cricket
Over the moon
Pakistan should look 
to capitalise on their series-winning triumph in India
By Khalid Hussain

Pakistan have kick-started their New Year in a perfect manner by trouncing India in their own backyard with back-to-back ODI victories in Chennai and Kolkata last week. Misbah-ul-Haq and his men are over the moon and rightly so. A series triumph and that too against chief rivals India in India is a great achievement.

What adds to Pakistan’s satisfaction is the way they’ve outclassed the Indians in both the games. Their six-wicket win in Chennai may not have been a landslide but even in the series opener the yawning gap between Pakistan’s pace attack and India’s much-hyped batting was clearly visible.

On a flatter Eden Gardens’ track where Pakistan squandered a great start to give the hosts what seemed like a modest target of 251 to level the series, the home team’s supporters must be sure that India were good enough to reach it. But once again the young Junaid Khan made sure that the Indians would bite the dust. While in the first ODI Junaid hunted in pairs with the towering Mohammad Irfan, in Kolkata it was the seasoned Umar Gul who joined the demolition squad. The Indians were bowled out for just 165 as Pakistan sealed the series with an impressive 85-run triumph.

However, the series is still not over as even Sunday’s dead rubber in New Delhi would have plenty at offer for both the teams. Indian captain MS Dhoni would be looking for a face-saving win but even a positive result for his team would be a case of too little too late for the reigning world champions. Dhoni has been under pressure since India lost their three-match Test series against England earlier this season and his team’s pathetic performance against Pakistan has certainly made matters worse for a man once known as India’s Captain Cool.

Many former Indian stalwarts and other cricket experts are gunning for Dhoni’s head as they believe that the star player has failed to bring the best out of his team in recent times. It’s hard to imagine that just last year Dhoni was hailed as the best thing that has ever happened to Indian cricket. He probably had more worshippers among Indian fans than the great Sachin Tendulkar after leading India to an emphatic World Cup triumph in Mumbai last year. But when it comes to cricket in the sub-continent, things have the habit of changing drastically.

Take a look at Misbah’s case. Just a few seasons back, he was discarded as spent force. But at the moment, the veteran batsman is one of Pakistan cricket’s key assets. He gave his captaincy credentials a big shot in the arm by leading Pakistan to a stunning 3-0 whitewash against England, then the world’s No 1 Test team, in the UAE early last year. Just weeks later, Misbah was at the helm when Pakistan regained the Asia Cup title in Dhaka.

And now, less than 12 months after thrashing England in the Test format, Misbah finds himself within striking distance of blanking India in a One-day International contest. A 3-0 series triumph over the Indians would be an ODI equivalent of Pakistan Test whitewash against England. That’s why, there is still a lot at stake for the Pakistanis today as they take on the hosts at the historic Feroze Shah Kotla stadium in the Indian capital.

The tourists have displayed their killer extinct on the tour and should exhibit it again today to end the brief trip on a victorious note.

Pakistan’s first bilateral tour of India in five years would be over tonight. They should now look to capitalise on their series-winning triumph in India. With a highly challenging tour of South Africa just weeks away, the Pakistanis don’t have much time to celebrate their successful series against the Indians.

Unlike India who proved to be unworthy opponents, the Proteas would be a very hard nut to crack. Last Friday, the South Africans once again showed why they are the world’s best team when they demolished visiting New Zealand by an innings and 27 runs in just two-and-a-half days in their first Test in Cape Town. Their potent pace trio of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel give South Africa a big edge over any visiting team and Pakistan would be no exception.

Misbah and his men may have thrashed England last year with the help of their spin twins Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman but they would need much more to counter the Proteas. The good news for Pakistan is that their own pace arsenal that includes Junaid Khan, Umar Gul and Mohammad Irfan has a lot of firepower. The trio especially Junaid and Irfan would love to bowl on bouncy South African tracks which traditionally have ample juice for fast bowlers. But its Pakistan’s batting line-up that would be heading for the African safari with a lot of question marks hovering over it. Misbah and the other batters including the young duo of Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq have done quite well in the Test format in recent times but South Africa would be their biggest test yet. And they should be ready for it.

