Cristiano Ronaldo wins 2013 Ballon d'Or award

Portugal football star Cristiano Ronaldo ended the four-year reign by Lionel Messi when he was awarded the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or in Zurich on Monday.

The tearful 28-year-old Real Madrid star, who won the award in 2008, had been the overwhelming favourite to pip Barcelona and Argentina wonder Lionel Messi, winner of the previous four years, and France's Franck Ribery, who claimed the treble with Bayern Munich in 2013.

Ronaldo won with 27.99% of the votes ahead of Messi (24.72%) while Ribery was third (23.36%) according to France Football, co-organisers of the award with FIFA.

Ronaldo, who was widely expected to win after news spread on social media earlier in the day that seven members of his family were joining him in Zurich and his club Real were transmitting the award ceremony live on their official television channel in a change to the programmed schedule, broke down in tears on stage during his victory speech.

Ribery, who won the Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup with Bayern last season, before adding the European Supercup and Club World Cup before the turn of the year, had been the early front-runner.

With 66 goals in 56 matches this year, more than Messi and Ribery's combined 65, no-one could deny Ronaldo was a worthy winner.

It is the second time he has picked up the award and comes in a season in which he won nothing with either club or country, an unusual situation for a Ballon d'Or winner. 

Nelson Mandela, dies at 95

Former South African President Nelson Mandela died peacefully at his Johannesburg home on Thursday after a prolonged lung infection, President Jacob Zuma said. He was 95. In a nationally televised address, Zuma said South Africa’s first black president would be accorded a full state funeral. He ordered flags to be flown at half mast. Nelson Mandela guided South Africa from the shackles of apartheid to multi-racial democracy, as an icon of peace and reconciliation who came to embody the struggle for justice around the world. Imprisoned for nearly three decades for his fight against white minority rule, Mandela emerged determined to use his prestige and charisma to bring down apartheid while avoiding a civil war.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, destined to lead as the son of the chief councillor to the paramount chief of the Thembu people in Transkei. He chose to devote his life to the fight against white domination. He studied at Fort Hare University, an elite black college, but left in 1940 short of completing his studies and became involved with the African National Congress (ANC), founding its Youth League in 1944 with Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu. Mandela worked as a law clerk then became a lawyer who ran one of the few practices that served blacks. In 1952 he and others were charged for violating the Suppression of Communism Act but their nine-month sentence was suspended for two years. Mandela was among the first to advocate armed resistance to apartheid, going underground in 1961 to form the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto weSizwe, or ‘Spear of the Nation’ in Zulu. He left South Africa and travelled the continent and Europe, studying guerrilla warfare and building support for the ANC. After his return in 1962, Mandela was arrested and sentenced to five years for incitement and illegally leaving the country. While serving that sentence, he was charged with sabotage and plotting to overthrow the government along with other anti-apartheid leaders in the Rivonia Trial. Branded a terrorist by his enemies, Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964, isolated from millions of his countrymen as they suffered oppression, violence and forced resettlement under the apartheid regime of racial segregation. He was incarcerated on Robben Island, a penal colony off Cape Town, where he would spend the next 18 years before being moved to mainland prisons. He was behind bars when an uprising broke out in the huge township of Soweto in 1976 and when others erupted in violence in the 1980s. But when the regime realised it was time to negotiate, it was Mandela to whom it turned. In his later years in prison, he met President PW Botha and his successor de Klerk. When he was released on February 11, 1990, walking away from the Victor Verster prison hand-in-hand with his wife Winnie, the event was watched live by television viewers across the world. “As I finally walked through those gates … I felt even at the age of 71 that my life was beginning anew. My 10,000 days of imprisonment were at last over,” Mandela wrote of that day.

Rafael Nadal voted the greatest ever Spanish sports personality

Tennis ace Rafael Nadal was voted the greatest Spanish sports person in history Tuesday by readers of a Spanish sports daily.

The current Tennis World number 1 and the winner of 13 Grand Slam's received the award at the Gala for the 75th anniversary of the Spanish sports paper Diario Marca, reported Xinhua.

The Spanish player was voted for by readers of the paper ahead of five times Tour de France winner, Miguel Indurain and basketball star, Pau Gasol, who is without doubt the greatest Spanish basketball player of all time.

