Osman Samiuddin looks back on the week that was in sport, and all the pleasant sights that it threw our way.
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1. Best finish – French Open women’s final
She very nearly did not do it. And face it, had Serena Williams saved those four match points and gone on to win the French Open this weekend, who would really have been surprised? But she did not. Instead, the Spaniard Garbine Muguruza lived to see another match point and this time made no mistake: at 5-4, 40-0 and a set up, a brilliant backhand lob fooled Serena and dropped just inside the baseline.
2. Best win – Former Chelsea team doctor
Ok, well it was a settlement in the end but it should feel like a win for Eva Carneiro. The former Chelsea team doctor was dismissed last season after she ran on to the pitch to treat an injured player – much to Jose Mourinho's anger at the time. Carneiro was minutes from taking the stand to give testimony, which was expected to leave Mourinho and Chelsea looking especially bad. They reached an agreement and Chelsea apologised "unreservedly", accepting she had done nothing wrong.
3. Worst art – Heart in the clay
It is heartening to know there are some things Novak Djokovic does not do so well on a tennis court. Draw a heart in the clay for example. After beating Andy Murray to win the French Open, Djokovic paid tribute to the fans and French Open legend Gustavo Kuerten. Like Kuerten after his three wins in Paris, Djokovic drew a heart in which he then lay down. Except you could barely see it. "Mine was a little bit better," Kuerten joked.
4. Toughest pitch – Slow surface at Providence Stadium
At the Providence Stadium in Guyana, where West Indies, Australia and South Africa are playing a strangely engrossing ODI tri-series at the moment. Each of the sides has won one game and lost one, but of greater note is that of the six innings so far, not one has crossed even 200. The highest score, as of Wednesday, was West Indies’ 191 for six. The surface has been exceedingly slow and spinners resplendent: the top six wicket-takers are all spinners.
5. Biggest exit – The Greatest
There can be only one. Muhammad Ali passed away at 74, leaving a hole in the world that nobody can ever fill. Even though his battle with Parkinson's, and the ravages of the disease, had been evident for so long, it always felt as if Ali would never really go. The outpouring of tributes in the wake of his passing is evidence of the place he occupied in the human consciousness. He produced some of history's finest boxing moments, and inspired some of the best sports writing. Rest in peace, the Greatest.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae