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Novak Djokovic completed his return to the top table of men’s tennis with a stunning victory at the 2018 US Open, equalling a men’s singles records at the same time.

Twelve months earlier, Djokovic had been out of the Tour with injury and going through what were described as ‘personal problems’. After winning the 2016 French Open, to complete his career Grand Slam, he experienced an unexpected and demoralising decline. He failed to reach the semi-finals in eight Grand Slam events in a row, and with an elbow injury further exacerbating his struggles, ended up taking six months away from the Tour to recover.

But that break appeared to have enabled him to regain his motivation and his form and he came roaring back at Wimbledon, where he won his fourth title at the All England Club. In fact, Djokovic had been the dominant force of the summer and went into the US Open as the narrow favourite to win the tournament, according to the implied probabilities on the bigbetbookmakers.com site.

Although he found the going tough in the early rounds as he adjusted to the humidity of New York, by the time he reached the third round, he was in top gear. In fact he didn’t drop a single set from that point onwards, displaying the trademark Djokovic stamina and shot power. His encounter with Juan Martin del Petro promised to be a tough challenge, but the big-serving Argentinian was ground down by Djokovic. Up to the final, del Petro had seen 41 percent of his serves unreturned, but in the final, the figure was 17 percent as Djokovic wore him down and claimed the title in three sets.

In the process, Djokovic won his third US Open and his fourteenth Grand Slam title, bringing him level with Pete Sampras on the all-time list, six behind Roger Federer and two behind Rafael Nadal. He also achieved the Wimbledon and US Open double for the third time in his career.

Nadal, the defending champion and top seed, had a tough tournament. He dropped sets in the third and fourth round, and was then taken to five sets by Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals. That titanic struggle seemed to take its toll as Nadal faced up to Del Potro in the semi-final and after losing the first two sets, Nadal was forced to retire, suffering from knee pain.

Second seed Roger Federer also suffered a disappointing tournament. Bidding for a sixth US Open title, he cruised through to the fourth round without dropping a set, but was then dumped out of the tournament by American John Millman, who earned his first ever win against a player ranked in the top ten. Millman lost in straight sets to Djokovic in the quarter finals, but it represented his best ever Grand Slam performance. Marin Cilic was the only other top ten seed to reach the last eight, where he was beaten in five sets by Kei Nishikori, Djokovic’s semi-final victim.

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The NCAA men’s basketball championship entered 2019 with one team dominating all basketball discussions. Duke Blue Devils are riding high in the ACC and the outstanding performances of their star forward Zion Williamson should propel them deep into the NCAA Tournament in the spring.

Last year, Duke were knocked out at the Elite Eight stage by the top seed Kansas, but with Williamson being talked about as a potential all-time great, they have the power and the potential to go further this time. In fact, according to the implied probabilities at the bigbetbookmaker.com site, the Blue Devils are the favourites to be crowned the kings of college basketball this year.

But Duke aren’t a one-man team. The Duke roster is arguably the deepest in college basketball, with Williamson’s power play supplemented by the nation’s top-rated college prospect pre-season, the dominant RJ Barrett and the third-rated player, the free-scoring Cameron Reddish. With many college basketball experts already ranking them as the top team, Duke could take some stopping.

If they are stopped it isn’t likely to be by Kansas this time. They were the number one seed when they beat Duke last season, but they fell to the eventual Championship winners Villanova in the Final Four. The Jayhawks are leading the way in the Big Twelve again this season, but they dropped two of their first seven games and don’t appear to be quite the threat that they were last time round, thanks largely to an unfortunate turnover habit and a poor record from the free-throw line. They may once again dominate the Big Twelve, but at the moment, they don’t look in Final Four shape.

Instead the biggest challenge to Duke appears be from Tennessee. The Volunteers have been in superb form since losing to Kansas at the end of November, and they pulled off an eye-catching neutral-court victory over a tough Gonzaga team at the beginning of December. If they can cope with the pressure that comes with a higher profile, and continue to turn impressive performances into victories, they will give any team a challenge in the spring.

