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It will be an ALL-WILLIAMS Final at the Australian Open!

by SportsWhat's Hot

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A Williams will win the Australian Open this year!

Serena’s serve was much better last night and she dominated Lucic-Baroni 6-2, 6-1.

It was all about Venus Williams making the Final last night though! She surely took centrestage. Her match was before Serena’s and must have helped to further inspire and fire up Serena to win her match.

Vintage Venus was on the move! It was such a beauty to watch. Quite inspirational.

The match started off with Venus being broken in her 1st game and that never occurred again. The 1st set went back and forth with Venus up 6-5. At this point Coco raised the level of her game to force the tiebreak. Venus tightened up during the tiebreak and lost the 1st set. She was visually upset with herself and if looks could kill! She expressed her wrath in the 2nd set with controlled aggression and took it easily, 6-2.

Of course at that point, the edge was still given to the younger player, Coco to have enough gas left for 3 sets. But the momentum stayed on Venus’s side with her entering the 3rd set with the same attitude, breaking Coco early. Coco went a bit loco throwing her racquet but she did not go down without a fight. I remember her asking out loud early in the 1st set what was going on. Well by the 3rd set it must have hit her that she was playing the experienced Venus Williams who was one of her 4 idols growing up. The other 3 included Venus’s sister, Serena, Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport.

It has been years since Venus has played like this. I was pleasantly surprised that she pulled this off. She saved 12 of 13 break points faced and scored 11 aces. Her movement was phenominal, she made necessary adjustments such as hugging the baseline to accommodate hard hitting by Coco and beat her mentally. Her serve was clutch and she won 6-7, 6-2, 6-3. It was spectacular tennis by both players.

Her winning moment is a must see. The 36 year old could not contain her excitement and emotions. She looked like a 6 year old and deservedly so. She had more twirls going than Serena.

Watch “Venus Williams Victory Dance + Interview after reaching Australian Open Final” on YouTube here:

Venus hasn’t reached a Grand Slam Final since 2009 and her last Australian Final was in 2003 vs Serena.

Here are the stats between the Williams sisters heading into the Final this Saturday at 3am!

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By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.

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The Australian Open is heating up!

by SportsWhat's Hot
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Photo: www.yahoo.com

Serena Williams is through to her 10th straight SemiFinal! She beat Konta 6-2, 6-3. It was all mental and she read her opponent well. Despite her poor 1st service games tonight she surely turned up her 2nd and returns!

She will meet 34 year old, Croatian Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at 12am later. Serena is chasing 23 Grand Slam Titles to write history but Lucic-Baroni has her own fairytale story, trying to have the biggest comeback in history. They last met at Wimbledon when they were teenagers in 1998 and Serena came out on top.  Lucic-Baroni was to be the next big thing back then upsetting Monica Seles to reach the Semi Finals at Wimbledon in 1999. But she drifted from the scene with personal issues, coming out to the public a few years later that she was abused by her father. She has a number of injuries but was in tears of happiness just to make it to the SemiFinals and will surely give everything she’s got.

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Photo: www.tennisnow.com

Venus will meet the young power hitter, Coco right now! Will Venus make it an over 30-year old final? Suga favours Coco to win but will be happy if Venus pulls off the win.

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The Men’s side is also hot. Rafael Nadal beat Milos Raonic in straight sets and is heading to the SemiFinals vs. Dimitrov.

We could possibly witness a Nadal-Federer Final! Federer would have to overcome Stan Wawrinka first though at 3:30am, which may not be an easy task.

Enjoy and stay tuned! Suga’s got you if you are sleeping.

By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.

​AUSTRALIAN OPEN UPDATE!

by Sports
Photo: ESPN Scorecenter

Venus at 36yrs old is through to the Semis as the oldest woman in History to do so at the Australian Open. She will meet the unseeded Coco Vandeweghe and fellow American who has been creating upset after upset, beating #7 Muguruza in straight sets 6-4, 6-0 after knocking out World #1, Angelique Kerber. Coco is a power hitter and she definitely has her eyes on the title.

Serena plays #9 Konta tonight at 9pm in the QF who is not a walk over. 

Photo: ESPN Scorecenter

For the Men, Nadal will face Raonic in the QF tommorrow at 3:30am.

Federer (#17) beat Zverev in straight sets and will meet #4 Stan Wawrinka who beat Tsonga in straight sets and stared him down.

Stay tuned!

By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.