Khalid Hussain is Editor Sports of The News, Karachi

Khalidhraj@gmail.com

Back on winning track
Pakistan’s hockey team is doing well but it still has to cover a lot of ground 
in its bid to catch up with the big guns
By Bilal Hussain

When Pakistan slumped to a disappointing seventh-place finish at the London Olympics 2012 last summer, most of the country’s hockey fans thought that the national team was incapable of winning medals at the international level. But after a below-par showing in the first-half in 2012, the Pakistanis bounced back with a vengeance to win a surprise bronze medal at the Melbourne Champions Trophy in December — their first medal in the prestigious tournament in eight years. Just weeks later, the Green-shirts produced another morale-boosting performance to beat arch-rivals India in the final of the 2nd Asian Champions Trophy in Doha to end 2012 on a triumphant note.

Pakistan’s back-to-back victories in Melbourne and Doha have boosted the hopes of hockey’s revival in a country that was once regarded as the sport’s biggest powerhouse at the international level. Soon after Pakistan won the Asian Champions Trophy crown in the Qatari capital, the country’s hockey chiefs promised that the national team would soon be good enough to regain major international titles like the World Cup and the Olympics.

There is no doubt that Pakistan’s long-term goal should be to win back majors like the Olympics, World Cup and Champions Trophy. Back in the seventies, they held all those titles simultaneously but since then Pakistan’s title-winning triumphs have been few and far between. The last of their three Olympics gold medals came way back in 1984 at the Los Angeles Olympics while Pakistan’s fourth and last World Cup crown was won in 1994 in Sydney. They have failed to win a single Olympic medal since their bronze back in 1992 in the Barcelona Games.

It is time that Pakistan put themselves on track and revive their lost glory in world hockey. Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) chiefs and national team coaches are confident that their team can make its presence felt at World Cup 2014 to be played in Hague (Netherlands) and Olympic Games 2016 to be held in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). Some of them even believe that Pakistan can go on to win the title in either Hague or Rio or maybe both.

But is that possible? It’s not an easy question to answer. Pakistan have certainly shown signs of improvement by finishing among the top-three at the Champions Trophy last month. They have also strengthened their case by stamping their superiority at the Asian level by winning the Doha title.

But take a look at the International Hockey Federation (FIH) world rankings and it would tell you that Pakistan still have to cover a lot of ground before coming at par with the world’s top teams.

The Pakistanis did achieve a substantial improvement in their world ranking last year when they jumped from number nine to the fifth spot on the FIH computer. They currently trail world number ones Germany, Australia, Netherlands and England, the world’s top-four teams. There is a huge point difference between Pakistan and fourth-placed England. Pakistan have 1760 points as compared to England’s 2050. That’s a difference of 290 points which is huge if you take into account the fact that New Zealand who are trying to catch up with Pakistan are placed at number six with 1743 points. Spain, who are at seventh, have 1723 points, Korea (No 8) have 1703 points while Belgium (No 9) have 1698 points. The different between Pakistan and the ninth-placed Belgians is just 62 points.

Germany with 2528 points enjoy a 768-point advantage over Pakistan while Australia (2500) and Netherlands (2308) are also firmly placed at the top.

It means that while Pakistan have to give a series of strong performances at the international level to threaten the top-four, most of the teams trailing the Green-shirts are within striking distance of dislodging them from the fourth spot.

That doesn’t mean that Pakistan have little or no hope of regaining the world’s number one spot. But that target is still miles away and the national team’s players and officials will have to work hard with dedication and proper planning to reach there. At the moment, Pakistan should look to consolidate their position by bringing further improvement in their performance. By doing that, they would remain in the hunt for the top spot that has eluded them for the last couple of decades.

bilalsports86@yahoo.com

Successes, failures and hope
By Mushfiq Ahmad

Defying all the criticism, Pakistan’s oldest playing cricketer Misbah-ul-Haq continues to go strong, both in Tests and One-day Internationals. A look at the statistics for the year that has just left us tells that this seasoned campaigner has not weakened at all. Misbah averaged 41 and 38 in Tests and One-day Internationals, respectively. His Test and ODI career averages remain very strong at 45 and 41.

There have been many calls for Misbah, who recently also crossed the 3000-run mark in ODIs, to quit limited-overs cricket because he is too old for that and plays too slow. But he proved his critics wrong by scoring at more than 68 runs per 100 balls during the year, which is a higher strike rate than those of opener Mohammad Hafeez and one-down specialist Azhar Ali.

