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Author: Chirag

“What Would Novak Do?” Asks Medvedev

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Danni Medvedev won his quarter finals match against the young Canadian Aliassime yesterday in a thrilling five set match. Hope seemed to have been lost for Medvedev as he lost the first two sets to the Canadian. However in one of the best comebacks in Australian Open history, Medvedev went on to win the next 3 sets straight in a row to secure his spot against Tsitsipas on Friday.

Post the grueling match, Medvedev was in a good mood, and said ““I have no idea!” When asked about the intense heat and physicality.

“I mean, talking about the match point, I managed to serve well. If it had been a second serve, we never know what would happen. Talking about the whole match. It’s funny this bag, I usually come with a lot of (spare) clothes, just in case, you know six shirts, three pairs of shoes, whatever. Now it’s empty!”

“I didn’t really know what to do,” Medvedev explained. “Actually I don’t know if people are going to like it but I told myself ‘what would Novak (Djokovic) do?’”

At this point, the crowd serenaded him with boos with the mention of the World no. 1 

“Because he is one of the greatest champions, or Rafa (Nadal) or Roger (Federer) to be honest, they’ve won so many matches like this.”

At the mention of Nadal and Federer, the crowd cheered in response.

“And I just thought ‘ok, I’m going to make (Auger-Aliassime) work.’”. “If he wants to win it, he needs to fight until the last point, even if it’s 5-0, 40-0 for him, I’m going to try to make him tired for the next match, you know? Just fight until the last point, and it worked.”

A Beaten Shapovalov Feels Unfairly Treated During Match with Nadal

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Dennis Shapovalov, the young Canadian sensation lashed out at Nadal and match referee Carlos after losing to the Spaniard in a thrilling five set quarter finals match yesterday. The Canadian felt an unfair treatment towards him favouring Nadal and also fellow ‘Big Three’ members, Djokovic and Federer on the tour.

“You started the clock so long ago and (Nadal is) still not ready to play,” he said, approaching Bernardes after dropping 3-6 in the first set. “You’ve got to code him.”

As he was preparing to serve, Bernardes appeared to hold the game, to which Shapovalov said, “(Nadal) is not ready to play.” 

The umpire responded, suggesting Shapovalov was not ready to play after approaching him. Shapovalov fired back: “Are you kidding me? You guys are all corrupt.”

“I misspoke when I said he’s corrupt or whatever I said,” he said after the match. “It’s definitely emotional, but I do stand by my side. I think it’s unfair, you know, how much Rafa is getting away with.”

“There’s got to be some boundaries, some rules set. It’s just so frustrating as a player. You know, you feel like you’re not just playing against the player. You’re playing against the umpires, you’re playing against so much more,” he continued. “I’m not trying to take away anything they’ve done, of course, they’re great champions, they’re the legends of the game. But at the end of the day, when you step on the court it should be equal for everyone.”

“Of course – 100% he does, 100%. Every other match that I have played, the pace has been so quick because the refs have been on the clock after every single point,” he said, via the BBC. “I’ve been ready to play for a minute and a half, and he tells me he’s not going to give him a code violation because I’m not ready to play. To me, it’s a big joke if somebody says that.”

Closed Gates Result in 8 Deaths During AFCON Match

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The African Cup of Nations saw its Round of 16 being played this week as Cameroon hosted the Islanders Comoros and beat them to reach the Quarter Finals.

However, the match also saw a massive crowd. A crowd too big for the stadium itself. After the end of the match, it was revealed that 8 people were actually killed under the crush after the police opened the gates as a stampede broke out. 38 other people were reportedly injured heavily as well.

“If (the gate) was open, (spectators) would have walked through and it was closed for inexplicable reasons,” CAF president Patrice Motsepe said during a press conference on Tuesday.

“If that gate was open as it was supposed to we wouldn’t have had this loss of life.”

“There is zero tolerance, absolute zero tolerance in the circumstances which could result in people being injured at a stadium or losing their lives.”

The government of Cameroon also released a statement saying, “Facing this tragedy, the seriousness of which has provoked emotion and consternation, the Head of State [Paul Biya] sends his saddest condolences to the badly hit families, as well as his wishes of a speedy recovery to the injured, to whom he sends the profound compassion of the entire nation,”

“The thoughts and prayers of the global football community are with the victims, the ones who have been injured in this incident, and all the staff of both CAF and the Cameroonian Football Association at this difficult moment.”

