Nadal Wins French Open: Loses Humility!

Rafael Nadal may know a lot about winning games, but he sure needs to learn a thing or two about being humble.

We all know the great form the Spaniard has been in recently. The prodigy, however, seems to be losing hold of his humility—a characteristic he had previously been known for. He recently won his 10th French Open with style. During his post-match speech, he went on to brag about his “unprecedented” success.

If that is not enough to rip his fake persona of humbleness apart, the Spaniard even had the audacity to imply that he was ‘the one’ to achieve the feat. Things like these are well understood, and other players don’t need a reminder of what you’ve done with your career.

With his 10th French Open, Nadal has won his fifteenth major title. This is certainly not the first incident where he showcased his arrogance though. Only recently in April 2017, Nadal bashed a 20-year old German—Alexander Zverve—for wanting to compete with him. Instead of inspiring the young athlete, he called him “strange”, just because Alexander had lost to Nadal thrice in the past.

He sure may be an icon in the court, but outside of it, fame and success have made him lose humility.

Djokovic Kicks His Coach Out!

Novak Djokovic

Novak Djokovic wants to win again. Instead of improving his own game though, he fires his coach, blaming him for what actually was the Serbian’s fault.

There is no doubt in the fact that Djokovic has an arrogant personality. His recent move to fire his coach clears any doubts anyone had in this regard. Marian Vajda—Djokovic’s ex coach—had been working with Djokovic for quite a long time. The Serbian also won several major and minor trophies with Vajda.

It’s funny how Djokovic labeled the parting of ways to be a “mutual decision” yet the entire staff stands in shock. The Serbian recently got knocked out in the quarterfinals of Monte Carlo Masters. Many believe that he only fired his coach to play the blame game—so people would rather blame Vajda instead of him for the pathetic performance in court.

Novak Djokovic had a great 2016 where he finished the Australian Open at second place. It must have hit him hard to slump from such a good position to being knocked out in the quarter-finals of a relatively minor trophy. If this wasn’t controversial enough on the player’s part, he went on to state that this “shock therapy” can actually help him get better results in the future.

Novak surely needs to understand that practice makes perfect. If firing coaches were to turn into trophies, tennis would have become a coach-less sport a long time ago.

Federer Does It Again!

Roger Federer

The more you speak of the ‘Federer Glory’, the less it is. He beat Nadal to clinch the third title of the season, in style!

If you think that Roger Federer has aged enough to retire, as some people suggest, you are absolutely wrong at your notion. This guy continues to make people admire his exquisite backhands and pristine precision shots. In the final of the Miami Open which was played in Itau, he beat Nadal 6-3, 6-4!

As if the win in Indian Wells wasn’t agonizing enough for the fans of Rafael Nadal, the duo met again on Sunday when Federer was crowned his third Sunshine Double. It is often baffling how, at the age of 35, he still packs that pace and agility that gets him to win crucial games against some of the best in the game.

When asked about the game, Federer said that it was a very close match. He further stated,

“Maybe if you didn’t see the match and you were sitting somewhere around the world and you see the score you’re thinking it was straightforward with couple breaks and that was it.”

He continued saying that the match was far different from what the scores state. “It was close.” he said.

Nick Kyrgios Curses the Chair Umpire and a Spectator

Nick Kyrgios

Nick Kyrgios hits the front pages once again, starts cursing people.

Marseille Open might not be an elite league, but it certainly does not allow players to show rage on the pitch. The Aussie certainly fails to comprehend that.

The 21-year old was giving it his all while trying to overturn the match. He was a set behind and was on the brink of his next serve when he snapped at a fan for ruining his focus. Politely telling the spectator to “shut the f* up” is not the best way to silence the fans.

Well, at least he did come to overturn the potential defeat into a win and saved himself from further embarrassment. To add more spice, Nick—after winning the match—mockingly started waving at a bunch that kept muttering one thing after the other during the match. The vocal supporters of Nick’s opponent Sela did not have much to boast about then.

Nick Kyrgios always brings a bit of drama to his matches. In fact, he even stretches the drama to post-match Twitter duels. When the insulted spectators demanded an apology from Nick on Twitter, “LOL, man up” was his reply!

Denis Shapovalov Hits The Umpire With The Ball, Gets Defaulted

Umpire hit with ball

You mgiht not believe what just happened.

Britain could not have proceeded to the quarter finals of the Davis Cup in a more dramatic fashion. Canada’s Denis Shapovalov got himself ousted after accidentally hitting the umpire with a ball.

The 17-year-old Canadian had been trailing 6-3, 6-4, and 2-1 when he could not contain his anger and struck the ball with full force in exasperation.

Unfortunately for him, the ball struck the umpire in the left eye.

What followed afterwards was a stunned silence in the court while a visibly-shaken Shapovalov went ahead to console the French umpire Arnaud Gabas who had immediately developed bruising and swelling around his left eye.

To no one’s surprise, Shapovalov was defaulted, paving way for Britain to reach the Davis Cup quarter finals. With a 3-2 victory, Britain will now face France in the quarter finals.

For Shapovalov, the moment was all the more shameful. And it was not just because he had caused physical injury, but also because he had let his whole country down.

“I can promise that’s the last time I will do anything like that,” he later told the media. “I’m going to learn from this and try to move past it.”