But the best thing to happen to Pakistan cricket during the year was the emergence of Nasir Jamshed as a reliable opening partner for Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali’s consistent big scores in both Test and one-day cricket.

Nasir, who replaced Imran Farhat in the later part of the year, scored 462 in just eight ODIs, at a healthy average of 66 — topping the average chart for Pakistan batsmen, hitting two centuries and two fifties.

His successive centuries in the first one-dayers against India proved that he can shun his aggression if the situation demands so. One can hope that Hafeez and he will form a durable opening like we had in the form of Aamir Sohail and Saeed Anwar in the 1990s.

Azhar scored three Test centuries this year, accumulating 551 runs at an average of 55. Had Pakistan played more matches during the year he would surely have registered himself among the batsmen who scored more than 1000 runs. But unfortunately Pakistan played only six matches this year. Since his arrival at the international cricket scene in mid-2010 he has been quite consistent, but now he has confirmed that he is going to be included among the greats Pakistan has given to the world like Miandad, Inzamam and Yousuf.

This year, he also announced his arrival at the one-day scene with a bang. He amassed 411 runs in 12 ODIs, managing an average of 45 and hitting four fifties. His was the second highest average among Pakistan batsmen after Nasir Jamshed’s.

Pakistan’s spinners also performed very well during the year as they had done in 2011. Saeed Ajmal continued to be on the top of the world. He grabbed 39 wickets from six matches, averaging more than six wickets a match, higher than that of Sri Lanka’s Rangana Herath who claimed 60 wickets in 10 matches and topped the bowling chart.

Abdul Rehman also continued his impressive run, getting 25 wickets from five matches.

These two bowlers were the reason why Pakistan won the series against England in UAE 3-0. Without these two, Pakistan might not have won even a single match.

But the performance of Pakistan’s fast bowling department was quite disappointing during the year. Junaid Khan was the only one among the wickets as he got 14 wickets from four matches.

Umar Gul was far from his best, managing just 12 wickets from five games. Aizaz Cheema was a huge failure. He grabbed only one wicket in three matches.

Pakistan are to have a lengthy tour of South Africa later this month. There should be no big problems as far as batting and spin bowling departments are concerned but we need at least one wicket-taking bowler to partner with Junaid and Gul if we are to win Test matches against South Africa.

Ehsan Adil, who made his first class debut this year, is under consideration for the tour. He grabbed 56 wickets from 10 matches he played. Let’s hope he gets selected and delivers the goods.

mushfiqahmad1000@gmail.com

Youth and inter-board sports
By Aamir Bilal

Organised sports activities in education institutions have great importance because they help in laying the foundations of comprehensive sport culture in any society.

The Inter Board Committee of Chairman (IBCC) is the organisation tasked with supervising sports programmes of all educational boards. IBCC has a sub-committee by the name of Inter Board Sports Committee (IBSC) headed by Dr Muhammad Basheer.

The Inter Board Sports Tournament for 2012 was organised by Sargodha Board in collaboration with Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) at Jinnah Stadium Islamabad from December 12 to 18.

Mazhar Husain, Director Sports Sargodha Board, did a fine job by organising this tournament where almost twenty two hundred athletes from 29 education boards, from class 9th (school) to 2nd year (college), participated in various disciplines.

Athletics, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, field hockey and football were picked for male competitions, whereas hockey and football were dropped for women competitions because of administrative and technical reasons.

PSB not only provided playing facilities to the youth but also held a two-day training course for the technical officials of the IBSC tournament before the beginning of the event to educate them about the latest rules of the six games. Sayed Habib Shah, Aslam Dar, Muhammad Arshad and Rana Nasrullah of PSB conducted the course.  The final round of the games was played from December 15 to 18. The festivity brought smile to many young faces that had come from different parts of the country, including Azad Kashmir and Khuzdar.

The best part of the competition was the identification of budding and youthful talent with potential to become international athletes. Sahib-e-Isra from Faisalabad and Sami-Ullah from Peshawar were the pick of the athletic events.

The female athletes were outstanding. The women volleyball championship was won by Sargodha Board which had most of its members from the conservative district of Mianwali where participation of women in sport is still considered a taboo.

