Sport Shorts

The D’joker foils Rafa’s Superhero efforts
World number one Novak Djokovic proved his greatness by defeating Rafael Nadal in 5 sets to hold onto his Australian Open title. The first and second seeds – last year’s two best tennis players – fought tooth and nail in the longest final in Grand Slam history. Djokovic’s superhuman efforts came after losing the first set to the Spaniard before edging what was a gripping contest 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 in five hours 53 minutes. The Serb has now won the last seven meetings between the pair and Rafa has acknowledged that the ‘Djoker’ has the psychological edge in their matchups. This win no doubt is the sweetest for Novak as it followed just one day after his 4 hours and 50 minutes epic against Britain’s Andy Murray. With attention now moving to the clay of Roland Garros in Paris, many are questioning whether Djokovic can loosen Nadal’s grip around the trophy that he has won 6 times already. Many Pundits are suggesting that this year could be the first time since Rod Laver that one man has won all four Grand Slams in a calendar year. All eyes are on the ‘Djoker”.

Trip to Anfield leaves United walking alone
A very late strike by Dutchman Dirk Kuyt ensured a dramatic victory for Liverpool against Manchester United last weekend in the FA Cup fourth round. Andy Carroll’s flick on escaped Patrice Evra and Kuyt fired past David De Gea after Ji-Sung Park had cancelled out Daniel Agger’s opening goal. United have now failed to win at Anfield since 2007, while Liverpool can look forward to a home tie against Brighton in the fifth round. The seagulls themselves shocked Newcastle 1-0, while League Two leaders Crawley Town’s reward for an away victory at Hull is a tough home game against Stoke. Perhaps not the glamour tie they were hoping for. The tie of the fifth round meanwhile looks to be League One’s Stevenage welcoming Tottenham Hotspur to Broadhall Way.

Farah’s Olympic year begins with a bang
Mo Farah looked in good shape as his build-up to London 2012 began with victory in the 1500m at the indoor Aviva International Match in Glasgow. Farah was made to significantly battle by Kenyan Agustine Choge but won in a time of three minutes 39.03 seconds. The team event had already been sewn up for the British by impressive performances from Jeanette Kwayke and Mark Lewis-Francis in the 60m, however not all went the Brits way as Hannah England was beaten into second in her 1500m race. Kwayke’s performance was the standout as she beat the rest of the field by two clear tenths of a second – a very large margin in such a short race. Great Britain won the team event ahead of Russia, Germany, a Commonwealth Select squad and the United States.