Nadal's feats had been recognised by Diario Marca's readers in 2007 when he won the Marca Legend award.

The tennis ace has enjoyed a fantastic 2013, coming back from a career threatening knee injury to win events such as the French Open, as well as claiming his 25th and 26th ATP Masters 1000 titles in Montreal and Cincinnati, before then winning the US Open, beating Novak Djokovic in the final.

Djokovic would have his revenge by beating Nadal in the China Open, but the fact he reached the final of the event meant Nadal ends 2013 back at the top of the world rankings once again.

Apart from the special award for Nadal, the Marca gala also recognised the performances of many other Spanish sports stars, such as Formula 1 driver, Fernando Alonso and rally driver, Carlos Sainz, Gasol and the former captain on the Spanish women's national team, Amaya Valdemoro, cyclist Alberto Contador, Spanish national football team coach, Vicente dl Bosque and Real Madrid goalkeeper, Iker Casillas, among many others.

There was also time to remember some of the stars who no longer alive, such as golfer Severiano Ballasteros, footballers, Ricardo Zamora and Telmo Zarra and former basketball coach Antonio Diaz Miguel.

Arrambam Movie Review

Arrambam has got a flying start at the Box Office with advance booking getting massive response from the audience. The movie has opened up to packed houses in the majority of theatres in Chennai and abroad.

The movie opens up with Mumbai witnessing a series of bomb explosions. AK alias Ashok Kumar (Ajith) is the man behind it. Soon he kidnaps Arya, a hacker, and includes him in his larger plan. A flashback is revealed, where we are told about Maya (Nayantara), Anitha (Taapsee Pannu), who is the girlfriend of Arya and an aspiring TV journalist. Ajith threatens to kill Anitha in order to make Arya to work for him. They successfully hack and bring down the server of a media company. Honest cop played by Kishore catches them and another flashback takes us to Ajith Kumar's past life in ATS (Anti Terrorist Squad) along with Sanjay (Rana Daggubati).

There are also shades of Hollywood movie Sword Fish. Nevertheless, it has been tuned to suit the Tamil audience. Arrambam is about the nexuses between politics and media, in which a cop becomes a victim. The base of the story is a bullet proof jacket scam and the script is well-crafted by Vishnuvardhan and SuBha.

There are interesting twists and turns, which come as a surprise to the audience, from the word go. The first half puts a perfect foundation for the movie to make the second half an interesting affair. Most part of the movie is engaging sans well-written comedy scenes. Arrambam is a serious movie and the comedy part has taken a backseat in the script.

People would have enjoyed the movie, if it had a lot of comedy scenes considering the serious nature of Arrambam. Arrambam is not crisp and it is one of the drawbacks of the flick. In the second half, the story becomes predictable to some extent after the motive behind Ashok Kumar's revenge is revealed.

Coming to performances, Ajith Kumar has given his best. Let me warn you, Arrambam doesn't project Ajith Kumar like a superhero. 

Please don't visit the theatres thinking that you will see a Billa in Arrambam. The director has not exaggerated the heroism of Ajith's character in the flick. This has to be praised.

Thala Ajith's Arrambam Movie Review

Arrambam has got a flying start at the Box Office with advance booking getting massive response from the audience. The movie has opened up to packed houses in the majority of theatres in Chennai and abroad.

The movie opens up with Mumbai witnessing a series of bomb explosions. AK alias Ashok Kumar (Ajith) is the man behind it. Soon he kidnaps Arya, a hacker, and includes him in his larger plan. A flashback is revealed, where we are told about Maya (Nayantara), Anitha (Taapsee Pannu), who is the girlfriend of Arya and an aspiring TV journalist. Ajith threatens to kill Anitha in order to make Arya to work for him. They successfully hack and bring down the server of a media company. Honest cop played by Kishore catches them and another flashback takes us to Ajith Kumar's past life in ATS (Anti Terrorist Squad) along with Sanjay (Rana Daggubati).

There are also shades of Hollywood movie Sword Fish. Nevertheless, it has been tuned to suit the Tamil audience. Arrambam is about the nexuses between politics and media, in which a cop becomes a victim. The base of the story is a bullet proof jacket scam and the script is well-crafted by Vishnuvardhan and SuBha.