Mehreen from Gujranwala emerged as the new javelin champion whereas Amna from Faisalabad threw discus to the farthest distance to bag the gold medal.

The participation and performance of young lads from Lahore, Gujranwala, Bannu, Faisalabad, DI Khan, Sahiwal and Peshawar was also encouraging. Muhammad Imran of Lahore Board won the gold in long jump. The 5000 metres race was won by Musawar Rehman from Gujranwala. Arif Khan from D I Khan threw javelin to the maximum distance and Muhammad Akram emerged as the winner of 1500 meter tactical race. Abdul Wahid from Peshawar won 110 metres hurdle race whereas Sami-Ullah from Peshawar was declared the fastest man of track and field.

The team competitions were equally interesting. Lahore Board defeated Bannu in a well-contested hockey final and Faisalabad became the football champions.  Bannu proved their supremacy in the Inter Board Volleyball Championship and emerged as 2012 champions despite their limited resources.

In brief, the youth had a great experience. They made many new friends and learned about each others’ cities, cultures and tradition.

For a few it was their first visit to the country’s capital.

Syed Habib Shah (PSB) and Mazhar Husain said that they were able to identify promising talent during the competitions and that these athletes would be invited to the under-19 and regional sports camps to be held for the preparation of the South Asian Games.

Mazhar said that the present day age bracket of participants from 13 to 20 years may be broken into two halves of 12 to 15 and 16 to 20 years of age.  This would give the younger athletes an opportunity to participate and compete in a more realistic environment and thus more talent can be identified to build the future champions in right age brackets, he said.

There can be no doubt about the importance of competitions like these in developing sports nurseries, but even more important is the indoctrination of sport culture among the youth.

When we look at other countries we find many examples of using sport as a tool for teaching life skills. Japan did it very successfully in the 1960s, when Mr Jigoro Kano, the first Japanese and Asian member of the IOC and a committed principal of Tokyo high school, developed close connections of sports with the Japanese education system.

The goal of such education and connection was not only to enhance participation in sports but also to promote the idea of sports as the key tool to foster patriotism and international peace.

The 1964 Tokyo Olympics provided the necessary impetus as in 1960 the Japanese education ministry published materials about the Games and distributed them among schools.

The Education Ministry of Japan also launched a textbook titled, “Olympics & School: Guidebook for Olympic Learning”. The Ministry of Education notified each prefecture that even torch relay for Olympics could be considered as part of school curriculum in order to emphasise the relay’s educational dimension that would deepen the understanding of Olympic movement. Pakistani youth in general and students in particular need purposeful and well-organised sport activities like Inter Board tournaments. The base of such an important sports activity should be enhanced and more sports events should be added for a brighter future.

sdfsports@gmail.com

National shame!
By Alam Zeb Safi

The conflict between the Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) and the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) on the implementation of the national sports policy has been excessively damaging sports in the country. In order to safeguard their own interests the actors involved in the whole drama are destroying the future of the athletes. As the world prepares for the Rio 2016 Olympics, Pakistan’s sports fraternity is at loggerheads with each other and the federal government, embroiled in its own political problems, has no time to bring to the negotiating table all the stakeholders to resolve the issues.

The POA and the PSB have their guns pointing at each other and no party is ready to accept any dictation. The recent victim of the conflict was the country’s historic National Games hosted by Punjab. This was the first time since independence that the spectacle was widely politicised and Pakistan Army, the country’s leading sports unit, along with Navy and Pakistan Air Force (PAF), pulled out at the eleventh hour, putting the spirit out of the extravaganza.

The government, which normally releases fund for the Games, was not part of the spectacle this time because it did not accept the POA and the organisers of the Games as legal authorities to conduct the event following the Supreme Court’s May 8 verdict regarding the national sports policy.  The armed forces had reservations over timing of the event, expulsion of some disciplines and the security arrangements but at the same time they were also not accepting the organisers as legal to hold the affair.

The factor of the contempt of court could be another reason behind their decision to withdraw, which gave WAPDA, the country’s second strongest unit, a perfect opportunity to emerge as champions with whopping figures of 190 gold, 83 silver and 46 bronze. 

But the winners were deprived of the original Quaid-e-Azam Trophy as Army Sports Directorate did not release it to the POA.

