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Author: Chirag

Serena Williams Rookie Card Sold for $117,000

Posted on by Chirag

Women’s tennis has rarely seen a player as good as Serena Williams. This force of nature battled through adversity and some of the best players in female tennis from across the world to stand tall with an impeccable record of 23 grand slams throughout her career. 

During all this she became America’s national sports icon as she continued to inspire people of colour and girls around the world to give tennis a shot. With her on court career still not over she has become a spokesperson for women in sports and equality.

Signing with Nike at a young age and continuing to be a huge part of pop culture she carved her way into the greats. Now, a collectible card made in the year 1999 that describes Serena as a rookie has set the record for the highest valued collectible card in tennis history with the sale amounting to $117,000.

The marketing director of the PWCC said, “We are extremely excited to see Serena Williams’ $ 117,000 and $ 96,000 card sales as it reaffirms what many of us already knew: that she is the biggest ever.”

“Sales also highlight the rapid growth of women’s sports cards over the past year. In 2021, we saw some records set for women’s cards, but the $117,000 sale is definitely a major step forward as it more than doubles the previous one.”

The biggest star in women’s tennis has a career total of 73 titles so far with 50 of those coming from WTA tournaments and 23 from Grand Slams. Becoming one of the handful of women to win the golden slam (all four grand slams in a calendar year).

Djokovic on Entry List for Indian Wells Under Vaccinated Players

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World no 1, Novak Djokovic in a surprising turn of events has been included in the list for vaccinated players playing at the Indian Wells later this month.

The 20 time grand slam winner was given a medical exemption to the Australian Open only to be deported after a confusing couple of weeks in Australia. With the United States also enforcing laws that permit unvaccinated players to enter the country, it’ll be interesting to see if the United States government lets in Novak Djokovic if unvaccinated. 

However the issue is that Djokovic’s name has been seen under the list of vaccinated players allowed to play and confirmed for the Indian Wells in California latrine March.

As the ATP 1000 Masters tournament comes up, stars like Rafael Nadal and Ashleigh Barty have both been included in the list for the Indian wells. Cameron Norie, Emma Raducannu, Tsitsipas and Australian Open finalist Daniil Medvedev have all been confirmed for the tournament from 7th to 20th February.

This is what the organisers said, “The BNP Paribas Open will require valid proof of full vaccination to enter the Indian Wells Tennis Garden for the tournament.

“Guidelines for the players are governed by the protocols established by their respective governing bodies, the WTA and ATP, as well as any restrictions established by the United States of America in regard to the vaccination status of international travellers entering the country.”

West ham Player Zouma Dropped from Team and Sponsorship Amidst Pet Abuse Video Leak

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West Ham defender Kurt Zouma has been under the spotlight after a video was leaked on Tuesday where he has been seen hitting and kicking his cats. RSPCA has confirmed that the cats have been removed from his home.

The defender won against Watford on Tuesday and was then fined by West Ham for this act. Essex Police reported and solved the issue with over 150,000 people signing petitions for Zouma to be prosecuted.

With the bad news not ending for Zouma, Adidas have dropped him and will not continue to sponsor him after this incident.

“We have concluded our investigation,” the company said in a statement, “and can confirm Kurt Zouma is no longer an Adidas contracted athlete.”

West Ham also agreed with the public and condemned the act only to confirm that they had fined Zouma the maximum amount.

After the release of the video, Zouma released a statement,

“”I want to apologise for my actions. There are no excuses for my behaviour, which I sincerely regret. I also want to say how deeply sorry I am to anyone who was upset by the video. I would like to assure everyone that our two cats are perfectly fine and healthy. They are loved and cherished by our entire family, and this behaviour was an isolated incident that will not happen again.”

Del Potro Loses Comeback Match After Hinting Retirement

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In an emotional turn of affairs last night the party crowd in Buenos Aires soon had the rugs pulled from under them as home hero Juan Martin Del Potro lost to fellow country man Fredrico Delbonis 1-6, 3-6 post which he mentioned that it might be his last professional match ever.

The former US Open champion talked about the situation later on in interviews in detail.

“It’s difficult to explain how I felt on the court. So many emotions,” del Potro said post-match. “The atmosphere was crazy, the people were crazy, and I had one of my best ever matches in my career with the crowd.”

