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Greatest’ Serena Williams the pioneer of ‘tennis Turns 40
Greatest’ Serena Williams the pioneer of ‘tennis Turns 40
Serena Williams turns 40 today with her long-time coach hailing her as the “greatest of all time” and a pioneer of tennis “intimidation”.
The American superstar is frustratingly marooned on 23 Grand Slam titles, one short of the all-time record held by Margaret Court.
However, her French coach Patrick Mouratoglou told AFP that her legacy is secure.
“Margaret Court was playing at a time when three-quarters didn’t even go to Australia (for the Australian Open), where tennis was an amateur sport, when the draws were 16 players,” said Mouratoglou.
Court, an Australian, won 11 of her Grand Slam titles at her home event.
“I don’t mean to disrespect Margaret Court, but it’s another era. Yes, it would be better if Serena broke her record but, if she doesn’t, she will still be the greatest player of all time.”
Williams, whose sister Venus, a seven-time major winner, is still playing on tour at 41, won the last of her 23 Slams at the 2017 Australian Open.
It was achieved while she was pregnant with daughter Olympia who was born in September that year.
With former world number one Serena now down at 40 in the rankings, questions have been asked over her future in the sport.
“She still has it. The question is how much she wants it and what is she willing to do to get there?,” added her coach.
“Since she had her daughter, it’s harder. She has a lot of trouble not putting her life as a mother before her life as a player which is completely understandable.
“I think that’s the main reason she didn’t win a Grand Slam. Her family comes first and in order to be able to do great things in one area, that area can’t come second.
Check how her journey started below
September 11 1999: The day Serena William will never forget
We at inspiredlovers wish her Happy Birthday… Cheers to her new age.
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Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher will form a ‘super team’ for Germany again at the Race of Champions in 2025, taking place in Sydney in March.
The popular annual event is often a prelude to the motorsport season getting underway in earnest, and Vettel and Schumacher will form Germany’s line-up in the Nations Cup for a fourth time when the event heads to Australia next year.
Schumacher finished as runner-up in the individual ROC event in its last running in 2023, losing out to World Rallycross and DTM champion Mattias Ekström back in 2023.
The German is currently being discussed as one of the candidates to fill the uncontracted seat at Sauber next season, with chief operating and chief technical officer Mattia Binotto having recently confirmed he is among the drivers being spoken about for a potential return to Formula 1.
Vettel won the ROC Nations Cup with Mick’s father, seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher on six occasions, while having finished as runner-up with the former Haas driver while he was in Formula 3 back in 2019.
Four-time World Champion Vettel won the Champion of Champions event in London back in 2015 and took the runner-up spot in 2022, with the duo uniting once again next year.
“I’m delighted to be coming back to the Race Of Champions and teaming up with Mick again,” Vettel said.
“It will be exciting to race in the former Olympic Stadium in Sydney that looks like it will be a great venue for the Race Of Champions.
“All the drivers who have the honour to participate in ROC fall in love with the event, because it reminds us about why we first started racing; pure competition and of course with the identical cars there are no excuses.
“I will do everything I can to help Germany win another ROC Nations Cup Title with Mick on the Friday evening, but I will not be doing him any favours when we are going for the outright win on the Saturday night, especially as he beat me in the semi-finals of the Individual ROC in Sweden in 2023!
“At ROC the racing is always intense on the track and everyone wants to win, but it’s also about putting on a great show for the fans.”
Schumacher added: “Australia is one of my favourite places and representing Germany together with Sebastian at ROC Sydney will for sure be big fun.
“After finishing 2nd in the individual ROC in Sweden in 2023 and in the ROC Nations Cup in ROC Mexico with Seb, the goal this time has to be the overall winners trophy both in the ROC Nations Cup on Friday night and in the individual Race Of Champions on Saturday.
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Lewis Hamilton’s shocking spin at the United States Grand Prix last Sunday brought an early end to his race weekend.
It also trimmed the number of race weekends he has left with Mercedes, before his move to Ferrari for the 2025 Formula 1 season, down to five.
With Mercedes sitting fourth in the Constructors’ Championship standings, and Hamilton currently sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, any dreams of one last championship with the Silver Arrows ended weeks ago. But that does not mean that Toto Wolff wants Hamilton’s final race weekends with the team to fizzle out, as the Mercedes boss discussed Sunday following the United States Grand Prix.
“[Ending the season on a high note], we are keen on that, but how his mindset is, and how the relationships are in the team, is as good as we ever had,” said Wolff to the media, including SB Nation, on Sunday evening in Mercedes’ hospitality space.
“First thing he said? He apologized for the incident,” continued Wolff, recalling what Hamilton said after his Lap 2 spin. “As I said before, I don’t think it was his fault. Something caught him out.
“So it’s great and we want to celebrate it, and finish on a high, and I’m sure we will. Whether we can do it with great performance in the car? That would be fantastic,” said Wolff.
“But if not, then we think we gave it our best shot.”
Chase Elliott is undoubtedly one of the most popular drivers in NASCAR right now. His #9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 is also very popular and is synonymous with him. While the #9 car has a rich history, and is one of the most iconic numbers in stock car racing, for Elliott, it had an extra special meaning. Elliott inherited the number at Hendrick Motorsports to honor his father, Bill Elliott, a former NASCAR driver.
Chase a Cup Series champion, made his Cup Series debut with Hendrick Motorsports back in 2015. His first race was the 2015 STP 500 at Martinsville. Elliott’s debut car was the #25 Chevrolet that he drove with crew chief Kenny Francis.
His first full-time season with HMS was in 2016 when he took over the #24 Chevrolet from Jeff Gordon. Gordon decided to retire from the sport at the end of 2015, and HMS brought Elliott in for the #24. The Dawsonville-born driver drove the same car in his sophomore season as well.
Ahead of the 2018 season, Hendrick Motorsports announced Chase Elliott would take over the #9 car. The #24 was given to William Byron, and the former still drives the same numbered car. So why did Elliott change his number after two years?
He did so to honor his father, Bill Elliott. Elliott Sr. is a former NASCAR driver, a Cup Series champion, and a two-time Daytona 500 winner. He was popular for driving the #9 car in the NASCAR Cup Series, first doing so in 1976.
He continued driving the car for a significant amount of time, and as he kept on winning races, the number 9 became more popular every single year. Leaving aside a few breaks, Bill Elliott kept the #9 car with him till 2004.
Following Elliott Sr., Kasey Kahne, Marcos Ambrose, and Sam Hornish Jr., all drove the 9 car for Richard Petty Motorsports until Hendrick Motorsports claimed the number back. Eventually, Chase Elliott inherited the #9 car in 2018 and continues to drive the same.
