Face off between the sisters

All Grand Slam Champions in tennis are made of special talent. Anybody who follows sports closely knows the effort and the struggle that are necessary to taste success in a professional tour. If such winners are rare, then what are the chances of getting two of them being born in a single family? Venus and Serena Williams are the two rarest entities in tennis. They have won a total of 18 grand slams between them. It has always been a compelling watch when these two sisters set their foot against each other on a tennis court. Out of the 23 matches played between the two, Serena has emerged victorious 13 times and Venus 10 times. It is indeed one of the greatest rivalries in modern sport. In spite of the goodness in their respective games, they always met with strange allegations of match fixing each time they met during a Grand Slam Final. Many people thought that the winner of the match will be pre decided in their room overnight. But all the doubts were put to the fore, when Venus Williams withdrew between the two in Indian Wells semifinals. Thus far, they have been a perfect role model for all African-American people to take up tennis as their profession.

2009-year for jenson button

2009 was a year to cherish for Jenson Button. With the lights of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, nobody in the world ever thought of Button emerging as the world champion. Like Hamilton in 2007, Button started the season with a bang, winning six out of seven races. But later on he had several bad finishes. Many formula one fans started to believe that Button’s great run at the start is mainly due to technological edge of Brawn GP. However, he silenced his critics at the end of the season. He did something that his very hard to believe in his final race. Starting from fifteenth position, Button with his terrific overtaking skills managed to finish at fifth, and thereby became the 10th British driver to win the coveted world championship. Now, he is all set to make his debut with McLaren in 2010 season. He will be teamed up with his rival Lewis Hamilton.

Long Live Test Cricket

With the craze for T20 cricket increasing day by day, Test cricket is almost in the verge of diminishing. The rise of T20 over the last few years has left test cricket boring. Spectators find it hard to follow a match for five days to know the end result. Whereas T20 cricket is just like an instant cup of coffee. People will come to know the winner within 3 hours. Moreover, tournaments like IPL and champions league has led to the decrease in the number of test matches played in calendar year. Earlier, each team is used to play 10 to 11 test in a year. But now it is decreased to 5 or 6. Though the players enjoy T20, they feel test cricket as their ultimate challenge. As the name suggest, it is the real test of a cricketer. It tests your talent, temperament, fitness and consistency. Whereas, T20 is a slam bang cricket. It hardly tests your skills. A player who is good in T20 can’t be successful in test cricket. On the other hand, a player who is good in test cricket can be successful in T20 as well. International Cricket council has to take necessary steps to ensure sufficient numbers of test matches are played in a year. Also, the pitches across the world have to be improved considerably to avoid the extinction of test cricket.

Art of playing Chess

In most modern day sports physical prowess will determine the outcome of the match. But in chess it is other way round. Each game demands deep concentration and ordered mind. This can result not only a victory in the chess game, but also an improvement in your daily life due to mental focus that you develop while playing chess. The players will be physically safe but mentally drained out. Moreover, it is the only sport where men and woman can compete equally. But surprisingly, the sport is always dominated by males. We could hardly find a woman in the top 10 chess ranking. Chess players across the world are often referred to as “HE”. To change this reality females have to be encouraged to play chess. They will get a great deal of satisfaction when they unleash their creative and combative skills at the chess board. Like love and music chess also has the power to make people happy.

Rafael Nadal moving in wrong direction

If it was not for the Australian Open, 2009 is a year to forget for Rafael Nadal. He was hampered by injuries, forced to quit the Wimbledon and eventually lost his No 1 ranking to Roger Federer. It all started at the French open where he made a shocking exit after the defeat in hands of Robin Soldering. To add to that misery he was injured and sat out of Wimbledon. Even during his return he was not at his best. The dream of winning his first US open title was thrashed by Martin Del Petro. He got past Nadal in straight sets to reach his first US open final. Even 2010 have not started well for the Spaniard. He was humbled by Andy Murray in the quarter final of the Australian Open. Experts feel that there could be a shuffle in the ATP Rankings. With players like Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Davydenko and Tsonga consistently doing well in all grand slams, it unlikely that Rafael Nadal will regain his number 2 spot. If he don’t do well at the Wimbledon and French Open, he could well go down the ranking. Fans hope that Wimbledon is right tournament where he could come back to his best. If he can replicate his success in grass court as of last time, Roger Federer could well have a great fight on his hands.

It's money time in cricket

Indian Premier League has definitely changed the face of cricket. It has not only brought new fans to the sport but also has given an opportunity for talented players to get rich overnight. In the last two years we saw franchisees bid heavily for the players. But this year we saw a prudent IPL auction from the team owners. Nevertheless, all the latest stars of cricket got good IPL contracts. Shane bond of New Zealand and Kieron Pollard of West Indies got the highest bid among all the 66 players who were auctioned. But the shock was that none of the franchisees bid for Pakistan players in their squad. This is mainly due to the bad relations that exist between two countries since 26/11 attacks. Teams owners don’t want of spend money as they are not sure of availability of the players. People in Pakistan are absolutely devastated to know that the world’s best T20 players are rejected. They feel sports and politics between the two countries should be dealt separately.

Middlegame in Chess

The most complicated and the difficult phase of chess is the middlegame. Undoubtedly, it is also the most interesting and fascinating of all the phases. Every amateur player would like to improve his game in this phase to taste success. The main aim of the player is to give check mate to the king of the opposite player. Various approaches can be made to achieve this. The only two attacking procedures that may lead to check mate are the combined attack and the double blow. One cannot master these two techniques overnight. Gradual preparation is extremely important. One has to thoroughly learn the different offensive techniques, mating mechanism and ways of carrying out an attack. During the game, the player has to find answers for a couple of questions-what to do and how to do. Unlike other games, even one oversight or tactical mistake may result in defeat. On the contrary, one great move may result in a comprehensive victory.