After leaving the court, he had this message for fans hoping to see him play again: “I don’t know if it’s going to happen, because the pain in my knee is very high. But I will keep doing a big effort to fix the knee, and if I get that, maybe I will have another chance to play.”

Meanwhile Delbonis said, “There were so many feelings before the match when I knew I was going to play Juan Martin,” Delbonis said after his victory. “The days before were very exciting. So many things were going through my mind. Of course when I got on the court, when I see all the people there, the court was packed. It was amazing. I think the match as well was quite emotional. I want to leave the tennis on the side for a moment and try to express all the emotions that we had in the match.”

Kane taking Inspiration from Ronaldo, Messi and Brady

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Tottenham Hotspurs lead striker Harry Kane has been talking about being so relevant in the sports world at this age and his secret is just taking in the inspiration and keep on grinding. 

The Brit talked about how many players who aren’t in their 20s are also in their prime.

“People are speaking about their prime being between their mid-20s and late-20s,” he tells GOAL during an exclusive interview at The Hive, Barnet FC’s stadium in north London. “But I feel like people’s prime now is early-30s, pushing on to mid-30s

“You look at Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. All these players hit 30 and took their careers to another level.

“That’s something I look at and get excited about because I know there’s a lot more I can improve on and achieve.

“I think Ronaldo and Messi set the standard, not just on the pitch but by being so professional off it. It’s all down to the way they keep their body in good shape, so that they can perform week in, week out.

“So, that’s the goal: I want to be playing football as long as possible. It is a sport I love and enjoy doing every day of my life, so the longer I do it, the better.

“I probably am double the player that I was at Orient (during his first season as a professional),” he explains. “That was 11 years ago now and I think that data has been a huge part of my development. When I was about 20 years old, after a couple of my loans didn’t go quite so well, it was like ‘Where do I go from here? So, I took a look at stats and, with Mauricio Pochettino coming in at Spurs, I did a lot of gym work and extras on the training pitch, high-speed running stuff, to take my game to the next level.

“I am a huge NFL fan and a huge Tom Brady fan as well,” he admits. “It’s the way he started and was doubted and people were not expecting much of him, it felt similar to how my career started.

“He kept his head down, worked harder than anyone else, had self-belief and a real determination and drive and that’s what he did.

From 1st to 5th; the Downfall of Atletico Madrid

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The former La Liga Champions Atletico Madrid have had a few bad matches throughout this season which have seen them fall from the first position in the table to the fifth.

Atletico lost all of their La Liga matches in December and fell badly in the points, until they made a comeback against Valencia to win 3-2. However Simeone’s Atletico have yet to go a long way to get back to the top as evident by their poor performance at the Camp Nou this week.

Barcelona beat Atletico 4 goals to 2 as they made their own comeback into the big leagues.

“We wait until we are losing before we start to play,” said defender Stefan Savic. “I don’t know if it’s something in our heads, but we have to change it if we want to compete in the Champions League.”

“In the first half Barca had four (chances) and scored three. Atletico had four and scored one. It’s all about being clinical,” said Simeone. “We have to credit how clinical our opponent was, and try to improve our intensity, aggression and concentration.”

The team has just fallen behind in terms of performance at the forefront with giant strikers like Jao Felix, Luis Suarez and Antoine Griezman all getting just a few goals throughout the season and failing to score in the big matches. 

With a tie against Manchester United coming up in the Champions League just in a couple of weeks, Atletico Madrid need to get back into form or at least come up with a formation that helps and cushions their current form.

Juan Martin Del Potro Announces Impending Retirement from Tennis

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Juan Martin Del Potro the argentinian tennis star has come out to announce his retirement from tennis which will be happening soon. He is trying to come back and play for one last time at his previous level, however his injuries have taken a big toll on his body throughout his career. 

“It might not be like that and maybe it’s more of a farewell than a comeback,” he said of his planned tournament play.

“The knee has me living a nightmare,” he said at a news conference. “For many years I have been trying alternatives and treatments and doctors and different ways to solve it.”

But, he said, “I have not been able to do it.”