But Tennessee aren’t the only team in form going into 2019. The Virginia Cavaliers have suffered a notable loss to Duke, but otherwise their form has been unimpeachable, with a series of impressive wins, including a 22-point thrashing of Virginia Tech. The NCAA Tournament regulars have not been to the Final Four since 1984, but they look capable of going that far in 2019.

And out of a host of teams trying to enter the conversation, Baylor shouldn’t be written off. Despite losing their top four scorers from last season, and being without Tristan Clark, their second top scorer, Scott Drew has coached Baylor to impressive wins against Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Iowa State, and the team are the showing the kind of resilience and togetherness that can help propel a college to the latter stages of the NCAA Tournament.

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After four NBA titles in five seasons, the Golden State Warriors are aiming for a historic ‘Three-Peat’ in 2019 and despite some trials and tribulations along the way, they look in good shape.

There was talk at the start of the season about a possible reduction in their bench strength, exacerbated by the fact that their main signing, DeMarcus Cousins, was set to miss a big chunk of the season with an ongoing injury problem. There has also been a well-publicised spat between Kevin Durant and Draymond Green, as well as lingering speculation about Durant’s future.

But despite the controversy and some less than spectacular performances, they have shown along the way that they are still the most dangerous team in basketball and the team that was rated as overwhelming title favourites according to the implied probabilities on the bigbetbookmakers.com site before the season began, are still on target to top the Western Conference.

In the East, the Boston Celtics were widely tipped to dominate, with the return of Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, but it hasn’t quite worked out that way, as finding the best way to utilise the NBA’s deepest squad has so far proven beyond coach Brad Stevens. The weakness of the Eastern Conference means they will have little trouble making the play-offs, but so far the pace in the East has been set by the Milwaukee Bucks, who have been a team transformed under Mike Budenholzer, and the Toronto Raptors, whose capture of Kawhi Leonard has transformed them into genuine contenders, with a solid defence and multiple scoring threats.

The other big team in the East, Philadelphia 76ers, have had a turbulent campaign so far. After a strong start, they strengthened by adding Jimmy Butler to the squad, but although Butler has undoubtedly added something to the Philly game plan, integrating his outspoken personality and his particular skills into a team that also features Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons, has not been easy, and Embiid’s lingering back injury is also a concern for 76ers fans.

In the West, much of the attention has been on LeBron James and the Lakers, but they haven’t been consistent enough to challenge the better teams. Last year’s top side in the West, Houston, had a nightmare start, but have slowly recovered, thanks to the exertions of James Harden, though asking him to single-handedly drag his team to the Conference Finals this season might be too much, particularly given their much-weakened defence this time round.

The main challenge to Golden State in the West appears to be from Denver and Oklahoma. The Nuggets continue to be underrated, but they are built around one of the league’s most remarkably versatile centres in Nikola Jokic, and play some of the most exhilarating basketball in the NBA. And Oklahoma are once again making a charge, driven by the irrepressible Russell Westbrook and the rock-solid Paul George. In a wide-open Western section, the Thunder look a good bet to make the Conference finals at least.

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Twenty teams started on the road to glory in the 2018-19 Rugby Champions Cup and now only eight remain as the tournament reached the knock-out stage.

The quarter-finals will be played at the end of March, and they have thrown up some fascinating clashes, including an all-French clash between Racing 92 and Toulouse and an all-Irish affair with Leinster taking on Ulster in what should be a titanic struggle.

The Pool stage of this season’s competition saw some familiar names rising to the top, including the 2016-17 champions Saracens. With 28 points from their six Pool games, Saracens produced the best performance of the Pool stage, winning six from six and becoming the only team in this season’s competition that has yet to be beaten. As top seed for the last eight, they’ve also got the easiest draw, at home against Glasgow Warriors; a team they’ve already beaten twice this season.

Powerful French contenders Racing 92 were not far behind Saracens in terms of points, although they dropped one game, in Ulster. Although they have not been at their best in this year’s competition, Racing will be desperate to finally get their hands on Europe’s most prestigious rugby trophy after finishing as runners-up in 2016 and again last year. But they’ve been handed a tough quarter-final challenge against the in-form Toulouse, who won five out of six at the Pool stage.