There are interesting twists and turns, which come as a surprise to the audience, from the word go. The first half puts a perfect foundation for the movie to make the second half an interesting affair. Most part of the movie is engaging sans well-written comedy scenes. Arrambam is a serious movie and the comedy part has taken a backseat in the script.

People would have enjoyed the movie, if it had a lot of comedy scenes considering the serious nature of Arrambam. Arrambam is not crisp and it is one of the drawbacks of the flick. In the second half, the story becomes predictable to some extent after the motive behind Ashok Kumar's revenge is revealed.

Coming to performances, Ajith Kumar has given his best. Let me warn you, Arrambam doesn't project Ajith Kumar like a superhero. 

Please don't visit the theatres thinking that you will see a Billa in Arrambam. The director has not exaggerated the heroism of Ajith's character in the flick. This has to be praised.

Lionel Messi scores a hat-trick as Barcelona win Ajax 4-0

Lionel Messi marked his 80th Champions League match with a hat trick on Wednesday as Barcelona began their campaign in Group H with a 4-0 rout of Ajax. The Argentina forward opened the scoring at Camp Nou Stadium with a free kick in the 22nd minute, doubled the hosts' advantage in the 55th on the break and, after Gerard Pique's 69th-minute goal, added another 15 minutes from fulltime. The goals took his cumulative tally in the competition to 62 - nine short of Raul Gonzalez's all-time record of 71 goals in 144 appearances. Messi now stands alone as the only player to have scored a hat trick four times in the tournament.

Despite some lethargic moments late in the first half, Barcelona eased to the win thanks to Messi's goals and the team's near complete control of possession. When Ajax did manage to create a scoring opportunity, Valdes was there to keep a clean sheet.

Ajax's defeat was its ninth consecutive loss to a Spanish opponent. Ajax's last victory in Spain dates back even farther to the 1996-97 season when De Boer helped the Dutch team win at Atletico Madrid. The two four-time champions had never met before in Europe's top-tier competition. Even so, fewer teams from different countries have stronger ties. Dutch great Johan Cruyff led Ajax to three straight European titles from 1971-73 as a player before moving to Barcelona, where he would later return as a coach to guide it to its first European title in 1992.

Miss New York Nina Davuluri named Miss America 2014

Miss New York Nina Davuluri was named Miss America 2014 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, late Sunday night becoming the first woman of Indian heritage to win the legendary contest.

Miss Florida Myrrhanda Jones, a University of Florida journalism senior and Gatorette impressed on pageant night performing her baton twirling while wearing a knee brace decked out in jewels and the tattooed Miss Kansas Theresa Vail made the final 12, but it was Davuluri who took home the crown.

Fourth runner up was Miss Minnesota Rebecca Yeh, who won one of three nights of preliminary talent competition for her violin playing, third runner up was Florida's Jones, second runner up was Miss Oklahoma Kelsey Griswold and first runner up was Miss California 2013 Crystal Lee.

The 87th Miss America pageant was held in Atlantic City for the first time since 2005. Formed in 1921, the pageant moved to Las Vegas in 2006 for a seven-year run before this year's return.

Davuluri, 24, is an Indian-American, born in Syracuse, N.Y. She was named Miss Syracuse before winning Miss New York in July and now has won the $50,000 scholarship as Miss America 2014.

Her talent was a classic Bollywood fusion dance. She plans on becoming a physician.

Kimi Raikkonen to return to Ferrari in 2014 Season

Kimi Raikonnen is poised for a shock return to Ferrari for the 2014 season, despite their tumultuous past relationship.

Raikkonen, 33, who has tired of long-running talks with Lotus, has finally decided to join the Maranello team with whom he won his only F1 world championship in 2007.

Reports suggests, Ferrari is all set to sign Kimi Raikkonen after its president's Luca Di Montezemolo approved the deal which means that Felipe Massa's eight-year spell at the Italian outfit will finally conclude at the end of the 2013 season.

Ferrari are planning to partner the Flying Finn with double champion Fernando Alonso to create the most powerful line-up in Formula 1.

Interestingly, it was Kimi Raikkonen who had to make way for Fernando Alonso in 2009 after spending three years with Ferrari. Lotus will reportedly replace the Finnish driver with Nico Hulkenburg.

Fast & Furious 7 signs Deepika Padukone

We all knew that Deepika Padukone, Kangana Ranaut and Chitrangda Singh were screen tested for the seventh installment of Vin Diesel's franchise Fast & Furious.

