FIA to take action and outlaw this style of defending.
Verstappen has been frustrated by this debate. Quizzed by Viaplay in Mexico on whether he’d like to see the rules changed, he replied: “No, not really. But I have the wrong passport.” Asked if he was referring to a British passport, he confirmed as much.
“Yeah, it’s the wrong country, on that aspect… with complaining” he replied. “I love my passport but on that aspect, I should have had a different passport, actually.” The Dutchman also complained of ‘British bias’ earlier this season following comments made by Adrian Newey.
When asked about the debate surrounding Verstappen’s on-track conduct, former title rival Hamilton was quick to point out that the Dutchman has been employing these tactics for some time, dating back to their no-punches-pulled fight in 2021.
“It’s always been a grey area, that’s why he’s got away with it for so long,” Hamilton explained ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix. “They probably need to make some adjustments for sure.
“Also, we do have inconsistencies through rulings, weekend in, weekend out, obviously depending on which years it is. I mean, as a sport, we do need to level up on all areas and if you look at other global sports, they have full-time refs, for example, and I’m sure that wouldn’t be a bad thing for our sport.
“I experienced it many times with Max, you shouldn’t be able to just launch the car on the inside and be ahead and then you go off and still hold your position. So, they need to definitely work on this.”
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$200M Jeff Gordon teams up with Chase Elliott and Co. to decode the HMS driver behind the “Don’t judge me” old tweet
Hendrick Motorsports vice chairman Jeff Gordon teamed up with Chase Elliott and other HMS drivers in a lighthearted fun exercise for fans where they attempted to solve the mystery behind an old tweet from their current driver.
The anonymous tweet reads, “Don’t judge me, but I can’t wait to see the new twilight movie haha,” and it’s believed to belong to one of the HMS’s driver lineups, which includes Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Alex Bowman.
Jeff Gordan, who has a net worth of $200 million (according to Celebrity Net Worth), and HMS drivers tried to guess, but none of them were correct. Bowman and Elliott named Byron, while Byron went with Elliott, but it was Larson. He accepted that it was his tweet in 2011 and revealed that he likes Catherine Hardwicke’s Twilight movie.
HMS shared the video of the fun investigative activity on Instagram with a caption:
“Hold on tight, spider monkey”
Watch the Jeff Gordon and HMS’s guesses below:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBjQ7EzP3A7/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=e5182e01-3688-440a-ae00-0bf669973e15&ig_mid=01331E07-1F15-4C86-B3DB-7587302F0125
Three out of four HMS drivers are still in contention for the 2024 NASCAR Cup championship. Larson and Byron are in good position in the playoffs points table, with 35 and 27 points above the cutline.
However, 2020 Cup champion Elliott is in danger of getting eliminated from title contention, as he’s 53 points behind the cutline heading to this weekend’s Homestead-Miami race.
In an interview with NBC Sports earlier this season, Jeff Gordon spoke about the competition between their two best drivers, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, for the regular season championship. Gordan wanted to see both top drivers perform well and race aggressively against each other while maintaining sportsmanship in their chase for the regular season title.
However, neither Larson nor Elliott won the championship; it was Tyler Reddick who clinched the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season championship. Speaking to NBC Sports, the four-time NASCAR Cup champion Jeff Gordon said:
“I think it’s pretty clear at Hendrick how we expect teams and drivers to race against one another and how they’ve got to go and compete not only against their competitors but against one another.
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“Kyle Busch is an a**”: Brad Keselowski publicly chastised his fierce NASCAR rival in front of over 150,000 spectators
Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski birthed one of the fiercest rivalries in NASCAR. The duo had multiple run-ins throughout their careers, but the seed of their feud was sown at the 2010 Xfinity Series race hosted by the Bristol Motor Speedway. In the aftermath, Keselowski publicly castigated Busch in front of over 150,000 fans during driver introductions.
Busch kicked off his Food City 250 from third place in his #18 Toyota while Keselowski began in 13th. However, as the 250-lap battle inched closer to its conclusion, the then-Penske Racing driver held the domination while the former #18 Joe Gibbs Racing driver fought hard for the lead.
After struggling to overtake for nearly a dozen laps, Busch, with 31 laps until the checkered flag dropped, lunged ahead of Keselowski, only to be wrecked from behind and lose the spot again.
However, the JGR driver quickly retaliated and spun out Keselowski’s #22 Dodge. The move propelled the #18 Toyota to the victory lane while the Penske driver fell from a potential win to settling in 14th place.
The bitter feeling inside Brad Keselowski surfaced during the Bristol Cup Series race driver introductions the following day. After Kyle Busch introduced himself, his fierce rival took the mic and blasted Busch with his “a**’ comment.
“Brad Keselowski, driver of the Penske Racing Dodge. Kyle Busch is an a**,” he said.
However, when asked why he slammed Busch, Keselowski said that Juan Pablo Montoya challenged that he can’t call the JGR driver an “a**”. It’s worth mentioning that the crowd’s roar on the Penske driver’s introduction notched 104.2 decibels.
“Sometimes you just don’t like a guy”: Kyle Busch publicly slams Brad Keselowski during their 2017 title fight
The bitter rivalry between Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski was such that both made unapologetic comments about the other from time to time. Despite the latter publicly extending an olive branch to the former in 2015, their relationship remained sour.
Max Verstappen addresses ‘British bias’ at Mexican GP after Lewis Hamilton put-down
$200M Jeff Gordon teams up with Chase Elliott and Co. to decode the HMS driver behind the “Don’t judge me” old tweet