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Falcons and Patriots Head to the Super Bowl!

by SportsWhat's Hot
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Photo: ESPN Scorecenter

The Falcons destroyed the Packers, beating them 44-21 to head to the Super Bowl.

The Packers failed to score in the first half due to a fumble followed by 2 interceptions. They also failed to convert huge opportunities to intercept when they were unable to recover a loose ball, mistimed a jump in the end zone and dropped the ball in the end zone, which was followed with a touchdown by the Falcons, ending the 1st half 24-0.

Defense was poor for the Packers and has been throughout the Playoffs. The players had butterfingers and even though Rodgers had more rushing yards than his teammates, he couldn’t win it by himself.

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Photo: ESPN Scorecenter

The Patriots rolled over the Steelers as expected with a win of 36-17. They are heading to the Super Bowl for a record 9th time.

Will the Vegas Pro prediction of the Falcons winning it all come through? Suga thinks it is possible. They got young, fresh legs.

In other Sports news, Serena Williams moves on to the Quarterfinals of the Australian Open and Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Cavaliers last Saturday night in Cleveland in OT 118- 115!

LeBron James failed to make the game-winning shot that caused the game to go into OT, he missed more crucial clutch shots and created a turnover. Kevin Love missed his shots as well, including the very last possession when the Spurs defense slipped up and he was left wide open for the 3-point shot. Kyrie Irving made the usual clutch shots in OT but it wasn’t enough.

The Cavs didn’t even play the full Spurs team. The Spurs are currently without Pao Gasol, who is out for 4 to 8 weeks and Tony Parker, who has an injured foot. So the game belonged to Kawhi Leonard who scored a Career high 41 points. It was his 1st game over 40 points.

Stay tuned. Sports season is on a high until June!

By: Gabrielle Burgess
If you liked this article, follow Suga Lifestyle or like the Suga Lifestyle Facebook page.

US Open Update, how Serena can lose #1 ranking and more!

by Sports
Photo: BBC Tennis

Germany’s Angelique Kerber has a chance to knock Serena Williams from the top of the tennis rankings.

Serena will not only need to reach the US Open Finals to remain at #1, but if she meets Kerber she will also have to beat her. 

Photo: wtatennis.com

If Serena wins the US Open she would not only pass the monumental 22 Grand Slam title wins, but also be tied with Steffi Graf for the longest stay at #1 (186 weeks).

Currently, Serena surpassed Martina Navratilova for the most Grand Slam match wins and is now equal with Roger Federer’s mark for the men. Amazing.

If Aga Radwanska wins the Open she can also be #1.

If Serena continues to win as well as her sister, Venus, they are on a collision course to meet in the Semi-Final.

Can Serena come out on top this time around with all of the pressure mounted against her again?

Roberta Vince who pulled off what was considered to be the biggest upset in Sports last year, beating Serena in the Semi-Final of the US Open is through to the Quarterfinals (QF) on the other side of the draw from Serena. She has dropped just 1 set so far in the tournament.

She could meet Kerber on her side of the draw who is also through to the QF after beating Kvitova. 

Upsets so far for the Ladies?

Caroline Wozniaki just upset Madison Keys (#8) in straight sets. 

World #3, French Open 2016 winner, Muguruza was sent home in Round 2. 

Defending Champ, Lepchenko was defeated in Round 3. 

Matches to be played today for the Ladies?

Simona Halep (#5), Radwanska (#4), Serena (#1) and Venus (#6), should be playing their Round 4 matches today.

What’s happening with the Men?

Photo: bbc.com

Novak Djokovic is through easily to the Quarterfinals, as well as Tsonga and Monfils.

Andy Murray, Wawrinka, Nishikori and Juan Martín del Potro should know their fate for the Quarterfinals today.

Juan Martìn del Potro is one to watch as he seems to be making quite a comeback.

Upsets so far?

Rafael Nadal was defeated by Lucas Pouille in 5 sets and has failed to reach the Quarterfinals for the 3rd straight year.

Wimbledon 2016 Finalist, Milos Raonic was out from the 2nd round. Veteran John McEnroe is no longer his Coach after Wimbledon possibly because of a conflict of interest since McEnroe is a commentator on ESPN. Looks like the change hurt him.

Juan del Potro beat David Ferrer (#11) in the 3rd round.
 

Alia Atkinson swims in the Final tonight at 8:54pm! What are her chances?

by Sports

Alia Atkinson swims in the Final of the 100m Breastroke tonight with the 5th fastest time of 1:06.52.

