Serena heads to the Wimbledon Final and France face Germany today!
Serena Williams took care of business quickly today with her serve on point to beat unseeded Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-0 to head to her 3rd straight final this year. She is 0-2. Can she finally do it? She will face either her sister, Venus (8) or Angelique Kerber (4) who beat her in the Australian Open final this year.
For EURO 2016, Portugal eliminated Wales yesterday 2-0 and await the winner of the semifinal between France and Germany today at 2pm. Suga thinks France will take it.
What a week in Sports! Drama everywhere!
FOOTBALL
Euro2016
Euro2016 started last Friday. Already, Russia has faced investigation after Russian fans rushed (no pun intended) England supporters at the end of the game, which was drawn 1-1. Russia had equalized in overtime.
Both Russia and England have been warned against possible elimination if violence continues.
COPA America
Brazil beat Haiti 7-1 last Wednesday.
On Thursday, Venezuela beat Uruguay 1-0! Suarez was extremely upset he couldn’t play and threw a tantrum on the sidelines. The same night, Mexico beat Jamaica 2-0. Poor defending cost Jamaica the first goal, a simple header by Chicharito at 18′. It was an exciting match, but Jamaica just failed to convert the many opportunities and chances on goal, especially Donaldson who was also denied a penalty. Peralto who substituted Chicharito sealed the deal for Mexico, scoring at 81′.
Mexico advanced with Venezuela to the Quarterfinal for Group C. USA and Colombia advanced from Group A. The outcome of Group B with Brazil, Peru, Ecuador and Haiti is to be determined, as well as the Group with Argentina, Chile, Panama and Bolivia.
BOXING
Mohammad Ali died a week ago at age 74. His public memorial service was on Friday in Louisville, KY. Ali inspired the famous movie, Rocky. The Legend’s memory will live on.
TENNIS
5-time Major winner, Maria Sharapova has been suspended for 2 years by the ITF for breaking anti-doping rules. She will appeal.
ATHLETICS
Speaking of doping, Jamaica’s sprinter, Nesta Carter’s ‘B’ sample confirmed the presence of the substance, methylhexanamine, a banned stimulant after tests were carried out by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This could cost the 4×100m team from the 2008 Beijing Olympics their Gold medal. He will soon have his case heard by the IOC panel.
Sanya Richards-Ross of the USA looking to run her last Olympics seemed to have twisted her foot in a 100m race used for speed training in Atlanta. She fell to the ground screaming mid-race and had to be carried off the field. She hasn’t been running good times in the 400m and she came 7th in her last competitive race but this may harm her hopes of heading to RIO even more.
Jamaica National Racers Grand Prix
The JN Racers Meet that took place on Saturday at the National Stadium was packed with talented athletes, most of whom should be heading to RIO. It was a great day for sprinters with a +1.0 wind.
The highlights were as follows:
Shaunae Miller used her strength from the 400m to power through the stretch to win the Women’s 200m just short of sub 22s in 22.05s. USA’s Jenna Prandini had an excellent start and beat Miller on the curb but faded in the stretch finishing in 22 39s.
Trinidad’s Machel Cedonio won the Men’s 400m in 44.37s ahead of Grenada’s Bralon Taplin and Jamaica’s Javon Francis a.k.a. ‘Donkey Man’.
South Africa’s World Men’s 400m Champion, Wayde van Niekerk won the 300m just short of sub 31s in 31.03 ahead of USA’s LaShawn Merritt. He felt the energy of the crowd and enjoyed running here.
Antigua and Barbuda’s Miguel Francis who trains with Bolt and Blake destroyed is PB time in the Men’s 200m finishing in 19.88s, the 2nd fastest time in the world this year. Jamaica’s Julian Forte was 2nd in 20.18s and Warren Weir just returning from an injury was 3rd in 20.32s. Rasheed Dwyer is yet to break 20.5s this season.
Nadia Eke of Ghana won the Women’s Triple jump in 13.51m.
For the Women’s 100m hurdles, USA’s Sharika Nelvis won in 12.61s, her SB ahead of Jamaica’s World Champion, Danielle Williams who finished in 12.77s.
For the Men’s 110m hurdles, David Oliver of the USA won in 13.09s. Jamaica’s Deuce Carter came 2nd. He hit a hurdle mid-race so it could have been closer. Jarrett Eaton of the USA was 3rd.
Then to the races everyone was waiting for, the Women’s and Men’s 100m.
Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce who has been having trouble from injury got her usual fast start and shook off Barbara Pierre of the USA who stayed with her throughout the entire race and even inched ahead of her at one point finishing with her SB of 11.09 and Pierre finished in 11.11s. Kelly-Ann Baptiste of Trinidad & Tobago was 3rd in 11.15s and Carmelita Jeter did not place.
