Tennis champion Roger Federer has set many records in his sport. He is widely regarded as the greatest men’s singles player of all time. He has the most men’s Grand Slam singles titles (20), the highest hard court match win percentage (87.6%) and, at 36 years old, Federer is the world’s oldest number one male competitor in the history of the ATP.
Federer’s “50 Grand Slam quarterfinal” appearances, a record Federer continues to extend to this day thanks to a quarterfinal outing at the 2017 US Open and his outright success at the 2018 Australian Open.
He has competed 52 times in the final eight of a major and, as he shows no signs of slowing down, could surely feature in a few more.
Future generations will struggle to surpass many of Federer’s records as he is a “different, once-in-a-lifetime, best of all times beast.” The most unbreakable record was regarded to be the 237 consecutive weeks Federer spent ranked as the world’s number one men’s player from February 2004 to August 2008.
Annabel Gong explained: “For someone from the next generation to beat this record that would mean he would have to stay at number one for over four and a half years!
“This would be insanely hard because you can’t have a major injury that makes you withdraw from a Grand Slam or a major tournament, and you have to win a fair share of tournaments to keep your points higher than the number two seed.”
Though Federer is unlikely to extend that consecutive run now, one streak he can continue to stretch is another record of his — total weeks spent as world number one, which is currently 308. That’s almost six years, in total, at the very top of the game.

LONDON: Chelsea signed Argentina striker Gonzalo Higuain on loan from Juventus until the end of the season on Wednesday as boss Maurizio Sarri looks to ignite his spluttering attack. Higuain will be reunited with Sarri, who managed the 31-year-old at Napoli and made him his top target in the January transfer window.

After spending the first half of the season in a disappointing loan spell at AC Milan, Higuain admitted he was keen to move to Stamford Bridge. “When the opportunity to join Chelsea presented itself I had to take it,” he told Chelsea’s website.

“It’s a team I’ve always liked that has a lot of history, a wonderful stadium and they play in the Premier League, a league I’ve always wanted to play in. “I now hope I can give back that trust Chelsea have shown me out on the pitch. I can’t wait to start and I hope to adapt as soon as possible.” Higuain had scored just once in his last 12 appearances for AC Milan.

But the former Real Madrid star, who will wear Chelsea’s number nine shirt, is expected to recreate the fruitful relationship he had with Sarri in their one season together at Napoli in 2015-16. He scored 36 league goals in 35 games for Napoli, breaking the Serie A single-season record. Sarri was desperate to land a quality forward after enduring a series of frustrating results due to Chelsea’s inability to kill off their rivals. Spain striker Alvaro Morata has suffered a wretched time at Chelsea and is keen to join Atletico Madrid, while France forward Olivier Giroud has been plagued by injuries and inconsistent form.

– ‘Number one target’ –

Chelsea’s problems up front forced Sarri to play Belgium star Eden Hazard out of position as a striker rather than in his preferred position on the flanks. Hazard’s form has suffered as a result and Sarri will hope Higuain’s presence will spark a revival in Chelsea’s fortunes, while allowing Hazard to return to the role he has filled so effectively on the left wing.

Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia added: “Gonzalo was our number one target in this transfer window and arrives with a proven record at the highest level. “He has previously worked with Maurizio to great effect and is familiar with how the coach likes to play.

“This was not an easy deal for us to do because of the numerous parties involved, but we are delighted we were able to make it happen and we look forward to seeing the impact Gonzalo will make for us in the second half of the season.” Chelsea play Tottenham in Thursday’s League Cup semi-final second leg at Stamford Bridge, bidding to overturn a 1-0 deficit to reach the February 24 final.

The Blues had until 1200 GMT to register Higuain for that match, but instead he will have to wait for his debut, which could come against Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday. If not, Higuain could feature when Chelsea travel to Bournemouth in the Premier League on January 30.

Barcelona’s hopes of winning a fifth consecutive Copa del Rey were dented on Wednesday as they were beaten 2-0 by Sevilla in the first leg of the quarter-finals. Lionel Messi was rested and Luis Suarez left on the bench as Kevin-Prince Boateng made his debut for Barca in a match that Sevilla might even have been disappointed not to win by more.

