Sachin 10dulkar – Master Blaster

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​Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar is a former Indian cricketer and captain, widely regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time. He took up cricket at the age of eleven, made his Test debut on 15 November 1989 against Pakistan in Karachi at the age of sixteen, and went on to represent Mumbai domestically and India internationally for close to twenty-four years. He is the only player to have scored one hundred international centuries, the first batsman to score a double century in a One Day International, the holder of the record for the number of runs in both ODI and Test cricket, and the only player to complete more than 30,000 runs in international cricket.

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In 2002, just halfway through his career, Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack ranked him the second greatest Test batsman of all time, behind Don Bradman, and the second greatest ODI batsman of all time, behind Viv Richards. Later in his career, Tendulkar was a part of the Indian team that won the 2011 World Cup, his first win in six World Cup appearances for India. He had previously been named “Player of the Tournament” at the 2003 edition of the tournament, held in South Africa. In 2013, he was the only Indian cricketer included in an all-time Test World XI named to mark the 150th anniversary of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack.

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Tendulkar received the Arjuna Award in 1994 for his outstanding sporting achievement, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 1997, India’s highest sporting honour, and the Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan awards in 1999 and 2008, respectively, India’s fourth and second highest civilian awards. After a few hours of his final match on 16 November 2013, the Prime Minister’s Office announced the decision to award him the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. He is the youngest recipient to date and the first ever sportsperson to receive the award. He also won the 2010 Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for cricketer of the year at the ICC awards. In 2012, Tendulkar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India. He was also the first sportsperson and the first person without an aviation background to be awarded the honorary rank of group captain by the Indian Air Force. In 2012, he was named an Honorary Member of the Order of Australia.

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In December 2012, Tendulkar announced his retirement from ODIs. He retired from Twenty20 cricket in October 2013 and subsequently announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, retiring on 16 November 2013 after playing his 200th and final Test match, against the West Indies in Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. Tendulkar played 664 international cricket matches in total, scoring 34,357 runs.

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15 Less Known Facts About Tennis

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• The all time longest tennis match lasted for 11 hours 5 minutes over a 3 day span. It took place in 2010 at Wimbledon, when John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut with a score of  6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68.

• The shortest tennis match, in record, is the match between Susan Tutt and Marion Bandy that lasted just 20 minutes, when Tutt beat Bandy 6-0, 6-0 at the Wimbledon tournament in 1969.
• Fastest serve in ATP tour was hit by Samuel Groth in 2012 which clocked at a staggering 163.7 mph.

 

• Sabine Lisicki hit the fastest serve for women in 2014 at the Bank of the West Classic, clocked at 131 mph.
• Andre Agassi has 40 hard court titles, the most in the history of men’s tennis.

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• For WTA, Chris Evert won 53 hard court titles, the most in history of WTA.
• Guillermo Vilas has the most number of clay court titles i.e. 47.
• Chris Evert claimed 66 clay court titles, the most till date.
• Tennis originated in northern France in the 12th century
• Until 16th century, palms were used to hit the ball. It was not until 16th century that rackets came into existence.

• The First Wimbledon was played in 1877. It is also the first of the four “Grand Slams” to be founded.

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• The US Open is the only major tournament to use a tiebreak in the final set for singles.
• Don Budge is the only male player in tennis history to have won six consecutive Grand Slam singles titles, from Wimbledon in 1937 to the US Open in 1938.
• In 2007, the prize money for Wimbledon winners became equal for men and women.
• Tennis balls were originally white. In 1986, yellow balls were first introduced at Wimbledon.