World no. 1, Novak Djokovic gives his Wimbledon Trophy some love after defeating Roger Federer last Saturday.

Champions of the Weekend in Sports! Why did Serena and Federer Lose?!

by SportsWhat's Hot

Ladies Wimbledon Final

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Simona Halep happily embraces her 1st Wimbledon Trophy last Saturday.

Simona Halep absolutely dominated Serena Williams in the Ladies Wimbledon Final last Saturday, winning her 1st Wimbledon title in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. This is Halep’s 2nd Grand Slam title after winning the French Open last year.

Why did Serena lose?

Serena Williams is usually the favourite in a Grand Slam final, no matter who she meets. This is so because she is the Greatest Player of all time (G.O.A.T) in the open era. Her total of 23 Grand Slam singles titles marks the record for the most Grand Slam tournament wins in the Open Era, and is second on the all-time list behind Margaret Court who has 24.

As Serena struggles to find her groove after having a baby and tries to play injury free at 37 years old, 24 Grand Slam titles is looking harder and harder to achieve.

On Saturday, Serena should have been the underdog. Simona Halep, also a former World no. 1, has been looking solid mentally and physically, playing the best tennis of her life. For years, Simona has had the physical ability to win, but seemed to have trouble following through mentally in Grand Slam Tournaments. After finally winning her 1st Grand Slam title last year at the French Open, it became more and more obvious that her focus and confidence were improving. For this Wimbledon tournament and final, she was mentally ready and physically fit to win.

Suga can’t say the same about Serena. It is the best Serena has looked since having her baby, but she is still not at the level of fitness she used to be and it is the 1st major tournament she hasn’t pulled out of this year due to an injury. She was just starting to get back into her groove, but was not ready to win versus an opponent of Simona Halep’s standard. She also got the easy half of the draw.

24 is still possible, but Serena wasn’t ready and I know she won’t be giving up any time soon.

Kudos and Congrats to Simona Halep for executing a brilliant win!

Wimbledon Men’s Final

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World no. 1, Novak Djokovic gives his 5th Wimbledon Trophy some love after defeating Roger Federer yesterday.

World no. 1 Novak Djokovic won his 5th Wimbledon title in an epic 5-setter versus the Greatest of All Time, 37-year old, Roger Federer yesterday, 7-6,1-6,7-6,4-6,13-12. It was the 1st Men’s Wimbledon Final to go to a 5th set tiebreaker!

Why did Federer lose?

Federer did everything right and everything he could do at age 37. His movement showed no indication of his age and his serve was on point, but he just seemed to have lost this very important cat and mouse game, which happened to be the Wimbledon final. He would have been the oldest gentleman to win if he did.

Before the final, he was tied with Djokovic for tie-breaks, but Djokovic changed that by winning the 2 tie-breaks in Sets 1 and 3. So with the 1st Wimbledon Men’s final to ever reach a 5th set tie-break, Djokovic had the advantage to win. Also, with such a high percentage of net court points won, the miss Roger had by the net during the 5th set tie-break was pretty costly. Who knows what the outcome would have been if he made that shot?

Anyhow, this final ranks as one of the best finals I have ever seen. High quality tennis from the Greatest and 3rd Greatest Players of all time, with Federer on 20 Grand slams and Djokovic now on 16. It was a treat!

Congrats on your 16th Grand slam title Novak!

ICC Cricket World Cup Final

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Host team, England celebrate their epic win vs  New Zealand yesterday in the ICC Cricket World Cup Final.

England won its first ICC Cricket World Cup defeating New Zealand at Lord’s in London yesterday in one of the most dramatic matches ever as it all came down to a Super Over!

England tied New Zealand’s score of 241 in 50 overs, resulting in a Super Over to determine the winner. A Super Over is when both teams play a single over (6 balls) and the team that scores the most  runs is declared the winner.

Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler batted first for England, while Jimmy Neesham and Martin Guptill batted for New Zealand. The result? Both scored 15 runs! So then what?!

England scored the most boundaries in the match, giving them the win!

Well played New Zealand and Congrats to England!

Happy Monday Suga Bears and be Champions this week!

