As part of our ongoing series, we pick the 5 most dominant athletes in sport in a week that has been dominated by tennis as the French Open drew to a close.
Novak Djokovic
He’s been absolutely unstoppable on the court all year, but had a shaky claycourt season, crashing out of tournaments early, sitting them out and then eventually losing in the finals of the Italian Open to Andy Murray just ahead of the French Open.
It was a tournament at which he had never won a title, despite having been a finalist three times in the past. Fresh off a straight sets loss to Andy Murray, who won the title at the Rome Masters, Djokovic may have been ahead physically but on the back foot psychologically.
He was considered one of the greatest clay court players to have never won a French Open title, but this year, the Serbian World No. 1 no longer has to hold that title.
He progressed to the finals at Roland Garros this year with relative ease, beating all but one of his opponents in straight sets en route to his final showdown. Interestingly, it was opponent Andy Murray, fresh off a staggering clay court victory over Djokovic, who had an extremely shaky start to the tournament, with both his opening matches relatively uncertain.
Dominated by Murray in the first set and looking to be on shaky ground, the Serb staged a comeback in typical Djokovic fashion, reining in his game to eventually end the match in four sets as Murray struggled to fight back, even up a set on the top-ranked player.
The win gives Djokovic a career slam; he also became only the eighth player in tennis history to have won all four Grand Slams – and currently holds each title.
Alastair Cook
The English test skipper, made history playing in the second Investec Test between England and Sri Lanka at Durham last week.
Cook became the first English batsman to cross 10,000 runs, beating the record after initially missing out in his first innings. He matched the record of cricketing legend Sachin Tendulkar, who was 31 years and 326 days old when he hit the milestone during Pakistan’s tour of India at Eden Gardens in 2005.
At 31 years and 157 days old, Cook has now become the youngest batsman to reach the 10,000 run mark, although he required 34 innings more than Tendulkar did – the Indian required 195 innings, while the Briton took 229.
India’s Sunil Gavaskar was the first ever batsman to reach the 10,000 run mark, while Cook is the first Englishman to do so; and with 28 Test centuries, holds the English record in that regard.
Draymond Green
Golden State Warriors’ forward Draymond Green has put in a series of strong performances over the course of the 2016 NBA season to take his team to the Western Conference finals, with a particularly stand-out performance in Game 7 of the series against Oklahoma City Thunder.
With an all-round contribution, Green’s performance was pivotal to the Warriors progresssing through the Western Conference Finals, although it was 2015-16 MVP Stephen Curry who led the charge, and now Green has stepped up to the plate in Game 1 and Game 2 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals.
Green has taken charge in Game 1 and Game 2 against the Cavs, with a 15-point Game 1 victory; that meant the Warriors have outscored the Cavaliers by 48 points in the two opening games, the biggest margin in NBA Finals history.
Garbine Muguruza
Only 22-years-old, Garbine Muguruza made history in several ways last week as she beat World No. 1 and reigning champion Serena Williams for her first ever Grand Slam title.
She had only defeated Williams once before on the professional circuit; interestingly, that was also at the French Open, albeit in the early rounds of the 2014 Open.
Muguruza became the first Spanish woman in nearly two decades to win the French Open; the last woman to win the title was Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, in 1998.
She is now also only the second player born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam title, making her one of the rising stars of women’s tennis.
Leander Paes
In a week dominated by tennis, it was 42-year-old Leander Paes, winning a mammoth eighteenth majors title, who stole the show. The Indian ace, who has been one of the faces of the sport in the country, progressed to the finals of the French Open in typically strong fashion, and with partner Martina Hingis, defeated Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig to win the title at the French Open.
Although it is Paes’ first title at Roland Garros in the mixed doubles, he has won the title on three occasions in the men’s doubles.
At an age where most players have already been retired for a period, Paes continues to win titles, and has shown no sign of letting up in the near future.
How did Novak Djokovic meet Jelena Ristic? All about the most admired couples in tennis