Well, it is now looks like Bollywood's this year reigning diva, Deepika Padukone, has bagged the role. She will play a significant character in the racy-pacy thriller that also stars Hollywood tough guys Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson. The film is expected to hit the marquee next year.

Deepika's paperwork is on and in keeping with Hollywood's professional stance, it is likely to take six months for the contract to be completed. She is currently shooting in Dubai for Shah Rukh Khan's Happy New Year dircted by Farah Khan. Neither she nor her domestic spokespersons are allowed to reveal a single word to the media about the project.

Interestingly, when scouting for talent in Bollywood, casting agents were reportedly asked for someone slender and statuesque or 'someone like Deepika Padukone'. Following this brief, she was also the first actress to be auditioned.

Aamir Khan's Dhoom 3 Teaser Released

Yash Raj Films unveiled the teaser trailer of this year's most awaited film - Dhoom 3 featuring Aamir Khan, Abhishek Bachchan, Katrina Kaif and Uday Chopra.

The action packed teaser shows a conniving Aamir Khan making an impressive statement highlighting the theme of the film.

Bande hai hum uske, hum pe kiska zor...apne haatho kismat likne aaj chale hai hum.

The film promises a 'fauladi' Aamir Khan doing some edge-cutting action sequences.

The second surprise package of the film surely is Katrina Kaif. But unlike the other Dhoom girls – Esha Deol and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan – Katrina doesn't seem to have gone down to size zero.

According to reports Katrina Kaif has done a majority of her stunts in the movie.
Meanwhile, Abhishek Bachchan who is reprising his role as ACP Jai Dixit, is flying high, literally, aiming at the anti-hero played by Aamir Khan.

Uday Chopra, who plays Abhishek Bachchan's sidekick Ali, is also zooming on his bike.

The teaser trailer of the film will also be released with YRF's Shuddh Desi Romance releasing September 6.

The film is set to release on December 20, 2013. And the teaser trailer supports, Yash Raj Film's promise that 'This year will surely end with a Dhoom.

Real Madrid buys Gareth Bale in world record transfer

It's now official: Gareth Bale joins Real Madrid. Real Madrid announced last Sunday that Gareth Bale had joined them on a six-year contract, and a person familiar with the deal said the fee was a whooping 100 million euros ($132 million), a world record of course. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because financial details are yet to be disclosed.

Bale will have his parade at Madrid's stadium on Monday after his medical examination. Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas said earlier in the week that Bale's move was set to be "the biggest transfer in history of world football," and the fee eclipses the 93 million euro Madrid paid by Manchester United for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009. 

Madrid, whose annual revenue reaches 500 million euro, previously broke the transfer record in 2009 when Kaka joined from AC Milan for 65 million euros ($92 million). All three blockbuster deals were made under Florentino Perez, the Real Madrid president who built the "Galacticos" team which included David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane and Figo. 

The move for Bale, who had around three years remaining on his Tottenham contract, caps a rapid rise from White Hart Lane misfit to one of European football's most exciting players. The 24-year-old Welsh winger has dazzled audiences around the world with swerving free kicks, defense-splitting surges and mesmerizing footwork. 

But Bale was frustrated that Tottenham only qualified once for the Champions League, the stage where the world took notice of his talents for the first time in the 2010-11 season. Now he's joining a club that has won the European Cup nine times. 

Vijay’s ‘Thalaivaa’ finally to hit theatres on August 20, Tuesday

After high drama and much suspense, actor Vijay's 'Thalaivaa', which missed the release date on August 9, will finally be screened in theatres across the state on August 20. Close associates of the film's producer S Chandraprakash Jain confirmed to TOI the release date. Theatre owners in Trichy, Coimbatore and Salem confirmed that the film will be released on August 20 (Tuesday). The new release schedule was announced on Saturday evening after the actor got the nod from the government.

Sources said film producer and Vijay's father SA Chandrashekar had sent a letter to chief minister of Tamilnadu Ms.J Jayalalithaa on Saturday morning, in which he stated that he and his son had never made any political statements against her or the government and had only admiration for her administrative abilities. He sought her help to get the film released. It was also decided that a dialogue in the film between Vijay and comedian Santhanam regarding the actor's dance style, said to have a political innuendo, would be muted.

