2009 Sports Year in Review January-June
January 1, 2010
This is my personal review based on what caught my eye in 2009 on and off the sports fields.
Going back to the start of 2009 it was NFL playoffs that caught my eye. In the end we saw the surprising Arizona Cardinals meet the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Superbowl. The Steelers pulled off the win with a late touchdown to break the hearts for Cardinal fans. The final score was 27-23.
Also early in the year I enjoyed the Australian summer of tennis. It always gets off to an early start with the Hopman Cup in Perth, along with the Brisbane and Sydney tournaments in the lead up to the Australian Open. At the Australian Open tennis we saw Roger Federer lose to Rafael Nadal in the men’s final and Serena Williams started her climb to the no. 1 ranking with an easy win over Dinara Safina.
The highlight from a local point of view was the performance of Jelena Dokic at the Australian Open. She made good use of her wild card and defeated three seeded players as she reached the quarter finals before losing in three sets to Safina.
In February there was sad news from a personal point of view. This came with the passing of Mike Whitmarsh the beach volleyball player.
World Cup soccer qualifiers took place in February with the Socceroos heading to Japan to claim a scoreless draw. In other news we saw the return to professional cycling for Lance Armstrong. He would later place third in the 2009 Tour de France.
Nick D’Arcy had his sentence handed down after his assault on a former swimmer just after being named in the 2008 Australian Olympic swim team. He came back to swimming and won a place on the World Championship squad only to have that taken away from him.
In March the F1 season got underway with the Australian Grand Prix. It was here we saw the start of something big for the newly formed Brawn GP team. Jenson Button took the race and set off on a winning streak that established a nice lead in the Formula One driver’s championship.
In April the NBA finals were underway and the Bulls and Celtics were doing it all. They put on one of the most memorable series in history as they had so many matches decided in OT. In the end the Celtics advanced 4-3. In the NFL no. 1 draft pick was Matthew Stafford from Georgia who was picked by the Detroit Lions.
In May the big news in Australian sport was the Matthew Johns sex scandal. This former NRL player and high profile media personality was forced from his media job after he became the fall guy for a sex scandal which took place in New Zealand back in 2002. Also in May we saw Manchester United claim the English Premier League title. Liverpool ended the season in second place.
At the French Open tennis we saw a big upset as the King of Clay, Rafael Nadal was bundled out in the fourth round by Robin Soderling. This was good news for Roger Federer as he finally won the French Open and on the way completed a career Grand Slam. Federer also added the Wimbledon title to his list of Grand Slam wins to give him 15 overall. Federer was to go on and reach the final at the US Open where he was to lose to Juan Martin Del Potro in five sets.
In June the LA Lakers won the NBA Championship after they defeated the Orlando Magic 4-1. The Socceroos continued their rivalry with the Japanese soccer team as they defeated Japan in Melbourne in the final World Cup qualifying match for both teams. They had both already wrapped up their places at the finals to be held in 2010 in South Africa. On this occasion it was again Tim Cahill that played a starring role to help the Socceroos to a come from behind 2-1 victory.
That’s all for now, watch out for part two…
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