Cameroon continues AFCON Winning Streak

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The African Cup of Nations saw its Round of 16 continue yesterday night as Cameroon survived the Islanders in Comoros with a late strike from captain Vincent Aboubakar.

The hosts, Cameroon played in their capital city of Yaounde as Toko Ekambi opened up the scoreline in the 29th minute.

In a surprising turn of events, the Islanders started out with Chaker Alhadur in goal. A left back as the goalkeeper due to 3 previous choices all out with Covid-19. However Alhadur did perform brilliantly only letting in 1 goal in for the first 70 minutes. Alas, he did finally let in another goal as the Cameroon Captain took the win home and continued their dominance into the Quarter Final Stage.

Cameroon who won two of their last three group games have really dominated throughout this tournament with great passing and finishing skills. Now they get ready to face Gambia in the Quarter Finals on Saturday night.

The Comoros scored 1 goal in the 81st minute but it just wasn’t enough as Cameroon’s Hongla made a challenge 35 yards from the goal and gave away a free kick that resulted in M’Changama scoring a goal for the Islanders.

Breaking: Nadal Wins Thriller to Reach 7th Semi-Final in Australia

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The Australian Open saw its first quarter finals match being played at the Rod Laver Arena today morning at 8:45 AM as Rafael Nadal the 20 time grand slam winner took on Dennis Shapovalov the young Canadian sensation. 

What a match to start the second week at Rod Laver Arena as the two greats of their respective generations played an intense five set match under the extreme heat in Melbourne.

Nadal, as he’s done in the rounds leading up to the Quarter-Finals, dominated in the first two sets as he won 6-3, 6-4. The third set looked to be going on well for Nadal until he started facing some health issues in his stomach. This saw the Spaniard losing a lot of energy in the third and fourth set.

The young Canadian, Shapovalov took the third and fourth set as he figured out Rafa’s service and started taking advantage as he won 6-4, 6-3.

The crowd rallied behind both the players displaying an intense game and style on court as the match got to the fifth set. Nadal started with a service game and found a way to rally after his health issues in prior sets. 

Nadal broke Shapovalov’s service early on in the fifth set as he led 2 games to 0. The wily old veteran took advantage of his experience under pressure especially in the fifth set.  Dennis tried to break Rafa’s serve late in the fifth set but failed to do so and Rafa took the win at 6-3 as Shapovalov extended his unforced errors.

Nadal now awaits the winner of Monfils vs Berrettini later today, whom he will play on Friday in the Semi-Finals. 

Australian Open Quarter Finals Set Up as Zverev Upset by Shapovalov

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The Australian Open is well into its second week with the prize money reaching $538,500 for players exiting the tournament in the quarter final stage.

4 out of 8 players have already made it to the quarter finals already and will be playing their matches tomorrow morning. As for the rest of the 4 spots, matches are currently underway at the Rod Laver and John Cain Arenas to set up 2 more quarter finals matches for Wednesday.

As expected, Monfils, Berettini and Nadal made it to the quarterfinals, however in a shocker, the German World no. 3 Alexander Zverev lost in straight sets to the young Canadian Dennis Shapovalov and missed out on facing Rafael Nadal.

With Medvedev and Tsitsipas expected to win their Round 4 matches today and eventually win their own respective quarterfinal matches on Wednesday, it looks like Medvedev and Tsitsipas will be taking on each other in the semi finals. 

Over on the women’s side, crowd favourites like Raducannu and Osaka lost out in Round 2 and 3 respectively. Yesterday in Round 4, more favourites like Victoria Azarenka and Simona Halep also exited the tournament. This leaves only one favourite and current world no. 1, the hometown girl, Ashleigh Barty. She will be playing the American Jessica Pegula tomorrow at the Rod Laver Arena prior to the Monfils vs Berrettini match.

Benzema Defending Lionel Messi?

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The Real Madrid Star has apparently no bad blood with the former Barcelona captain and La Liga rival as Benzema has come out defending Messi’s poor start in France.

The French striker said, How is Messi not going to succeed? It’s just a time of adaptation, because he hasn’t scored many goals.