For more than a week, actor Vijay had tried to meet Jayalalithaa in a bid to seek her intervention to get the film released. After being turned away from her Kodanad retreat in the Nilgiris on August 8, the actor had issued two statements, including one through video, seeking the chief minister's help. In both statements, the actor sought her support and praised her government and its policies. Earlier, state DGP K Ramanujam denied that the police had a hand in the delay in the film's release.

On August 9, the release of the film was stalled after theatre owners in Chennai, Coimbatore and other areas said they received bomb threats from an unknown outfit called the 'Oppressed Students Forum'. It was screened in theatres across the country and overseas. The film's producer Jain failed to get an appointment with the CM to sort out the issue and his petition on Friday to the Chennai city police commissioner, seeking permission to stage a fast, was denied. On Saturday afternoon, the producer was admitted in a private hospital, family members said.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, DMK MLA and Tamil film producer J Anbalagan offered to screen the movie in 300 theatres across Tamil Nadu. The MLA also posted the message on Twitter. DMK chief M Karunanidhi, among the first to take up for the actor, said he was upset about the filmmaker being denied the right to release the film. PMK leader S Ramadoss condemned the city police for denying Vijay and his team permission to stage a fast.

SideBySideStuff.com - Best place to buy Polaris RZR parts

There is nothing quite like the thrill of sailing through a mud bog, ripping across a field or challenging oneself on an exhilarating stretch of terrain on a Polaris RZR ATV. The Polaris RZR features everything one needs to get started down the trail in style. However, sometimes, consumers wish to take their RZR to the next level with the wide array of available accessories that can make the ride even sweeter. Fortunately, Polaris RZR fans can find all the parts and accessories that they need to detail and upgrade their vehicles in one convenient online location.

RZR owners that buy Polaris RZR parts at SideBySideStuff.com have the advantage of time saving online convenience and the highest quality parts that money can buy. They need not go to several different venues to find the parts that they need when all essential Polaris Ranger RZR parts and accessories can be found online at SideBySideStuff.com. The site managers keep an entire array of everything anyone could possibly want or need in terms of Polaris RZR parts.

The site has all kinds of seats and restraints, bumpers, hitches, winches, wheels and tires, doors and even windshields to fit all years and models of the Polaris RZR. All parts can be ordered from the site’s secure server in a matter of minutes, allowing one to fully accessorize the RZR quickly and easily with advanced checkout technology the provides consumers with secure, safe ordering 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. RZR owners that buy Polaris RZR parts at SideBySideStuff can have their vehicles outfitted in no time flat!

Thala Ajith's 53rd film titled "Aarambam"

One of the most awaited film in Kollywood, the Ajith - VishnuVardhan duo film, which was being referred as Thala 53 so far, has finally got a title "Aarambam". Producer of the fim Raguraman confirmed the news saying, "Yes, we have fixed "Aarambam" as the title. Ajith felt that the title should focus on the theme of the film rather than his character, and so, we have decided this title will be apt for the script."

The multi starrer action thriller featuring "Thala" Ajith Kumar, Arya, Nayantara and Taapsee Pannu was initially reported to be titled as "Surangani", and few months later to be "Valai". The team had been looking for a title for so long, and even released the film's trailer a few months back, without a title and made wonders in YouTube. Another news doing rounds is the film is scheduled for a release in the mid of September. Yuvan Shankar Raja has composed the music for the film & the audio may release at the end of August.

Osama Bin Laden Stopped for Over-Speeding

The global hunt for the world's most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden could have ended eight years earlier had a Pakistani traffic cop spotted him in a car he had stopped for over-speeding.

Maryam, the wife of a Pakistani al-Qaeda operative, Ibrahim, has made a shocking revelation about how the tall Arab, once narrowly escaped unnoticed by police in Swat district.

The Abbottabad Commission report quoted Maryam as saying "She said that Osama bin Laden and his family were once stopped by a policeman in a bazaar in Swat. 'They (including Bin Laden) were stopped for speeding by a policeman".

But Ibrahim very quickly settled the matter and they drove away unnoticed, she was quoted as saying by the Express Tribune.

Ibrahim, his brother Ibrar and their family had been serving Bin Laden from the day he managed to sneak into Pakistan from neighbouring Afghanistan, according to the report.

