Tennis, Australian Open: After several weeks, now record champion Novak Djokovic will take part in the Australian Open. As the 34-year-old Serb announced on Instagram on Tuesday, he is traveling to Melbourne with a special permit for the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, which begins on January 17. Djokovic has not published the status of his vaccinations. All participants at the Australian Open must be vaccinated or present a medical exemption. Victoria State Deputy Prime Minister James Merlino insisted in December that the medical exemption was “no defense for privileged tennis players”. World number one Djokovic has won the Australian Open nine times and with his tenth win, he could also become a major record champion. He is currently equal to Rafael Nadal (Spain) and Roger Federer (Switzerland) with 20 Grand Slam titles.
Football, England: Team manager Ralph Rangnik suffered his first defeat in his sixth game with Manchester United. The Red Devils lost 0-1 (0-0) to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Monday. This means United are in seventh place with 31 points after 19 matches. “We didn’t play well at all, either individually or collectively,” Rangnik said: “We still have a lot of work to do, especially in the game against the ball. But we did in the first half as well, when we The ball made a lot of unnecessary mistakes.” Experienced Joao Moutinho scored the deciding goal in the 82nd minute for Wolves to win at Old Trafford for the first time in 42 years. After three wins and two draws in the first five competitive games under Rangnik, United are four points behind the Champions League places.
Basketball, NBA: German Franz Wagner has confirmed his strong form and still misses out on the next win with the Orlando Magic. The 20-year-old’s 22 points were his team’s best, but could not prevent a 98–102 loss to the Chicago Bulls. For the Bulls, who are currently the best team in the Eastern Conference, it was their eighth consecutive win. While Wagner provided five rebounds and three assists for basement kid Orlando, his brother Moritz was not used. Greek Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 31 points (ten rebounds, seven assists) for the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks, but lost 106:115 against the Milwaukee Detroit Pistons due to insufficient help from his teammates.
Slovenian build-up Luka Doncic gave his Dallas Mavericks a third straight win. In a late fight against the Denver Nuggets at 103:89, the point guard made a comeback in the final quarter and scored a total of 21 points. National player Maxi Kleber again hit double points (10), plus five rebounds and two blocks. Due to the success, the Mavs jumped into the Western Conference around Los Angeles Lakers near Superstar LeBron James and the Clippers, and currently injured German shooting star Isaiah Harttenstein is sixth and just behind the Nuggets. Latvian Kristaps Porzingis was included in the coronavirus protocol on Monday and is currently missing from Dallas, along with Trey Burke and former All-Star Isaiah Thomas, among others.
Tennis, Men: German tennis men took their first win in the second group game of the ATP Cup, thus retaining their chances of a semi-final. Success was already evident against the US after two singles in Sydney on Tuesday. First Jan-Lenard Struff won against the experienced John Isner 7:6 (9:7), 4:6, 7:5, then Alexander Zverev won against Taylor Fritz in 6:4, 6:4 . In the end, Double is still on the program. To have a chance to win the group in Season C, the German team had to win the opening 1:2 against Great Britain. The first place finisher in the four groups advances to the semi-finals. The final German rival this Thursday is Canada, who will take on the British earlier this Tuesday. In addition to its success in the end, the German selection is also up to a slip by Great Britain.
american football, nfl: The Green Bay Packers go into the National Football League (NFL) playoffs as the best team in the National Football Conference (NFC). With a 37:10 against the Minnesota Vikings, the team around quarterback Aaron Rodgers improved their record to a 13:3 win and is therefore no longer at the top of their conference seed list—even though they lost to the Detroit Lions on the final day. The Packers are allowed to suspend the regular season in the first round of the play-offs and then have consecutive home rights until the Super Bowl on February 13 in Los Angeles.
The Cincinnati Bengals have reached the playoffs for the first time since 2015. Quarterback all-around youth team Joe Burrow scored 34:31 shortly before the end to beat the Kansas City Chiefs after a temporary 14-point deficit by a field goal and finished first in the North Division of the American Football Conference (AFC). . The Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots earned Sunday’s playoffs in the AFC after already qualified majors. The Patriots defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars 50:10.
In the NFC, in addition to the Packers, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, the Philadelphia Eagles are also in the playoffs starting Sunday. The Eagles won 20:10 on the Washington football team as well as benefiting from the Packers’ victory over the Vikings.
The biggest play on final game day, however, happened at 28:24 for the Buccaneers at the New York Jets. Quarterback Tom Brady led his team to victory after a gap of 10:24 with his third touchdown pass 15 seconds before the end, but Sporty was covered by a scandal over Antonio Brown. The Buccaneers wide receiver took off his jersey, protective clothing, shirt and gloves during the game, threw everything into the spectators and jogged topless through the end zone in the dressing room. “He’s not a book anymore,” said head coach Bruce Arian, “that’s the end of the story.” Brown was suspended for the first three games because he presented a forged vaccination certificate. Brady, on the other hand, asked to be understood. “We all love him. Unfortunately, he will no longer be a part of our team, but we have a lot of friendships that last.”
