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Novak Djokovic, marked by controversy, glories of Rafa Nadal
Novak Djokovic, marked by controversy, glories of Rafa Nadal.
Tennis had a historic 2022, with champions of the old guard and Carlos Alcaraz who began to encourage himself to break with the hegemony of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
In addition, the greatest exponent in the history of this sport, Roger Federer, retired. For many, the player who came to change all levels of world tennis.
Between the Swiss, the Serbian and the Spanish, tennis entered an almost galactic orbit since for more than 10 years they were the owners of this sport.
Australian Open, the controversy with Djokovic, and the glory of Nadal
The year began with the Australian Open and a controversy that paralyzed the world. The number 1 at that time, Novak Djokovic, could not play in the tournament because he did not want to get vaccinated against Covid 19. But that Australian Open, anyway, was historic.
Against all odds, the winner was Rafael Nadal. At the age of 35, he brought out all his experience in the Australian heat and won his 21st Grand Slam, making him the tennis player with the most major titles in history. In the final he defeated the Russian Daniil Medvedev after going two sets down, he won the match 2-6 6-7 6-4 6-4, and 7-5.
Roland Garros, another satisfaction for King Nadal
The year continued at Roland Garros, with Djokovic in attendance. But Nadal was indomitable. The man from Manacor beat Félix Auger Alliassime, Novak Djokovic, and Alexander Zverev, and in the final, he thrashed Casper Ruud 6-3 6-3 6-0.
Thus the Spaniard reached his 22nd Grand Slam and added his 14th title at the French Open. It should be noted that the match with Djokovic in the quarterfinals was one of the best in recent times. In addition, the eighth against Alliassime took them in five sets.
Novak Djokovic, marked by controversy, glories of Rafa Nadal
Wimbledon, Kyrgios was close, but Djokovic came back
At the Cathedral of Tennis, Wimbledon, the best was Djokovic. The Serbian claimed his 21st Grand Slam championship after beating Australian Nick Kyrgios in the final in four sets and after losing the first. Novak went from less to more during the tournament and had matches to remember. In the quarterfinals, he lost the first two sets to the Italian Jannick Sinner and came out to play the last three sets in disarray. In any case, what was achieved by Kyrgios took all the flashes.
Us Open: Carlos Alcaraz breaks hegemony
The year closed in Flushing Meadows with the US Open and the consecration of 19-year-old Spanish Carlos Alcaraz. The young wonder had had a very good Roland Garros and had won some titles, but in the United States, he confirmed his present and defeated the Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final.
The Spaniard had three games that marked him: the round of 16 with Marin Cilic, the quarterfinals with Jannick Sinner, and the semifinals with Frances Tiafoe.
READ MORE: Novak Djokovic risks missing many tournaments in 2023
In all of them, he had to define in the fifth set and they ended in the wee hours of the morning. Thus. Carlitos added his first big championship and was encouraged to break with the hegemony of the Big Three .
READ MORE: “Australia at it again” Novak Djokovic suffers fresh Covid blow again in the new year.
But the news that stole all the flashes in the tennis world was Roger Federer‘s retirement at the Laver Cup. After a career full of successes and 20 Grand Slam victories, the Swiss put an end to his career at the age of 41.
The good news is that in 2023, Rafa Nadal will continue playing tennis and will seek to continue expanding his numbers. Same case for Djokovic who will try to overcome it.
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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