Even so, Pablo Sarabia and Wissam Ben Yedder each scored in the second half at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan to leave their opponents facing an uphill task if they are to rescue next week’s second leg. “We played a great game, it’s a shame it doesn’t settle the tie,” said Sevilla coach Pablo Machin. “In Barcelona, anything can happen. They have turned around bigger defeats than this.”

Ben Yedder celebrated his goal by unveiling a t-shirt in support of Argentine striker Emiliano Sala, the player who is feared to have died in a plane crash on his way to join new club Cardiff City in Wales. “Para mi hermano fuerza E. Sala”, the message read, meaning, “For my brother, be strong”. Barcelona had thrashed Sevilla 5-0 in last year’s final, when Andres Iniesta delivered a masterclass in what was one of his final appearances for the club.

Winning a domestic double, however, did little to ease the disappointment of crashing out of the Champions League and Ernesto Valverde is clearly keener to rotate in the Copa del Rey this season. Messi and Sergio Busquets were left out completely while Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho and Jordi Alba all started on the bench, only to come on as substitutes in the second half.

“I thought it was for the best,” Valverde said. “But when you make changes you take risks.” Boateng, who has joined on a six-month loan deal from Sassuolo, was signed to spare Suarez nights like these and he did little particularly wrong, or spectacular, before being replaced after 63 minutes.

Barca’s biggest signing of the transfer window was announced three and a half hours before kick-off, a 75-million euro deal for Frenkie de Jong to join from Ajax in the summer. “He is an exciting signing for the club,” Valverde said. “He is for both the future and the present.”

They could have done with some of the 21-year-old’s craft in the first half, which was high on intensity but low on precision as both sides traded blows but failed to create much of note. A quick free-kick sent Ben Yedder free and he fooled the sliding Gerard Pique with a dummy only to shoot wide, off-balance.

Sarabia’s drilled the bouncing ball into the far corner, with the offside Ibrahim Amadou darting across Jasper Cillessen’s line of sight. Barca brought on Suarez and Coutinho, who almost made an instant impact. Suarez’s first contribution was to lose the ball and his second was to win it back. Coutinho was given a free shot at goal but fired over.

Sevilla could have made it two but Ever Banega headed over and then they did, as his cross grazed Sergi Roberto on its way to the back post, where Ben Yedder had timed his run perfectly. He slid in to bolster his team’s advantage.

MADRID:  Cristiano Ronaldo avoided jail on Tuesday but was ordered to pay 3.57 million euros ($4.1 million) for committing tax fraud when he was at Real Madrid, a Madrid court ruled. The court sentenced Ronaldo to a two-year jail sentence that it immediately reduced to a fine of 365,000 euros, which adds on to another penalty of 3.2 million euros, the sentence read.
A court spokesman said it was not immediately clear if this fine would be added onto the 18.8 million euros that Ronaldo had agreed to pay Spain’s taxman under a deal reached in June last year.

Kathmandu: “The tournament has got the ICC status. This has opened the door for DPL to induct international players,” said Subas Shahi, President of the Dhangadhi Cricket Academy. Following this, ICC has informed all member states of DPL being granted ICC status. The DPL’s third edition is kicking off on February 9-23. The contest with the largest prize pool will be participated by various six teams – Dhangadhi Stars, CYC Attariya, Rupandehi Challengers, Mahendranagar United, Kathmandu Golden and Biratnagar Kings. The total 19 games will be played in the T20 tournament.

Kathmandu: Minister for Youth and Sports Jagat Bahadur Bishwakarma has said that two parallel associations of a sport cannot exist at a time.  At a programme organized in the capital city on Wednesday to congratulate the newly formed office bearers of Nepal Gymnastics Association, Minister Bishwakarma said that the ministry has forwarded the concept of a single committee of a game in the country to avoid the conflict over the sportspersons’ participation in the national and international tournaments.
On the occasion, Chairman of Nepal Olympic Committee and province lawmaker Jibanram Shrestha said that unity among the sports association results in success and strength. Likewise, Vice Chairman of National Sports Council Pitambar Timsina, who heads the committee formed by the ministry to patch up the conflicting committees of different sports, vowed to manage other sports associations as well in the future.
During the event, Chairman of newly formed Gymnastics Association Dhurba Bahadur Pradhan and co-chair Kishor Bahadur singh said that unity in the association was possible thanks to mutual understanding in both the sides and promised to move ahead jointly for the quality promotion of gymnastics.