Sports
Kyrgios Lacks Respecct-Nadal
Australia’s Nick Kyrgios “lacks respect for the public, the rival and himself”, says world number two Rafael Nadal.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion lost a dramatic second-round match to world number 72 Kyrgios 3-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (8-6) at the Mexican Open in Acapulco.
Kyrios served underarm late on during the match against the Spaniard.
Nadal said: “He’s a player who has the talent to win Grand Slams, a player who can fight for the top rankings, but there’s a reason he is where he is.”
Kyrgios saved three match points before beating Nadal, who was playing his first tournament since losing to Novak Djokovic in January’s Australian Open final.
“He is a very dangerous player but lacks consistency,” Nadal added.
“I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I think he’s a good guy.”
Kyrgios, 23, saved nine break points in the match and came from 6-3 down in the third-set tie-break to win in three hours and three minutes, before falling to the floor in celebration.
“I’m different, Rafa’s different,” said Kyrgios, who plays Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals.
“He doesn’t know the journey I have been through. He doesn’t know anything about me so I’m not going to listen at all.
“That’s the way I play. He’s very slow in between points. The rule in the book says you have to play at the speed of the server. Rafa has the speed every time.
“I’m not going to comment on his game. He has got his game and I have got mine.”
At the end of the first set, Kyrgios complained to a trainer about feeling ill but said he did not want to retire because he was wary of a possible backlash.
He saved four break points in the ninth game of the second set, and a further five in the sixth game of the final set.
Nadal took only one of his 10 break point chances in the match.
In the women’s draw, American top seed Sloane Stephens suffered a shock 6-3 6-3 defeat by Brazilian qualifier Beatriz Haddad Maia.
England captain Harry Kane netted a hat-trick to guide Bayern Munich to an impressive victory against Stuttgart.
Kane’s goals, plus one from Kingsley Coman, helped Bayern end a three-game winless run in all competitions.
They faced a tough task against a Stuttgart side who sat back and limited their chances, leading Vincent Kompany’s side to enter the break frustrated and with the deadlock unbroken.
Bayern eventually found a way past Stuttgart’s steely defence when Kane drilled a low effort into the bottom corner from around 30 yards out after Joshua Kimmich overturned possession.
Former Nigeria goalkeeper, Dosu Joseph, is full of thanks to God after he miraculously survived another life-threatening automobile accident recent at Kara, along the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way, where a heavy-duty truck ran into his SUV.
Narrating his ordeal, the 51-year-old, who guided Nigeria to gold in the Men’s Football Tournament of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, broke the news in a statement on his social media handles on Friday.
“To God be the glory, another death escaped by Grace and Mercy of God. Me and my friend SM were at Enyo Filling Station after Ojodu Berger bus stop to get fuel on Wednesday, October 2, 2024, around 6 p.m. when this MACK truck fully loaded with iron, with registration number LND 470 XX, left the road and crushed my car beyond repairs. Thank God for life,” he stated.
This is the second time the soft-spoken club proprietor will cheat death by a whisker, having been involved in an accident in 1997 that ended his career at 23 and left his spinal cord in bad shape.
He helped Julius Berger win the Nigeria FA Cup in November 1997 shortly a memorable Olympic outing by keeping a clean sheet in the finals against Katsina United. The following year, he was involved in the auto along Ikorodu Road, Lagos, which not only cut his career short but also left him almost paralysed, ending his spell at Serie A club Reggiana.
The former Nigeria international, who also kept goal for Julius Berger FC, said the case has been reported to Isheri Police Station, Ogun State, where the driver is currently detained and the truck also seized.
According to him, the owner of the truck said he can’t fix the badly damaged SUV until after a year.
Ex – Super Eagles of Nigeria, Okwuchukwu Waobikeze has observed that sports development in Nigeria is going down.
According to him, grassroots sports is very important, without it, the administrators cannot get it right. So everybody should key into grassroots sports development, he said.
Waobikeze said this last Wednesday in an interview with sports journalists shortly after the Port Harcourt All Stars Independence football festival (OCTOBERFEST) at the Port Harcourt club, Rivers State.
He explained that for sports administrators to get it right, grassroots development is key. “They should be organising competition at the grassroots level to fish out the young ones for different sporting activities.
“Grassroots sports is very important so the administrators have to go back to the grassroots.
” Sports Development in Nigeria is going down we need to go back to the basics.
“Look at the just concluded Paris Olympics, Nigeria did not win any medal.
” Our football team did not even qualify for the Olympics. We are going down.
” If they should go back to the grassroots, they will get young ones in the games and talents will be developed.
” I started from school games, to youth games before playing for the national team. Now everybody wants to fly board to play professional football and a lot do not know the basics of the game.
” A lot of people did not know the little things about the game, they just want to play. It is not done so,” Waobikeze stated.
Kiadum Edookor