What exactly are Alia’s chances to medal in the event?

Let us recap the London 2012 Olympics where she came 4th with a time of 1:06.93.

Rūta  Meilutytė of Lithuania is currently the World Record holder. She set the World record of 1:02.36 at the 2013 FINA World Championships in Moscow. Of the medallists in London 2012, she is the only one that has returned to the Finals in Rio.

At the London 2012 Olympics, she was just 15 years old. By age 17, she was the first and only to win all possible swimming titles in all age groups.

She has been looking pretty consistent over the years at the different European Championships with times of 1.04.35 etc. She also edged out Alia at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan taking the silver and Alia, bronze.

How did she look in the Semis in Rio?

How did the others look in Alia’s Semi Final?

So, the questions are, how fast can Lilly King, Shi  Jinglin, Katie Meili and Yulia Efinova really go? And what kind of shape is World record holder, Rūta   Meilutytė in? Has she just been taking it easy? Has Alia just been taking it easy as well?

Because Alia is also capable of swimming as fast as RÅ«ta, which I don’t believe the others have proven just yet. Alia won the gold at the World Championships in DOHA 2014, beating RÅ«ta who got the silver. Alia not only won the gold but equalled RÅ«ta’s World record time of 1:02.36, which is now her Personal best.

If Alia swims even just a second slower than her Personal best in the Finals tonight, she is contention of not only an Olympic medal but that Olympic Gold medal.

Let’s go Alia! Strive for GOLD. You can do it!

In other RIO 2016 News,

GYMNASTICS:

Jamaica’s Toni-Ann Williams took Jamaican Gymnastics to the world, ending her floor routine with the famous Usain Bolt, ‘To di Worl’ pose. However she did not make it to the next round. Her weakest event was the uneven bars but she had a strong vault with 14.1 being her highest score. Great floor routine but low degree of difficulty, which factors into the scoring. The beam was ok for her as well. She remains in good spirits hoping she encouraged others from Ja and will see Gymnastics improve in Jamaica. Well tried Toni-Ann, you made history and made Jamaica proud.

TENNIS

Photo: i.stuff.co.nz

Juan Martín del Potro of Argentina upset World No. 1 Novak Djokovic from Serbia with a 7-6(4), 7-6 (2) win after being stuck in an elevator for 40 minutes before the match. The power went out, he had no phone signal and had no choice but to yell for help. He was rescued by his Argentinian handball team, nicknamed, ‘The Gladiators’.

Juan’s biggest accomplishment was winning the 2009 US Open, defeating Rafael Nadal in the Semifinal and Roger Federer in the Final.

Are you ready for RIO RIO RIO?!

by Sports
Photo: @michaelsstores

The Games of the 31st Olympiad in Rio, Brazil began yesterday with football but officially start today! The Games will run from August 5-21. Athletics begin next Friday, August 12.

The Opening Ceremony will start at 6pm this evening at the Maracaná Stadium and will be shown on TvJ with a Pregame show at 4pm. No station seems to have full rights to show the Games so no channel should be blocked.

Brazil’s Olympic Village may not be ready but our Jamaican athletes surely are ready.

However, Suga does not expect the level of magic that occurred in Beijing and London to occur in Rio. Jamaicans need to understand that our Athletics is going through a change in generation, where veterans are either no more such as Kerron Stewart or not as fast after rounds as they used to be, e.g. VCB, and most of the young, upcoming athletes are not quite ready to deliver the quality we have been spoilt with over the past 2 Olympiads.

However, enough of being a Debbie Downer. Even though that may be at the back of my mind, I remain positive and know that veterans like Usain Bolt can still deliver and newcomers like Elaine Thompson should deliver. Omar McLeod and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce are on the ropes but there seems to be something about the Olympics that just puts a torch under our you know what and then sparks just fly.

We have newcomers to look forward to in Gymnastics such as Toni-Ann Williams, Yona Knight-Wisdom for Diving and Timothy Wynter for Swimming.

Will our Alia Atkinson finally get her Olympic medal? I sure hope so. She gets closer every time.

Swimming, Tennis and Basketball start tomorrow. Fret not for the hot races in Athletics because they are mostly in the evenings and on weekends. You can set in your calendars from now:

Women’s 100m FINAL:

Saturday, August 13 @ 8:35pm

Men’s 100m FINAL:

Sunday, August 14 @ 8:25pm

Women’s 200m FINAL:

Wednesday, August 17 at 8:30pm

Men’s 200m FINAL:

Thursday, August 18 at 8:30pm

The 4×100m Relay FINALS will be run on the Saturday before the Olympics end.