With many wrist and knee injuries throughout his career, Del Potro looks to end his career and take a big break from tennis as he looks to explore other fields perhaps. 

The Argentinian’s highlight of his career was definitely beating the legendary Roger Federer to win his maiden and only Grand Slam in New York as he won the 2009 US Open Tournament.

Are FC Barcelona Back? Multiple Debuts as La Blaugrana beat Atletico 4-2

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FCBarcelona played against Atletico Madrid at the Camp Nou last night as they sat in 5th place with Atletico in 4th in the La Liga standings. 

La Blaugrana surprised even their own fans with that insanely good performance and thrilling win with 4 goals to 2. Atletico’s aggression and quick counter attacks failed at every step except 2. 

Carrasco got the lead for Atletico early on at 8 minutes but that was soon equalised as Dani Alves turned back the clock with a cross to Jordi Alba who finished off with a stunning goal from the edge of the box. 

From there on, it was a Barcelona dominated game with Atletico getting in a couple of shots on goal only for them to be saved by the big German, Ter Stegen. 

The debutant Adama Traore was absolutely unstoppable yesterday as he passed through the tough Atleti defence and got a cross in for Gavi to head it into the net. He then made way for another fellow debutant in Aubameyang as he was substituted in the middle of the second half.

Barcelona’s Araujo got in on the action after a cross from the corner dropped at his feet and later on in the second half, the experience and wisdom of Dani Alves got him his first goal of his new start at Barcelona under the Xavi era.

Luis Suarez did manage to get in another goal for Atletico, however the score was already 4-2 with Barcelona looking very dominant over all. The morale and hope in the locker room was very high and positive after a thrilling win and a jump to 4th place in the La Liga. Now Barcelona will play Espagnol on Sunday and then start their Europa League Campaign next Wednesday.

Peng Shuai continues to deny any previous allegations she made in new interview

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The Chinese female tennis star made allegations against the former Chinese premier regarding sexual assault and post that interview she was nowehre to be found for nearly a month. This sudden disappearance made the tennis world go crazy and jump into action. 

Organisations such as the Olympic committee and the ATP and WTA came forward by cancelling any Chinese events now and in the future which eventually got Peng Shuai back on an interview where it wasn’t clear whether she was being forced to say those words or was she actually talking like that.

Now she has come out to deny any past allegations saying, “”Considering my age, my multiple surgeries and the pandemic that forced me to stop for so long, I believe it will be very difficult to regain my physical level,”

“I would like to know: why such concern?…I never said anyone sexually assaulted me”.

“This post has given rise to a huge misunderstanding from the outside world. I hope that the meaning of this post will no longer be distorted. And I also hope that we don’t add more hype to this.”

“never said anyone had sexually assaulted me”.

However, in her first interview she said, “带我去你家，逼我和你发生关系” ? Which could be translated to, “”You took me to your house and raped me” or “You took me to your house and forced me to have sex with you” or “You took me to your house and pressured me into having sexual relations with you”.

The ATP and WTA are yet to make a statement on anything related to the Chinese tennis star. 

Daniil Medvedev to F1?

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The Russian tennis star and recent finalist of the Australian Open withdrew from a couple of tournaments this month to take a short break to recover from the brutal and intense finals match against the now 21 time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal.

The former US Open Champion joined a couple of stars from the Formula 1 world in a Karting event this week. The Russian was joined by former Red Bull driver Daniil Kyvat and former Red Bull and current Williams driver Alex Albon.

Daniil Medvedev probably wouldn’t shift sports considering how great he is doing in the Tennis world but he is close to fellow Russian Daniil Kyvat who has had a good career in Formula 1 and other motor racing.

Medvedev now will play in a couple of South American tournaments before heading off to the Indian Wells where he will be again playing with the likes of Nadal, Djokovic, Tsitsipas and more.

As Rafael Nadal practices back at his home courts in Manacor, Mallorca Daniil Medvedev is enjoying a week’s time at least as he recuperates from almost winning his first Australian Open title.

Medvedev said on twitter, joking about this karting event, “They broke the news early! 

@redbullracing….🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ Who goes @Max33Verstappen or @SChecoPerez?? 🤣👍 (in all seriousness. Respect for all these guys. Was tough today)”