World News – AU – Memorable Sports Moments of 2020: Nadal Turns 20, Dhoni Retires, Lyon and Australia’s High Five

May be the least competitive sport in the world in 2020 due to the unprecedented circumstances caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

The Olympics have been canceled and most major sporting events have been postponed, restricted or played in empty arenas. But even in an interrupted season, the sports theater continued to offer calm and drama, controversy and elevation.

Records were broken, new heights reached and new voices emerged in a year when the role of an athlete went beyond the sport they played. At the same time there was consolation from famous champions and stories of resurgence.

Sports fans had a lot to consider on and off the pitch. Here’s a look back at some of the most memorable athletic moments of 2020.

Rafael Nadal skipped the US Open, but the Spaniard was definitely not going to miss his signature event, the French Open, which took place at a stormy Roland Garros in a newly arranged slot in late September / early October.

Inevitably and without dropping a sentence on the way, Nadal made his way to the final, where he met Djokovic, who wanted to atone for his mishap in Flushing Meadows. It was hardly a competition in which Nadal won 6-0, 6-2, 7-5 to win 13th place. To win the French Open title and to hit Federer’s record of 20 big wins.

French Open No.. 13, major no. 20: Why Rafael Nadal’s 100th. Win at Roland Garros is his greatest

Any cricket team can have a bad day at the office, but few have suffered an exchange of blows compared to India, which was led by the great Virat Kohli when they dropped out of Australia for just 36 at the first Test in Adelaide, Australia were December.

India had been in a decent position after the first innings, but Josh Hazlewood (5/8) and Pat Cummins (4/21) tied them off. It was the fifth lowest score in testing history and the lowest in India.

India’s all-time low: 36/9 is an anomaly, but Kohli & Co’s flawed process is the bigger problem

Naomi Osaka pioneered athlete activism in tennis with her stand for the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.

She participated in a peaceful protest in Minneapolis after George Floyd’s death, wrote a commentary on racism and the black lives matter, and later joined the US sports boycott. Oddly enough, she wore face masks with various names of black victims of police brutality at the US Open. After her first match, she said she prepared seven masks to make it to the final. and got the chance to flaunt them all as she banished her demons to win an exciting US Open final for her third Grand Slam title.

The athlete and activist Naomi Osaka played more than herself and the pressure made her stronger

Speculations about the future of 39-year-old MS Dhoni, who hadn’t played in over a year and stalled cricket competitions, kept a lot of news preoccupied during the lockdown. This was compounded when the T20 World Cup was postponed for a year due to the pandemic.

But the former India cricket captain answered all questions in his signature bohemian way and pulled back by posting a homemade-style video posted on social media along the lines of a philosophical Bollywood song. The announcement seemed so ambiguous and unconventional that it was talked about for a long time.

When the pandemic forced Uefa to turn the final stages of the Champions League into a mini-tournament in Lisbon, Bayern looked the best team from the start. An 8-2 annihilation of Barcelona only added to the momentum and was driven by goalkeeper Robert Lewandowski. There was no stopping them.

Hansi Flick’s successful team won their sixth European crown thanks to Kingsley Coman’s header against Paris Saint-Germain in the final.

Lyon continued their tenure as Europe’s dominant women’s team when they won the Champions League trophy for the fifth time and defeated Wolfsburg 3-1 in the final.

With five consecutive titles, they matched the performance of the Real Madrid men’s team between 1956 and 1960 in the early days of the European Cup. This completed an incredible triple as they also finished PSG in 14th place. Relegated titles in a row in France and defeated the same team in the French Cup final on penalties.

# F1 Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. This is a great video. 🎥 @ F1 picture. Twitter. com / z3itiu4xTc

When Michael Schumacher retired from Formula 1, few thought that his record of 91 Grand Prix victories and seven world championships would ever be achieved. In 2020, Lewis Hamilton did just that. He won 11 of the 17 races to increase his record over Schumacher’s record to 95, and achieved the seven German titles.