Sidenote. Never count out VCB for the Senior trials. She ran 10.83s in Florida today!
Now to the Men! Bolt, Blake, Asafa, Nickel Ashmeade, Kemar Bailey-Cole and Frater ALL from Jamaica, Ramon Gittons from Barbados and South Africa’s Akane Simbine. Why not have a Jamaica race at the Olympics?
All I know is, Usain Bolt is looking good, really good. He ran 9.88s after he stumbled at the start of race after a good reaction time to the gun, was behind the entire field and then pulled away easily.
Nickel Ashmeade finished 2nd and Blake with his SB 3rd, both with 9.94s, Asafa 4th with 9.98 and Bailey-Cole 5th.
Watch “Usain Bolt wins 100m Men Racers Grand Prix 2016 in 9.88s” on YouTube here:
BASKETBALL – NBA Finals
After the Warriors took Game 1 of the series and Game 2 was a Blowout with a 110-76 win over the Cavs in California with LeBron James sitting out the entire 4th quarter, the Cavs especially LeBron James were attacked by the media, various memes and videos. Here is a reminder of just a few:
They had no choice but to totally dominate Game 3 on home court to save face on Wednesday night winning by 30 points, 120-90. James had 32 points and Thompson came up big defensively and also had 13 rebounds. The Cavs would then look to level the series in Game 4 at home before heading back to California for Game 5 but things did not go their way. Curry came alive with 38 points and we still haven’t seen the Splash Brothers in these NBA Finals.
Cavs coach, Tyronn Lue was fined 25k for criticizing the Referees after Game 4, saying ‘LeBron never gets calls’. LeBron fans would say he doesn’t make excuses for losing but once again, he was in agreement with this accusation made by Lue but didn’t go in on it because he said he would save his 25k. What he did do though, was provoke Draymond Green by stepping over him after Green fell to the floor on a play, knowing what was at stake for Draymond if he got 2 more technicals or any Flagrants called against him. Words were thrown and both made their case.
Watch “GameTime: LeBron’s Altercation With Draymond Green | June 11, 2016 | 2016 NBA Finals” on YouTube here:
Today, the League announced that LeBron James was assessed a technical and Draymond Green has been suspended for Game 5 of the Finals after getting a Flagrant Foul 1 from the incident with LeBron on Friday. Suga thinks this was unnecessary and the NBA are grabbing at straws to extend the series.
Warriors’ Klay Thompson expresses that he guesses LeBron James’ ‘feelings just got hurt’ by Draymond Green and players talk trash and call each other names in the league all the time but ‘It’s a Man’s League’.
Game 5 is tomorrow at 8pm!
Novak Djokovic wins his 1st French Open Title!
Novak Djokovic defeats Andy Murray in 4 sets 3-6,6-1,6-2,6-4 to win 12th Grand slam and 1st French Open Title!
This win also means he has won all 4 Grand Slam titles in 1 year. Amazing. This has not been done since 1969.
Djokovic now stands in the middle of the greats with Rafael Nadal and Pete Sampras above him with 14 Grand Slams and of course the legendary Roger Federer with 17.
Suga expects to see more titles from Djokovic in the near future.
Congrats Novak!
Garbine Muguruza wins her 1st Grand Slam title!
This morning Garbine Muguruza played the best game of her life and beat Serena Williams in straight sets 7-5, 6-4. Her service games were strong as she also has a powerful serve, some were a consistent 174mph and she had excellent hits down the line. Her backhand certainly inproved since her last final versus Serena at Wimbledon 2015.
Serena has been denied yet again from reaching the historic 22 Grand Slams in the Open era and gave an emotional speech. Today was just not her day. Muguruza was the better player today.
Congrats to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza for winning her first Grand Slam title.
Serena goes for 22 Grand Slams this am again!
At 8am tune in to the Women’s French Open Finals at Roland Garros! Serena Williams will go up against no. 4 Garbine Muguruza of Spain. They met last year in the Wimbledon Final, which Serena had to fight hard to win.
Serena was denied in the last US Open Semifinals for chasing 22 to even Steffi Graf’s Open Era Gland Slam title record and again in the Australian Open Final this year. Muguruza has beaten Serena in the French Open before. Can Serena keep her cool and reach the 22 mark this time?
Djokovic wins his 6th Aussie Open Title!
Novak Djokovic took down Andy Murray in straight sets to win his 6th Australian Open title, 6-1, 7-5, 7-6.
No surprise here, Suga didn’t think Murray had a chance versus Novak’s recent dominance.
Congrats Novak!
Kerber upsets Serena and wins her first Australian Open!
The Women’s Australian Open Finals was quite a humdinger. Nerves got the best of Serena Williams in the 1st set. Her feet weren’t moving well, her serve was not on point and she had a lot of unforced errors.