The report reveals that Ibrahim's nine-year-old daughter, Rahma, once asked her father why "the uncle who lives upstairs (bin Laden)" in the Abbottabad compound never visited the bazaar.

Her father said: "He (bin Laden) was too poor to go out and buy anything". Since then, Rahma referred to bin Laden as 'Miskeen Kaka (poor uncle)'.

US Navy SEALs killed bin Laden on May 2, 2011 at his hideout in Abbottabad in Pakistan.

MOVIE QUOTES ABOUT GAMBLING ODDS

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Did it work? Happy, if it worked. But what if it didn't? Don’t worry, here is a site that will assist you to experiment all those you wish to do in Casino. This site has got a lot of movie quotes about gambling odds. It helps you to stay in your best condition, even if you are lost. You can also use some cool movie quotes to make your game more fun while playing casino. It can make your game so much better than before. Not only that, if you try to explore more on that website, you can find there is so much useful guidance that you can use while you are in a game. You can make your game so much fun and better.

This site is a free to access for all and you can open it anytime, anywhere and in any media. You can find many strategies and tips that help while playing casino. You can get what you want for your casino games here. Just try it once and it will make you to visit it again and again.

Andy Murray's Wimbledon Title Prospect Enhances

Andy Murray beat Lu Yen-hsun to reach third round at Wimbledon 2013 avenging an embarrassing defeat at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Murray took just two hours to get past Lu Yen-hsun with 6-3, 6-3, 7-5, scorecard. He might have served a little more consistently but he hit 11 aces and 41 clean winners, with only 14 unforced errors.

While other players in the tournament seemed to be falling in an undignified heap, Andy Murray kept his nerve and his footing to advance to round three with a quietly efficient dismissal of Lu Yen-hsun on Court No.1, where Rafael Nadal made a shock exit on day one and Victoria Azarenka took the tumbles on day two that put her out of the competition.

Andy Murray'S chances of making history by breaking a 77-year British sporting jinx at Wimbledon have been dramatically enhanced by the shock exits of heavyweights like Roger Federer, the defending champion, Rafael Nadal and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The decimation of the lower half of the men's singles draw leaves Murray with Nicolas Almagro, as his highest-ranked opponent on a route to the final.

Buy British Grand Prix Tickets at Gate

Undoubtedly the British Grand Prix is the best attended race on the Formula 1 calendar year.But Britain's lack of success on the track has caused a slump in ticket sales for the first time in a decade. The organisers of this weekend's grand prix which for the past two years has sold out, will sell tickets at the gate in an effort to boost attendance across all three racing days. The lack of a British driver winning a race so far this season combined with McLaren's poor form, is being blamed for the drop in ticket sales. But managing director of British Grand Prix, Richard Phillips, is not expecting to reach the record attendance levels of 2011 and 2012, still anticipates another big crowd at Silverstone this weekend.

Ticket sales were slower than usual during the early days, but have seen a significant upturn in interest and buying patterns since F1 returned to Europe. Also an improvement in the weather and a promising forecast for the weekend, will boost ticket sales to fans deciding to turn up on the day. This weekend’s attendance looks set to be one of our biggest in recent years. The British Grand Prix organisers have opened a new counter at Gate 1 to purchase ticket.
For more information, click here.

Nadal suffers recurring Wimbledon nightmare

For the second straight year, Rafael Nadal is leaving Wimbledon early after a stunning loss to a little-known player ranked in the hundreds.

In one of the tournament's greatest upsets, an ailing Nadal was knocked out in straight sets on Monday by 135th-ranked Belgian Steve Darcis. This loss is the Spaniard’s first loss in the opening round of any Grand Slam event.

The free-swinging Darcis defeated the two-time Wimbledon champion 7-6 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-4 on Court 1, ending Nadal’s 22-match winning streak and eliminating one of the Big Four of men’s tennis on the very first day of the grass-court Grand Slam.

After serving an ace down the middle on match point, Darcis conceded he was as surprised as everyone.

"Nobody was expecting me to win," he said. "So I had to play a good match, relax, and enjoy the game. That’s what I did."

There were no surprises for the other big names: Defending champion Roger Federer, bidding for a record eighth Wimbledon title, and second-seeded Andy Murray both won in straight sets on Centre Court.

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