The 35-year-old Brit has certainly benefited from the superb Mercedes car at his disposal, but there is no doubt that he has engraved his name firmly on the greatest of his sport.

World number 1 Novak Djokovic went to the US Open and was looking for an 18th. great triumph in the knowledge that Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were absent. In his fourth round against Pablo Carreno Busta, 20th. Seed, the Serb had not lost a single game in 2020.

It all went wrong, however, when the 33-year-old sparked his frustration after retiring from duty by hitting a ball behind him and punching a judge in the throat. Djokovic immediately apologized, but after a long discussion he was disqualified and left the field open for Dominic Thiem.

Iga Swiatek finished 54. Place in the world when she traveled to Roland Garros. Two weeks later, after beating Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in the final, the 19-year-old had moved up to 17th place and was the first Pole to win an individual Grand Slam title.

It has been a staggering fortnight for Swiatek, benefiting from the absence of World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty and Serena Williams’ early injury due to injury, to become the youngest single female winner since Monica Seles in 1992.

A Pole star is born: Iga Swiatek destroys the chances of becoming the unexpected French Open champion

Under Jürgen Klopp, the Reds had threatened for two years that they would finally get their first national title since 1990.

Empowered with the addition of goalkeeper Alisson and center-back Virgil van Dijk, they galloped to a near-unassailable lead in 2019-20 just so the pandemic could stop football. As the season started again, they never missed a Mersey hit, lifting the trophy on an empty head as their supporters defied coronavirus warnings to gather outside in a haze of red torches.

A rampant Australia took on Aug.. March in one of the last major tournaments with a full audience emphatically the fifth T20 World Cup title of the ICC women. In fact, the 86. 174 fans at Melbourne Cricket Ground on International Women’s Day attracted a record crowd for a women’s cricket match.

However, it was a heartache for India when they were knocked down by 85 runs in their second World Cup final in three years.

The IPL, which usually takes place in the summer, was moved to the fall and was played outside of India in the United Arab Emirates due to the rising Covid-19 cases in India. But even though there weren’t any crowds at the stadium and players were in a bubble for months, it was seen as a welcome relief for cricket fans during the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite the odds, the result seemed to be known as the Mumbai Indians won an unprecedented fifth title against first-time finalist Delhi Capitals. The big change in the 2020 edition, however, appeared to be the result of Chennai Super Kings, who was eliminated from the playoff race for the first time in IPL history.

Off the field, Lionel Messi and Barcelona were at the center of the greatest drama in football. A La Masia product and considered a lifelong Blaugrana, Messi shocked the football world when he said he wanted to leave the Catalan club. Bitter losses and the apparent lack of planning and team building had finally reached the captain.

A lengthy drama with legal reasons ensued and the Argentine decided to stay because he didn’t want to fight the « club of his life » and gave an explosive interview against the team management. A new coach in Ronal Koeman and A New Season didn’t bring Camp Nou much joy as the same old problems persist.

From wanting to leave Barcelona to being committed: Timeline of Lionel Messi’s (non-) transfer saga

When the coronavirus first appeared, it looked like all summer sports would be written off, but on Aug.. July turned up at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, England and the West Indies, which had been in a bio-safe bubble for a month, playing on a thrilling test behind closed doors. West Indies prevailed thanks to the brilliant performances of Captain Jason Holder, Shannon Gabriel and Jermaine Blackwood, but England returned to play the three-test series.

The real winner, however, was the England and Wales Cricket Board, which flawlessly managed this and the next series against Pakistan and the ODI series against Ireland and Australia. They also ensured the women’s team had an international series against West Indies after India controversially canceled its tour and also withdrew South Africa.

When the pole vaulter Armand Duplantis set a new world record at 6. 18m at an indoor meeting in Glasgow in February one week after clearing 6. At 17m, athletics had a new star. The Swede, who lives in the USA with the teen-film look, then produced the highest outdoor vault of all time (6. 15m) and ended the year unbeaten in 16 competitions.

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, tennis, Roger Federer, French Open, Andrey Rublev, Nitto ATP Finals, Association of Tennis Professionals, Grand Slam