Is this the start of a great season for Rafael Nadal?

This is the first year when Rafa has not won a grand slam when he started after winning French Open in 2005. He has won at least one grand slam each for consecutive 9 years.

His performance this year has been below par. He didn’t even reach the semifinal of any grand slam and some very low ranked players have beaten him. He was beaten by Novak Djokovic in French Open in straight sets. When he was losing people started asking him to change the coach as he needs some fresh ideas but Nadal rejected the idea of having a new coach. Then some people jokingly suggested him to get married as Murray and Djokovic seems to be doing good after marriage but he answered as I don’t need to get married, I believe, to play good tennis. I played lot of good tennis during a lot of time without being married, so that’s not going to be the key. 

Everyone was questioning him whether he is good enough or not to win a slam. But after seeing him play in last two weeks I am convinced that 2016 is going to be a good season for Nadal. He is gaining confidence and believing in himself. You can see old Rafa completing as he used to be, he is chasing even after trailing 0-40 in a game. He is believing in his shots, he is running well on the court. One major difference in these two weeks is that he is standing near to baseline and not very far. Players stand far away from the baseline when they are not feeling confident. 

 I see resurgent Rafa. He beat three tough men on the way to Shanghai Semifinal before losing to Frenchman Jo Wilfred Tsonga but not before he bageled him in second set. Now nobody is asking about his coach and marriage plans. As they as success has many fathers failure is an orphan is true.

By beating Milos Raonic in Shanghai Rolex Master in third round, he has secured a place in Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for an Eighth time to be played from 16 to 22 November in O2 Arena in London.

Looking for a great season ahead!

Ye Jo Mera Bihar Hai: Ravish Kumar

Everyone who watches even a little bit of news surely would have heard this name. Ravish Kumar is a senior executive editor with NDTV India, the Hindi news channel of NDTV news Network and hosts Prime Time and Ravish ki report at 9 PM. He hails from Champaran Bihar, a north Indian state.

I am regular watcher of his shows. But let me confess that before moved to NDTV India, I was an avid watcher of New Hours with Arnab Goswami but it now has become one man show.

Now let me come to the point. While channels were busy talking about Sudhindra Kulkrni ink episode, Bihar election, Dadri Incident which dominated the headline for couple of days and as usual Kashmir Issue sitting in AC rooms, there was on reporter who was out in the streets reporting what affects everyone lives.

As the show starts Ravish Kumar, wearing a yellow shirt was seen riding a bicycle in a village with school girls who were coming back from schools. The way he asked questions to teenage girls shows he really cares about what is happening in his own states. He told them to speak up, learn English as opportunities are more for English speakers, voice your opinion and join the politics. He was amazed to see how a bicycle can change the fate for a girl. Bicycle means more girls are enrolling in schools as they don’t have to travel to far off places barefooted and also to help in household activities such as buying ration.

He also shown a girl riding a bicycle distributing newspaper and also a girl carrying her mother to home from bus stand.

He was encouraging everyone in that group and I am sure each one would have gained a lot of confidence to do well in their studies and in future endeavors as well.

It was really great to see this Ravish Ki Report amidst all the chaos in studios. Hope he carries on like this for many many years.

Anirban Lahiri has made the world to look at Indian Golf

When everybody is busy talking about India’s loss to SriLanka in the first Test and Saina Nehwal scaling new heights in badminton (despite losing the final to Carlolin Marin, he will be no. 1 when rankings are announced on Thursday), we forget to celebrate the players doing wonders though in sports which not everyone is familiar of. 

Anirban Lahiri created history at PGA championship by having finished tied 5^th. This is the best finish by an Indian in any major surpassing Jeev Milkha Singh tied 9^th in  PGA championsip in 2018 and Shiv Kapoor finishing 9^th in the British Open 2013. He was tied third during the day. He is in line to play in the biennial president cup for International Team having rest of the world players except Europe against the defending champion USA which is scheduled in October in Incheon, South Korea.

Lahiri played superb two rounds with 7- under 127 and carried on the same momentum during weekends and finished 13- under 275 with 5- under 67 in final round, the best by an Indian in a major in a round. He shot only one bogey in front nine but last hole created problem for him as he bogeyed twice in as many round and made double bogey in first round. 

His long game is good, he needs to sharpen his putting skills. Playing with best players in the world in the best course will give him a lot of confidence to do well in future. 

He played in all four majors this year and made the cut each time except in the US Open. He surely has put India on a golf map and now we can hope that someday in future we see an Indian holding a claret jug or putting on a green jacket. Even Jason day who won this year’s championship had to wait for long time before. He was there almost all the most but wasn’t able to cross the line. 

Hope to see his patience, hard work, perseverance paying off in future.