The 28-year old German, Angelique Kerber broke Serena early in the 1st, Serena broke her back and then Kerber broke her again to win the 1st set 6-4.
Serena had better movement of the feet in the 2nd, served better, got her 1st ace and a few more, played better tennis but not her best and won the 2nd set 6-3.
In the 3rd and final set, Kerber started on serve then got the early break on Serena. Serena broke her right back and held serve to break even at 2-2. Kerber then broke Serena in the longest game of the match to go up 5-3 in the 3rd then started to smell victory. But Serena put that on hold and broke her to get to 4-5. Kerber kept calm and was able to break Serena to win the Championship and her 1st major title.
Kudos to Kerber for keeping up with Serena in those rallies and hitting many spectacular corner shots and 2 perfectly executed drop shots at crucial points in the game.
The number 22 seems daunting at the moment for Serena. Looks like Steffi Graf’s help last year helped Kerber. To keep Serena off her #22 perhaps? Steffi was the last German to win the Australian Open.
To catch what you missed while you were sleeping, check these channels:
Tennis: 5:30am-8am and highlights at 8-9am
ESPN Caribbean: 9-10:55am
Djokovic destroys Federer in a spectacular display in the semis at the Australian Open and more!
Serena Williams booked her spot to the Australian Open finals for the ladies in style.
Serena played an absolutely clean and dangerously good first set, winning it 6-0 versus Radwanska who moved well and didn’t play badly but didn’t play well either. She failed to capitalize on chances she had. Serena was also just too good and on top of her game.
Radwanska finally got on the board holding serve at the beginning of the 2nd set. Serena broke her then Radwanska got herself back in the match breaking back Serena at 3-3, then held at 4-3. Serena failed to convert break point for the first time in the match. Serena then came back, held her serve and stepped back up the level of her game to break Radwanska and serve 3 aces in a row, then won the next short rally in the final game to win the 2nd set and the match, 6-0, 6-4.
The 4-month break Serena took after the US Open loss and so much physical and psychological pressure seems to be working in her favour. Best of luck to her in the Finals.
Other semi-finalists left in the Australian Open included Johanna Konta and Andy Murray who both made history by being the first pair of Brits to make the semi-finals of the Australian Open since 1977, which was 39 years ago!
Konta was the first British woman to reach a Semi-final since Jo Durie in the US Open in 1983.
Konta, ranked 47th, had impressive wins throughout the Open, sending home Venus Williams in the 1st round and beat #21 Makarova in 3 sets. In the Quarters, she beat Zhang Shuai in 2 sets, who previously defeated Simona Halep and Madison Keys. Konta faced #7 Angelique Kerber last night.
Previously, Kerber defeated favourite, #14 Azarenka in 2 sets, who is thought to be more of a challenge to or fear for Serena Williams. It was the first time Kerber was reaching the semis of the Australian Open, but her overall Grand slam experience helped her to overcome Konta and she beat her in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2.
On the men’s side, #1 Djokovic vs #3 Federer was at 3:30am! It was their 45th and decisive meeting, as they were 22 a piece. However, Djokovic had the edge as he has won the majority of the most recent meetings, including the last 3 Grand slam face offs.
They were both ready and on form. Previously, Djokovic defeated Kei Nishikori in straight sets and Federer defeated Tomas Berdych in straight sets as well, even though the first set went to a tiebreak.
Last night, Djokovic came out blazing in the 1st 2 sets, probably the best 2 sets he has ever played versus Federer in his career. It was quite a display. Federer dug deep and got himself back in the match, winning the 3rd set. In the 4th set there was a delay with the overhead roof that affected both players, more so Federer, the 34 year old, as play was scratchy for the first few games but Djokovic came out on top with 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 and now is ahead of Federer in meetings with 23.
Note though, Djokovic may have won the match but Federer won the point of the Australian Open!
Watch it here:
In the last Semi-final to be played today, Andy Murray will face Milos Raonic, who beat Gael Monfils in 4 sets. Murray defeated #8 David Ferrer in 4 sets as well.
Spectacular night in tennis. The repeats will be worth the watch if you missed it.
Serena Williams is on watch again at the Australian Open!
Since one of the biggest upsets in tennis history at the last US Open when Vinci stopped Serena from achieving a Calendar slam, Serena has been plagued with injuries. But so have the other top 5 seeds for the women at the beginning of this year. Serena did knee surgery and ended up pulling out of the Hopman Cup recently so there were concerns of how well she could do this year.
Well, Serena steamed pass Sharapova in the Quarterfinals and she is looking like she is in good shape to not only face #4 Radwanska in the Semifinal tonight at 9:30pm on ESPN 2, but the whole Championship!
Suga thinks Serena is all business this year and will take all 4 Major Tournaments. History in the making. Go Serena!