It was a great feeling to win after so long, says Davids
WORLD NUMBER ONE Novak Djokovic struggled to find an explanation for his shock third round defeat by German Philipp Kohlschreiber at the Indian Wells Masters on Tuesday, saying he wanted to quickly “turn the next page”.
Kohlschreiber, 35, stunned the top seed and five-time former champion 6-4 6-4, leaving the Serb to conclude it had just been “one of those days”.
“To be honest, I don’t enjoy losing, nobody does, but especially in a tournament like this, a tournament where I have had plenty of success in the past,” Djokovic, told reporters.
“I thought I was in good form. I was practicing well. But it just happens, one of those days. You just have to deal with it, move on, turn the next page.”
The tournament was Djokovic’s first since winning his seventh Australian Open title in January and the 31-year-old said he had already put the defeat behind him and turned his thoughts to next week’s Miami Open.
“I had to get over it in an hour, because I played doubles,” Djokovic IF there’s one thing that was evident in Vancouver at the weekend, it’s the quality of players Neil Powell has in his young Blitzbok squad.
It took a while for them to gel, but in the sixth tournament of the 201819 World Sevens Series in Canada, it happened. That tournament-winning effort they had hoped for, finally happened.
They looked like a unit – something that had been an issue in the earlier events – and they got it right on attack and defence, while there were also a number of brilliant individual contributions.
The individual contributions of the youngsters – or less-experienced players – were particularly pleasing after the Blitzboks had to bounce back from what you could call a player added. “I must admit I was thinking about it ... but it’s part of our world, and we just have to bounce back very quickly.
“Miami is the next tournament singles-wise for me. I’m not at my highest level, I know that ... but hopefully I’ll be able to peak in Miami.”
Meanwhile, Naomi Osaka downplayed her straight-sets loss to Belinda Bencic at the Indian Wells Masters on Tuesday, saying she was learning to stay positive as she wrestles with the perils of being the world’s top player.
Osaka, who is the reigning US and Australian Open champion, saw her first career title defence go down in exodus, with Seabelo Senatla, Ruhan Nel, Kwagga Smith, Tim Agaba, Rosko Specman and Dylan Sage all having left the circuit to pursue their fifteens ambitions. Selvyn Davids, who went into the Canada leg 10 tournaments young, was instrumental in the Blitzboks’ road to the final.
He was an attacking catalyst as he created opportunities (remember that soccer-like piece of play against Wales?) and also scored crucial tries, most notably against Fiji and France.
He chowed down the BC Place pitch with his running metres, but he also played his part on defence. He had no trouble hitting the black dot from all angles with his conversions either (which helped him become the tournament’s top points-scorer). So it’s no wonder he was named player of the final and made the Vancouver Dream Team.
But for all the good Davids did at flames at the hands of a razor-sharp Bencic, who won their fourth-round match 6-3 6-1.
“I didn’t play that well,” Osaka told reporters. “But honestly, I think at a time like this with that scoreline, I would usually feel very depressed and sad.
“But I feel pretty good right now because I think, given the circumstances, I tried my best and I don’t really have any regrets.”
Osaka, 21, said she lacked maturity when as a relative unknown player she won the tournament last year to kick off her meteoric rise through the rankings.
“One of the biggest things is I wanted to be more mature,” she said when asked how she has changed in the past year.
“I feel like this is something I’m still working on, on and off the court. It’s one of the biggest goals that I have had my entire life.
“Because I might have thrown a few tantrums last year and this year it’s something I’m working on improving and I feel like it’s going well.” | the weekend, he refused to take all the credit, of course.
“It was a great feeling to win after so long. It was the first tournament I played in that we’ve won, it was my first final,” Davids said when the team arrived at the Cape Town International Airport yesterday morning.
When asked about the try they scored thanks to that left-foot hook, the one that made sure the ball remained in the field of play after he had chipped the ball forward, Davids jokingly questioned: “Which try was that?”.
On a serious note, though, the 24-year-old attributed that skill to their recovery sessions.
“We play a lot of soccer in our flush-out sessions, so I just thought I had to (do) something to keep the ball in the field of play. I don’t know what went through my mind, but it worked, so ja,” Davids said. USMAN KHAWAJA struck his second century in three matches as Australia thumped India by 35 runs in their final one-day international to seal a comefrom-behind 3-2 series victory at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium yesterday.
Opener Khawaja strengthened his claim for a place in the World Cup squad with an elegant 100 to steer Australia to 272/9, though the tourists had looked on course to top 300 at one stage.
Adam Zampa (3/46) and his fellow bowlers then skittled India for 237 in exactly 50 overs to register their third successive victory as Australia overcame a 0-2 series deficit.
Khawaja raised 76 with skipper Aaron Finch to give Australia a strong start after the tourists elected to bat. Finch made 27, failing to convert a solid start into a big knock as he lost his off-stump to Ravindra Jadeja.
Khawaja took a single off Yadav to bring up his hundred, but fell soon after to Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3/48), triggering a mid-innings collapse for Australia who had been cruising at 175/1 in the 33rd over. Marcus Stoinis, returning from a thumb injury, contributed 20 and Jhye Richardson made a breezy 29 down the order. | FORMER world number one Jason Day is cautiously optimistic that his back problems will not flair up and hamper his challenge at this week’s Players Championship in Florida.
The Australian, the 2016 Players champion, made it through only six holes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last Thursday before back issues forced him to withdraw in pain.
“My long-term confidence in terms of my back, I am not even thinking about it right now,” Day said.
“I feel really cautiously optimistic about how things are progressing and the way that I feel.”
Day said last week that an MRI scan had revealed he had a tear in a disc in his lower back, which was causing him crippling pain when the problem flared up. “It’s not great mentally to come back from an injury so your confidence is hit a little bit, but overall I feel good about it.”
Day, who was able to play 18 holes on Monday, said he had also spoken to Tiger Woods about having injections for back problems.
“My big concern was how long would it last?” Day said. “I have to be more disciplined with my physio and training... We are all playing with some kind of aches and pains.”
After withdrawing from the tournament at Bay Hill last week, Day decided to spend time with his family at Disney World.
That did not sit well with some on social media who wondered how he was unable to play, but was able to walk around a theme park.
Day said he was not going to let criticism on social media bother him.
“I don’t care, like, if people make memes about me. I think a lot of them are funny,” Day said.
“I mean, it’s fine. It is what it is. People trying to be funny and I get a good laugh out of it and I’m okay with that.” Reuters