Sporting Stars, Brought Back To Earth
Two of 2021’s top sporting newsmakers in a year of runaway success found themselves being humbled this week. The Australian Open presented Novak Djokovic an opportunity to go one past Roger Federer and Rafel Nadel’s tally of 20 grand slam wins that all three are currently tied at. Instead, the unvaccinated Djokovic was barred from entering and, as Bloomberg columnists Tim Culpan and David Fickling write, “the world’s No. 1 men’s tennis player now has the dubious honor of joining actor Johnny Depp in receiving a harsh lesson on Australian quarantine and border policy.”
Meanwhile, after landmark test cricket victories through 2021 in Australia, England, and South Africa, the Indian men’s team stumbled in Johannesburg. Unthinkable in the early 2000s, the batsmen let the team down again, and bowlers have been the causes of victory. From the semi-final loss in the one-day world cup in 2019, the World Test Championship final loss against New Zealand, or the latest loss against South Africa, there have been multiple instances of single-digit scores the team’s storied from middle-order batsmen. Hopefully, new coach Rahul Dravid will do what he did throughout his playing career…. salvage the situation.