By: Gabrielle Burgess

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West Indies vs India in the World Cup T20 Semifinal today!

by SportsWhat's Hot

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England beat New Zealand impressively yesterday and have booked their spot in the ICC World Cup T20 Final. The New Zealand women also lost in their Semifinal to the West Indies women. The West Indies women won by 6 runs and have now made their first World Cup T20 Final! Good luck to the ladies.

In the other Men’s Semifinal today, West Indies will face India who have quite a balanced bowling line up for our inconsistent batsmen.

Nonetheless, let us ‘Rally roun the West Indies’!

 

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Australia demolishes New Zealand to win ICC Cricket World Cup 2015!

by SportsWhat's Hot

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Australia bowled out New Zealand for 183 runs in 45 overs at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last Saturday. They then moved on to win their 5th World Cup title by 7 wickets with 186/3 (33.1 overs) !

Australia certainly was never our favourite to win the tournament based on past rivalry with the West Indies but well done and Congratulations to them.

New Zealand's Martin Guptill

New Zealand sent West Indies Packing! What has happened to West Indies Cricket?

by Sports
New Zealand's Martin Guptill
New Zealand’s Martin Guptill

Last Friday night, the West Indies allowed New Zealand to make a whopping 393 runs.

Martin Guptill surpassed our very own, Chris Gayle’s record of 215 made earlier in the tournament, to hit the highest world cup score, a smashing 237 runs not out. Credit must be given to Guptill’s magnificent performance, hitting all of 137 runs off of his last 52 balls, whether balls were bowled short or long, but our bowling and fielding was poor. Guptill got time to settle into long partnerships and Marlon Samuels dropped a crucial catch to get rid of him. Those catches you do not miss. They stood up and watched many balls roll to the boundary. We often fail to get dirty and dive to stop balls like other teams, harming us in the long run. The result for New Zealand was 393/6 (50 overs).

West Indies ended their innings at 250 all out in just 30.3 overs. Gayle made an exciting but short-lived 61 runs, then wickets crumbled even faster. New Zealand won by 143 runs. On top of that, Jamaica is not the only one with a ‘Bolt’. New Zealand’s fast bowler, Trent Boult is at his peak, as he took 4 early wickets. Sadly, Gayle and to a small extent Jonathan Carter, were the only threats New Zealand faced and they knew it. So, what was our strategy? Clearly the wrong one. Great effort was shown by the West Indies where batting was concerned because the result could have been much worse or embarrassing, as we have witnessed before in those situations. However, I believe they were incorrectly guided.

With a massive target of 393 runs, the strategy should not be to go out there and instantly make as much 6s and 4s as possible. After all it is not 20/20 cricket. They should have attempted to bat out the entire innings, peaking at the right intervals, not wildly going after 99% of the balls bowled exposing the wickets or blocking them when it was too late resulting in LBWs.

Overall, the current West Indies team is not good. Well clearly we haven’t had a good one in a while. The sport has evolved and we cannot rely on raw talent anymore. Teams West Indies used to destroy in the past have moved way beyond us. Teams we used to rival in the past such as Australia and New Zealand, totally demolish us now at practically every meeting if not all. What are they doing differently? When Australia wanted to pull themselves away to make themselves better than us in our hay day, they started looking back at the tapes, at every angle. They took it to a technical level. It’s like what is happening now with the death of Brazilian or South American football compared to European football. Times are changing and so are techniques, styles and tactics. Therefore the way West Indies are currently and have been training need to change. In a situation with a an unfit Gayle who barely got cleared to play New Zealand, all should not rest on his shoulders.

As shocking as it may seem, some of us still rally around the West Indies and do not refer to them as the ‘Worst Indies’. There were a lot of men named, ‘Hopeton’ in the bar on Friday night. I am appealing for us to rebuild. At the end of the day, the players get blamed but from management right down is responsible.

Godspeed West Indies.

Perfect Bar night ahead. West Indies face New Zealand tonight at 8pm! TGIF

by SportsWhat's Hot

Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Pakistan have already gone home. Did they save the best Quarter-final for last? Tonight’s action will feature our very own West Indies facing the hosts of the ICC Cricket World Cup, New Zealand. Clearly the odds are against the West Indies and could the fact that the pressure will be off of them work in their favour? Doubt it, but they have nothing to lose. Let us watch closely tonight and see the outcome.

Happy Friday! Bet and Drink Responsibly!