In its place the champions were handed over its replica at the closing ceremony.

They were followed by Higher Education Commission (HEC) as runners-up with 29 gold, 62 silver, and 74 bronze medals. Then came Punjab (22 gold, 33 silver, 56 bronze), Sindh (24 gold, 29 silver and 32 bronze), Railways (11 gold, 25 silver and 38 bronze), Police (4 gold, 13 silver and 26 bronze), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (2 gold, 15 silver and 26 bronze), Balochistan (3 gold, 14 silver and 11 bronze), Islamabad (8 silver and 15 bronze) and FATA (one silver and 10 bronze).

Initially, it was expected that as the government was not supporting the Games, WAPDA, Railways, Police and Higher Education Commission (HEC) would also pull out but it did not happen.

Before the kick-off of the National Games, an official of the Ministry of the Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) had hinted that all the departments had been intimated about the government’s stance and its adherence to the apex court’s decision regarding the national sports policy and now it was the prerogative of all the government’s institutions whether to take part in the spectacle or stay away from it. But the PSB had not informed the departments about these issues in writing so they were unhappy with the Board.

The participation of these governmental units prevented the National Games from becoming a complete failure.

The Punjab government not only refused to release funds to the Punjab Olympic Association (PbOA) but also did not provide the Punjab Stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies which were ultimately held at the Railways Stadium in Garhi Shahu.

The change of venue also deprived the national athletes of using tartan track for the athletics competitions. The Railways Stadium did not have the facility and the athletes had to compete on grass. The timings on grass don’t count internationally and so it turned out to be a futile exercise.

Although the federating units bore the burden of their contingents, the chief organiser Syed Shahid Ali Shah, who is a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), deserves accolades for managing to hold the extravaganza despite lack of support from all cordons.

Initially, the events of boxing, gymnastic and table tennis also saw some hiccups due to intra-federations differences but later these events were completed peacefully.

The incident of thrashing a couple of reporters by the wushu team of the tribal belt was a horrible episode, but the oganisers did not take any action against the culprits.

There were also some irregularities in the beginning. The last meeting of the Games should have been held a month before the event began but it was not done so and hardly 11 days before the commencement of the slots the meeting was held in which the stakeholders were briefed by the organisers about the arrangements. After this meeting, as per rules, the organisers were not entitled to change any venue but they did that. The boycott of the Athletics Federation of Pakistan (AFP) and the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) added to the damage.

And sailing competitions, which were scheduled to be held here in Karachi, were cancelled after the armed forces withdrew.

The war between the Board and the POA has acquired an ugly shape and unless it is resolved Pakistan sports will continue to suffer, both at domestic and international levels.

The PSB has started camps of judo and badminton for the South Asian Games, which have not been announced as yet, without consulting the POA. For the last eight years both bodies have been trying to undermine each other which has destroyed the country’s sports.

Following the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) advice both the parties should amicably resolve the issue of tenure restriction. If the Board went on to impose its decision on the POA, the war would further intensify and the ultimate sufferers would be the players and the country.

73.alam@gmail.com

Men’s tennis crystal ball: the questionnaire for 2013
By Khuldune Shahid

With the Australian Open around the corner, commencing on January 14 to be precise, you know that the New Year in the tennis realm is going to kick start with a wallop! 2013, is going to be defining on many a front, and there are scores of questions clamouring for answers as we look ahead to the next twelve months. Here is the tennis questionnaire for the next 12 months.

Will the Big Four maintain the status quo?

It used to be a Big Three, but Andy Murray’s successful year opened the door of this exclusive chamber. Equally distributing the four majors amongst themselves, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Murray and Rafael Nadal cemented their hegemony in men’s tennis, with the Scott also winning the Gold in the Olympics to rubberstamp his presence in the Big Four.

With the graphs of Djokovic and Murray heading northwards, if anyone can be supplanted from the top four it’s either Federer (age) or Nadal (injuries) that’d have to make way — a statement that’d have been labelled blasphemous 12 months ago. Unless Nadal misses out on the Clay Court season owing to injury, or Federer starts losing regularly to those outside the top four, it’s difficult to see anyone outside the Big Four getting a sniff. In any case for someone to get the key to this chamber, the odds are that they’d have to win a major, and one doesn’t see the likes of David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych doing that. The only one who could have a say is Juan Martin Del Potro, who can throw a nasty spanner or two into the works, but only if he remains healthy.