If you didn’t get your Free Jamaica Observer Olympics Supplement in the Sunday paper, you can be sure to stay tuned to Suga’s posted schedules, updates and commentary on this website and like Suga Lifestyle’s Facebook page.

There is also a Flow Rio 2016 App that you can download on your phones for free. Not sure if it is as user friendly as the London 2012 app yet but it seems to have a decent layout so far. Too early to endorse.

Well Suga Bears, let the Games BEGIN!!!

The Champions of the Weekend!

by Sports

Tennis

Congratulations to all winners this weekend! Huge Congrats to Serena Williams for finally hitting 22. She now ties Steffi Graf for winning the most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era. Margaret Court still stands at 24.

Congrats to Venus Williams for winning her 6th Doubles Wimbledon title with Serena. It has been a struggle for her since diagnosed with her autoimmune disease but she has never given up. She made it to the Semi Finals of the Singles in Wimbledon and did well in the Doubles to win the Finals with her sister. 

Andy Murray won the Gentleman’s title in straight sets as well. Congrats to him.

Football

For the big winners of the weekend, Portugal! EURO 2016 Champions! Should I also say Cristiano Ronaldo? He came off the field after about 25 minutes with an injury to the knee but he won from the sidelines. How does the great Lionel Messi feel now? He didn’t rally his team together like that. It is hardly likely they will ever get that opportunity again to win an International title. Congrats to them for seizing the moment.

Athletics
Dafne Schippers ran 10.90s for the 100m in the European Championships. Although she had no competition, I expect her to be more impressive in the 200m at RIO. I haven’t seen her time for that as yet.

At the US trials, Justin Gatlin had to run for his life after running 2nd in the semis and getting lane 8 for the final. He beat LaShawn Merritt (19.79s) and Ameer Webb in 19.75s.

For the 200m, Allyson Felix did not make it! Prandini edged her out for the 3rd place spot and it was all about Tori Bowie who won in 22.25s.

The Women’s 100m Hurdles was one to see! Such a packed field. Dawn Harper did not make the finals. Jasmin Stowers fell before the line, Sharika Nelvis did not make it and one of the favourites, Keni Harrison who ran 12.24s this year did not make ut either! 

Brianna Rollins won in 12.34s followed by Kristi Castlin, then Nia Ali.

The US Men’s 110m hurdles had a new winner, Devon Allen! David Oliver did not run the final. He had a hamstring injury after the semis. Aries Merritt and Jason Richardson also failed to make it. 

Gymnastics

Gabby is back! After falling on the beam Friday night at the US Gymnastics trials and again last night, Gabby Douglas still made the US Fierce Five team for her solid routine on the bars.

Congrats to Gabby and the other 4 who made it, especially Simone Biles who won it all. That team is probably one of the hardest to make. Looking forward to seeing them in RIO!

Serena Williams wins Wimbledon and finally hits that no longer elusive 22!

by Sports

If you missed the Ladies’ Wimbledon final today, you missed history. Serena defeated Kerber 7-5, 6-3 and finally won her 22nd Grand Slam title.

Serena started out looking very good! Her serve was on point for the entire match. She won ALL service games. The wind started to pick up in the 2nd set but she overcame that.

Kerber won more of the rallies especially the long ones. But towards the end of both sets when it mattered, Serena won the important rallies and pressured Kerber to make unforced errors. Kerber made very few unforced errors. It was quite a competitive and clean match on both sides. Spectacular tennis.

Angelique Kerber met the real Serena Williams today and when Serena plays her best tennis, there are no answers, she is unbeatable.

Kudos to Kerber for keeping her composure and playing out the match with quality shots. We look forward to seeing her as the future of women’s tennis with Garbiñe Muguruza. 


Serena now finally ties Steffi Graf with the most Grand Slams in the Open era, 22. Suga believes she can keep it going a bit more. Margaret Court still stands at 24. Afterall, Serena IS the GOAT. She said it herself, not only is she one of the best female athletes of all time but one of the best athletes of all time.

Congratulations to Serena Williams who is also immediately ready to take on the Doubles Final and win one for ‘V’, her sister, Venus Williams, which will be played later today.

Photo: ESPN