As part of our ongoing series, we profile five of the best sporting performances from a week that saw the finals for the UEFA Champions League and the Indian Premier League among others:
Gareth Bale
Winger Gareth Bale’s side, Real Madrid, won the Champions League last week as they beat Atletico Madrid, and the Welsh footballer was instrumental in victory for his side.
Bale assisted Sergio Ramos with a flick as Toni Kroos sent a free kick into play, with Ramos scoring Real’s first and only goal in a match that went to penalties.
Madrid would eventually win 5-3 on the back of those penalties, with Bale scoring in the shootout, taking his second Champions League title with the team.
Daniel Ricciardo
The Red Bull Racing driver put in consistent performances at the weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix to take the first ever pole position of his Formula One career. The Australian has had race wins before but never a pole position, something he achieved at a venue considered Formula One’s most prestigious.
He was a strong competitor even on race day despite being pitted against a significantly more powerful Mercedes, and despite reigning double world champion Lewis Hamilton constantly on his tail, Ricciardo maintained a fair lead over the Briton.
In the end, the Australian was let down by a shoddy pit stop; with pit crew reacting very late to the driver’s pit lane entry, Ricciardo lost valuable time – and a lead he was completely unable to regain. He attempted to push against Hamilton in the dying laps of the race, but the time he lost was far too much for him to make up.
Hamilton, with strong racing and consistency, would win a race that arguably would have had Ricciardo’s name on it but saw him let down by his crew.
David Warner
The Sunrisers Hyderabad, led ably by the Australian batsman, took their maiden title at the Indian Premier League with a victory over the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who had been the favourites to win well into the tournament.
His team took three consecutive wins to build significant momentum going into a finals face-off against the home side. Warner won the toss, choosing for his side to set their rivals a target.
After firing in the team’s qualifier match against the Gujarat Lions, Warner once again stepped up to the crease to fire against the Challengers’ bowling attack. He scalped 19 runs off an over from compatriot and former Australia teammate Shane Watson as he demolished the attack of some of their other bowlers as well.
In the end, despite initially strong knocks by Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, it was Ben Cutting’s innings that followed Warner’s that saw the Hyderabad side through. But it was Warner who played two captain’s knocks – in the second qualifier and the final – to take one of the standout performances of the week.
LeBron James
The Cleveland Cavaliers are a far different team from last year, much healthier and a lot closer together as a group on and off the floor. Still, that has not stopped them from putting the onus on LeBron James night in and night out to carry them.
His numbers this post-season, even when his entire team is healthy and firing, is phenomenal to say the least and they are almost at par with his performance last year in the Playoffs.
This past week, James led Cleveland to a 2-1 record against the Toronto Raptors, helping them win the Eastern Conference Finals 4-2 and advance to their second straight NBA Finals in as many years.
In these three games, James averages 28.3 points, 8.6 rebounds and 7.3 assists on an efficient shooting percentage of 61.8% while averaging 40 minutes a game.
That kind of efficiency in your 13th year in the NBA while logging those many minutes is a rare feat.
The 2016 NBA Finals, will be James’ sixth in a row, a feat no NBA player has achieved since the 1950’s. He’s also the first non-Boston Celtics player to do it ever.
Andy Murray
After a difficult start to the 2016 French Open, World No. 2 Andy Murray appears to finally have found his rhythm. After markedly increased success in on clay, the Scot was expected to do very well at Roland Garros, and had a relatively easy draw.
Despite this, the 29-year-old almost tumbled out of the tournament, starting off with great difficulty in his first round match against Czech doubles specialist Radek Stepanek.
That first round match was broken up into two halves following bad weather, with Murray down two sets to one and halfway through the fourth, looking to regain his momentum against a lower-ranked competitor.
The Scot eventually weathered conditions and with his stamina would end victorious to progress to the second round on the claycourts of Roland Garros, beating Stepanek in five sets.
Unfortunately for him, he was again taxed in his second round match, this time by local player Mathias Bourgue, who is at 164th on the ATP rankings. After winning the first set off the young Frenchman, Murray lost the next two in quick succession, with the French player threatening to end his French Open hopes.
Again, Murray pulled off a five-set victory.
Following this, however, he appears to have regained momentum, playing big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic and American John Isner, the tournament’s 15th seed, both in straight sets to progress to the quarter-finals at the 2016 French Open.
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