Who’ll win the four majors?

Nadal has already pulled out of the Aussie Open citing stomach bug, with the conspiracy theorists suggesting that it’s actually the continuing knee trouble that has postponed his return. Either way, it was always hard to see the Spaniard make an impact Down Under this time around. This leaves us with the current top-three ranked players and possibly Del Potro as the favourites for the first major of the year.

You’d have to put Murray and Djokovic — the two men who look set to formulate the next major rivalry in tennis — at the front of the queue in the hard court majors. Djokovic is the best hard court player in the world as things stand and Murray would feel confident of backing up his maiden major triumph at Flushing Meadows by another tilt at the title in Australia.

Federer might not have what it takes to challenge the Djokovic or Murray on the two hard court majors, and his best chance for an 18th major should be at Wimbledon. While Nadal — depending on which version shows up after his injury lay out, the 11-time major champion or a disgruntled imitation — should be the favourite at Roland Garros with Djokovic also lying in the wait to complete a career Grand Slam should the Spaniard fail to put his customary clay court expertise on show.

Another intriguing feature within the Big Four is their head-to-head rivalry, one that could define the outcome of the majors. While Murray might have figured out how to beat Federer and Djokovic in title deciders courtesy London ‘12 and New York ‘12 respectively, but it still isn’t quite certain that he can pull that off against his usual bogey man Nadal. The world number four meanwhile would have uncertainties of his own against Djokovic, especially on hard court encounters. Federer meanwhile hasn’t beaten Nadal in a Grand Slam match on all three surfaces since 2007.

If the scribe were to stick his neck out: it’s  Djokovic to win the Australian Open, Nadal Roland Garros and Murray to win both Wimbledon and the US.

Who’ll end the year as No 1?

If the majors go according to the aforementioned script Murray should be the one conjuring the most points in the 2000-point worth Grand Slam tournaments. However, his usual inconsistency in the ATP 1000 events and Djokovic’s impressive streaks in them could see the Serbian end the year as the world’s top ranked player for the third year running. While the scribe fancies Murray to improve on his groundbreaking performances last year, Djokovic could just as easily win three majors in 2013. In any case, it should be between Djokovic and Murray, with both Nadal and Federer playing for majors more so than the ATP ranking.

Who’ll be the revelation of the year?

If the Big Four end up being the top four, and share the four majors, there’s hardly any room for a revelation now is there? However, I fancy Milos Raonic to have a breakthrough year and end up in the top 10 — maybe top 7 — come the year-end rankings. It’d be great to see the likes of Bernard Tomic, Kei Nishikori, Jerzy Janowics fulfill their potential knock on the door of the top 10 as well but Raonic seens the most likely to do leave a palpable imprint.

Amongst the usual suspects if you’re looking for someone to shatter the odds, again it is Del Potro or a cheeky punt could be Berdych. The lanky Czech could give anyone a solid pounding on a given day, but his inability to pull that off in back-to-back matches, means that he isn’t that big a threat at majors. However, if he can sort that out, his pulverising ground strokes can land him a major. If the Argentine can play to his potential throughout the year, he can even challenge Djokovic and Murray for the very top accolades. Both Del Potro and Berdych have the power game to upset applecarts in all four Grand Slams.

What will the biggest disappointment of the year?

There could be quite a few actually, especially for Federer and Nadal fans, which basically sums up to almost the entire tennis fan-base. It’s unlikely that we’d see a Federer-Nadal major final this year, or in the coming years for that matter. Nadal might not be the same player when he returns from injury, while Federer might suffer an uncharacteristic early exit or two in the big tournaments.

It might not be entirely judicious to totally write off the two biggest names in tennis just yet, but it’s hard to see either of them showcasing the zenith of their powers ever again. However, the maestros could prove us wrong with Federer possibly winning his 18th major, and Nadal returning fresher and hungrier from his lay off to replicate his form from 2010 to inch closer to Federer’s record majors tally.

However, the odds are that the kings of the recent past would have to make way for the usurpers — Federer and Nadal might have to vacate their thrones for Djokovic and Murray.

khulduneshahid@gmail.com

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Novak Djokovic

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