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The SOAS Spirit | April 2013
Sport
World
French Open coming thick and fast – the way it should be By Yemi Abiade, BA History
The tennis season is well and truly in full gear. Although the French Open does not start until 26th May, the last few weeks in tennis have been the most competitive in recent memory. Tournament after tournament has taken place with different winners and losers and rises and falls in the world rankings. Perhaps most significantly in the men’s
arena, this period of the season has seen the long awaited return of Rafael Nadal to the court, making a full recovery from a chronic knee injury to win the Chile, Brazil and Mexican Opens and the Indian Wells championships. Such a spectacular return is proof of Nadal’s determination and never say die attitude and, having already won six French Open titles, he will be a force to be reckoned with come May. His return will send shivers down the spines of the other three so-called ‘big four’ of men’s tennis – Novak DRoger Federer and Andy Murray. This is not to diminish the progress of the other three. Murray has also had a brilliant season so far, most recently winning the Sony Open in Miami and climbing up to second in the ATP World Rankings behind Djokovic, a testament to the
quality of the current US Open and Olympic champion. But after describing clay as “my worst surface” despite reaching 3 quarter finals on clay last year, including the French Open, Murray will take his newfound confidence to Roland Garros and hope to advance further. Meanwhile it has been business as usual for the world number one and current Australian Open champion, Djokovic, who won his fourth Dubai Championship title in 5 years in March in addition to the ATP World Tour Finals crown in December. Whatever happens in May, expect Djovokic to jokovic, have a part to play. The season has not been kind to Roger Federer however, who has yet to win a trophy. But this should not worry Federer or his fans as his quality will ensure he will be in amongst the final contenders at the French Open. It has been an exciting time in women’s tennis also. World number one
Serena Williams recently won the Sony Open by beating world number two, the rejuvenated Maria Sharapova, putting her in good stead for Roland Garros. Despite Sharapova’s defeat, the current French Open champion will take confidence from her performances and hope to replicate them in May and retain her title. Meanwhile, one of the leading lights of British female tennis, Laura Robson, failed to capitalise on a chance to replace compatriot Heather Watson as British number one by winning to win the Miami Masters last month. But the 19-year old has plenty of time to prove herself on the world stage and her journey will continue at the French Open. With all this being said, the French Open cannot come soon enough and will be a highly competitive occasion in both the male and female arenas. It is a good time to be a tennis fan..♦
Royal Challengers are real challengers as IPL blasts off By James Appleby, BA African Language and Culture The two month-long cricketing cavalcade that is the Indian Premier League began its sixth season on 3rd April, and there has already been telling signs of who could be toasting victory. Kevin Pietersen’s high-profile withdrawal from his side Delhi Daredevils seems to have deflated them profoundly, as they haven’t picked up a single point as of yet. The early pace-setters in the group stage, Royal Challengers Bangalore, however, have been looking impressive in both batting and bowling departments. In outlining why Bangalore look favourites for the title this year, one only needs to gaze at their immensely talented squad. With the bat, they have the imperious veteran Chris Gayle, so often the scourge of 20-20 bowlers. They say that if you don’t get him out early, he will punish you. That has certainly proved to be the case in the opening games in IPL 2013, where
Gayle has coupled scores of 2 and 13 with punishing slogs of 85 and 92. In only two full seasons with Bangalore in the tournament, Gayle has hit 1533
Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, Bangalore’s big-hitters
runs in 31 matches, and has been man of the match in 13 of those 31 games. His punishing record of 117 sixes shows that when Gayle is at his best, the
fielders become spectators and the spectators become fielders. Their batting capabilities are by no means restricted to Gayle, however. In their captain, Virat Kohli, they have a batsman of infinite technical capability. Less of a brute-strength player than Gayle, Kohli is a clever player at picking off bowler’s variations and finding space in the field. However, he still has the all-important ability at 20-20 level to score quickly and devastatingly, illustrated by his impressive six-haul this tournament, currently second only to Gayle’s. In the bowling department, Bangalore are also blessed with a mixture of talents. Most prominent early on this season has been Vinay Kumar, a sharp, accurate death bowler whose courage in the last over ensured Bangalore prevailed over Mumbai Indians in their first IPL 2013 match. He is partnered in the attack by RP Singh, another
clever, experienced campaigner who played a huge part in Deccan Chargers’ tournament-winning side in 2009, finishing as highest wicket-taker that year. Both Kumar and Singh are not blessed with searing pace but do exactly what is needed at 20-20 level; they keep their line and length tight and force mistakes from over-eager batsmen. One could not, of course, forget to mention to mention the inimitable Muttiah Muralitharan as Bangalore’s go-to spin option. At 40, the past-master of unpredictable bowling is still bamboozling batsmen for a living. Perhaps it is too early to call yet, but Bangalore are certainly looking on course to repeat the heroics of 2011, where Gayle and Kohli were crowned the top-two IPL batsmen and they were beaten finalists to the Chennai Super Kings. With a stronger bowling attack behind them, it is easy to argue that they will go one further and take their first title.♦