Not since “Iron” Mike Tyson initially made his massive, tremendously destructive mark in the late 1980s, when he kayoed boxers such as Trevor Berbick in quick order had I seen similar, unrelenting aggression and purpose from the winner, and plain fear, horror and disbelief from the loser, as I saw when Serena Williams absolutely destroyed the youth, myth and supposedly silky tennis of the Russian wonder-kid, Maria Sharapova.
The truth be told, Serena was playing by herself. Not once did the tremendously pleasing-to-the-eye Sharapova look like even winning a set, much less winning the match.
If it were a boxing match, the referee would have stopped the 2007 Australian Open during the first set.
Maria had already been knocked down several times by then.
There is also no wonder that Serena Williams was so brutal, since she is nearly built like a younger “Iron” Mike.
The lady, at 25, has some physical attributes that would have made Arnold Schwarzenegger, the present Governor of the State of California, and former Mr. Universe, take note. If she goes to the gym even more regularly, outside of her various acting, designing and business ventures, then she could even win the shot put and discus at the next Olympics in Beijing.
Serena certainly reminds me of the supposed ‘ladies’ of the former Soviet bloc of the 1960s and 1970s. Boy, has she become very, very “built!”
There were quotes from this match that described the outcome.
Vijay Amritraj, the former Indian world-ranked tennis player, while doing commentary, suggested: “Maria Sharapova is showing her age.
There is no way that any 19-year-old, ranked No. 1 or No. 100, would have been able to restrain Serena when in this kind of mood. Maria showed that, for all of the exposure, she is still very much a kid in tennis.”
Few expected anything else but that the unrelenting Roger Federer would dismantle Fernando Gonzales (7-6, 6-4, 6-4) to win the men’s title at the 2007 Aussie Open, but it is obvious that it is the Serena Williams’s effort that would be remembered for a long time.
By the time you complete reading this, the West Indies would have completed their special four-game ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 preparation tour of India. At the very least, they managed to win one of the games; the third; or perhaps, if you are really objective, India managed to lose it. There is just no reasonable explanation for this game.
India, from captain Rahul Dravid downwards, would have had to explain, if I were on their Cricket Committee, what happened after they had managed to move to 90-1 after only 10 overs, or how, after being 200-3 in just 28.4 overs, they somehow capitulated to a paltry 268, in just 48 overs.
At any other time, had this not been preparations for the ICC CWC 2007, investigators from several agencies would have been asking relevant questions. India has much work to do, especially on consistency.
The West Indies are in a similar position too. For much too long, players like Chris Gayle, Marlon Samuels, Dwayne Bravo and Dwayne Smith have been surviving on one good innings in four.
The West Indies, while they depend very much on Shiv Chanderpaul and Brian Lara, will not beat anyone regularly with this sort of return, regardless of whatever support that they can harness.
They can only go so far, and take so much.
These games that were played in India were eye-openers, if anyone wanted to see.
Beyond the fact that the West Indies would have played their last competitive game a full six weeks before the actual CWC 2007 starts, a tremendously long time to be languishing in a preparation camp, with the respective boredom and sameness that would transpire, the poor state of the team’s game is still obvious.
Despite the continued accumulation of runs by Chanderpaul, and to a lesser degree, Lara, the likes of Denesh Randin and Runako Morton seem to still be in limbo as to where they are and what they are supposed to achieve. The uncertainty of the players, batsmen and bowlers alike, in any combination, seems to indicate that the team is a long way from what it is supposed to be; a winning unit. This must change immediately.
Australia continues to romp over the very hapless England and the seemingly stuck New Zealanders.
I really wonder what it would take for the English to fire the senior team coach, Duncan Fletcher.
If he had been working for an American sports team, we would have already forgotten his name, so long would he have gone on to whatever he would have chosen to do after being fired. To be perfectly honest, I am not surprised that England’s cricket is so poor. One of the reasons that there has been such a flop is that England’s press corps is quite good.
Some of that set of writers and commentators, despite the obvious discrepancies and flukes, continue to confuse themselves and their representative team too. That reminds me of an old adage that I heard so very long ago:
“You can fool all, some of the time. You can fool some, all of the time. The only person that you cannot fool at all is yourself, for only you know the real truth!”
Another aspect of England’s demise is exactly what has been troubling West Indies cricket for so long; a lack of real respect and appreciation as to the levels of intensity and ability required to play at the top of their game.
While a timely fluke win would manifest itself here and there, both English and West Indies cricket have become so very accustomed to mediocrity that it would be difficult to dig themselves from these depths.
Both ends of this cricket divide spin their heels in mud. We think that we have great players while the results only suggest that we have players who think that they are great; players who lose regularly.
The players may think of themselves as super stars, but the results blow away the illusion.
Most of our players are certainly not even good, much less great, but their lack of appreciation of both history and self, continue to cloud the realization of their mediocrity.
This is usually helped on by a healthy cup of hypocrisy by some so-called supporters.
If one wants to see dedication and real wins, then we must refer to what has continued to happen in Australia over the recent weeks.
The country’s cricket team continues to beat the skin off of anyone who dares to even think that they are at the end of their superlative play, despite the obviously overrated rumours of their demise. Folks like Serena Williams, muscles and all, and Roger Federer, continue to show exactly what leads to victory; wonderful preparation, magnificent athleticism and total focus. Nothing else!