But look at what he does on the pitch. In any case, you can’t criticise a player like that, someone who criticises Messi doesn’t understand anything about football.”

Understanding the toll moving a club and switching countries takes on a player’s form, Benzema defended probably the biggest free transfer in football history so far.

Messi who joined PSG in the summer transfer window in 2021 after big drama in the Camp Nou has had a lot of appearances but not enough goals for the French club.

Barcelona weren’t able to re-sign Messi after his contract expired due to salary restrictions implied by La Liga as an organisation. With La Blaugrana in poor financial condition, even a free Messi couldn’t justify him re-signing and eventually the two parties ended the long relationship. 

Just 2 days later, it was final that Messi will be joining Paris and was given a hero’s welcome over in the French capital for whom he’s played a total of 17 matches and scored only 6 goals with 5 coming in the Champions League alone.

Australian Open Defending Champion Naomi Osaka Knocked Out

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In the Women’s draw of the Australian Open, the defending champion at the Australian Open was knocked out in the Round 3 of the tournament.

Osaka who on Friday was stunned by Amanda Anisimova at the Rod Laver arena as Anisimova won 4-6, 6-3, 7-5

The japanese champion comes third in surprising exits from this year’s Australian Open after the likes of Emma Raducanu, who was knocked out in the second round and Nick Kyrgios who lost to Medvedev earlier this week in Round 2.

“I fought for every point; I can’t be sad about that,” Osaka said. “You know, like, I’m not God. I can’t win every match, you know. So I just have to take that into account and know that it would be nice to win the tournament, but that’s, like, really special.”

While Anisimova said,“I think it was the hardest in the first set to be honest; I was just trying to step up my game, and I think that’s why my nerves were kicking in a little bit,” Anisimova said in an interview with The New York Times. “Because I knew that I had to really dig deep and just try to be more aggressive to give myself a chance to win today. But in the third set, I was not really nervous at all anymore.

“I love playing in these high-pressure moments, and I think it’s really fun to play in Melbourne in front of a crowd like that. So I was just trying to enjoy every moment really. I kept reminding myself, ‘I’m at a Grand Slam playing against Naomi Osaka, just try to enjoy it, because it’ll be over soon.”

Ansu Fati Goes From Football Heaven to Injury Hell

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The FC Barcelona star’s problems just don’t seem to end as he has now picked up a hamstring injury in his left hamstring against Athletic Club.

However that wasn’t the only issue Barcelona had against Athletic Club earlier this week, as they lost the match 3-2 in extra time to be disqualified from the Copa Del Rey and thus, are unable to defend their title.

Now Barcelona, who did play well against Athletic have had 2 big tournament exits as they lost the el clasico for the Supercopa de España and now the Copa Del Rey Round of 16. With Ansu Fati returning from his knee injury after so many months, it seemed like Xavi could finally use the 19 year old star and new number 10 properly and embrace the youth. 
However with this injury, Fati is expected to be out of action for another month almost as Barcelona get back to La Liga competition against Alaves tonight and soon start their Europa League campaign in February as they get ready to face Benfica.

Nadal Destroys Kachanov to Reach Round of 16

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The 20 time grand slam winner looks ready to fight for another grand slam title and show the young and new era of ATP that the likes of Djokovic and himself aren’t done yet.

The Spaniard met Karen Kachanov in the round 3 encounter yesterday evening with a strong Head to Head record against the Russian. However since the past few matches between the two it has been difficult for Nadal to beat the youngster.

But this time, it wasn’t that hard for Nadal. Rafa took the first and second set at 6-3,6-2 and then surprisingly lost a set to the Russian as he tried new service return positions behind the baseline.

The Russian took the second set in quite convincing fashion at 3-6. But, just when it looked like Kachanov could pull a rabbit out of his hat and get this to an elusive 5th set tie breaker, Nadal stopped testing and went beast mode.

The Spaniard quickly pulled into the right gear and looked like the Rafa of old as he brought out his running down the line backhand and then his famous arm pump celebration.

With Nadal in the Round of 16, he will now face the frenchman Adrian Mannarino tomorrow at the Rod Laver Arena. Alexander Zverev also qualified for the Round of 16 by beating Albot 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.