Leinster eventually topped the same Pool that included Toulouse, their only defeat coming by a single point in France, and the reigning champions, who are the favourites to win the tournament according to the implied probabilities on the bigbetbookmakers.com site, will be aiming to surpass Toulouse as the tournament’s most successful club. Leinster have four wins to their name, and they have gone about their business with ruthless efficiency this season.

Scottish club Edinburgh are one of the rising powers in European rugby, and under their dynamic coach Richard Cockerill, they have been impressive throughout their Champions Cup campaign, coming through a tough Pool that included Montpellier. The manner in which Edinburgh out-scrummaged the powerful French side was particularly impressive and although they face a tricky quarter-final against fellow Pro-14 side Munster, they can’t be underestimated.

Montpellier’s exit was probably the talking point of the Pool stage, but although they were among the favourites when the tournament began, consecutive defeats at Newcastle and Toulon left them too much to do, and their loss in Murrayfield ensured they wouldn’t make the last eight. Also missing out on the quarter-finals are English champions Exeter, whose resilience and steadfast defence couldn’t quite make up for their lack of European experience in a tough Pool.

Munster have a solid European pedigree and plenty of strength in depth, though they weren’t at their best in the Pool stage, losing at Castres and only narrowly beating Exeter in their final game. But their formidable attacking talents, combined with the reliable kicking of Joe Carberry and abundant European experience will make them dangerous opponents for the remainder of the tournament.

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The 2018-19 Kontinental Hockey League season is reaching its climax and CSKA Moscow are looking like the strongest contenders to clinch the trophy.

With over 80 percent of the regular season completed, the Moscow side have already booked their Gagarin Cup play-off spot and have been the best team in the competition so far, leading SKA Saint Petersburg in the Western Conference by five points at the All-Star break. In the Eastern Conference, Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg have also been in good form, and they hold a nine point lead over a chasing pack that includes Avangard Omsk, Ak Bars Kazan, Metallurg Magnitogorsk and Barys Astana, all of which have already qualified for the play-offs.

It is no surprise to see both CSKA Moscow and St Petersburg setting the pace in the West, as both teams were highly rated pre-season according to the implied probabilities on the bigbetbookmakers.com site. Two-time champions and last season’s Continental Cup winners St Petersburg were slightly favoured ahead of the Moscow team, but CSKA have been a rising force in this competition, winning the Continental Cup three seasons in a row between 2015 and 2017 and finishing as runners-up to Ak Bars Kazan last season, and they’ve continued to improve.

The key to CSKA’s dominance has been their astonishing defensive strength. CSKA have been impregnable in January, shutting out four consecutive teams, including the dominant team in the East, Yekaterinburg. And at the other end of the ice, they’ve been racking up the goals, with the likes of Konstantin Okulov and Anton Slepyshev making sure that the team capitalises on their solid defensive work. Based on their current form, it will take a huge effort for one of their rivals to stop them winning their first ever Gagarin Cup.

Their strongest challengers in the West, St Petersburg, can boast the tournament’s leading point scorer in Nikita Gusev, but suffered two disappointing defeats before the All-Star break and could be running out of steam at the wrong time, although having already qualified for the play-offs, they have a healthy cushion over Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, the third-placed team in the West.

Lokomotiv and Jokerit, of Helsinki in turn have a lead over five teams, all fighting for a play-off place, and separated by ten points. Of those, Dynamo Moscow are leading the way, thanks to the goalscoring exploits of Vadim Shipachyov and Dmitry Kagarlitsky, although they will need some point-scoring support from the rest of the squad if they are to compete with the big guns in the play-offs.

In the East, defending champions Ak Bars Kazan have clinched a play-off spot, but they haven’t been as impressive as last season, and could struggle to match either Yekaterinburg or Omsk if they meet in the last eight. Barys Astana are also finishing the season strong, and they have shown plenty of fighting qualities in becoming the first non-Russian team to book a play-off place this season.

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The best ice hockey players in the world will gather in Slovakia in May to determine the world’s best team in the 83rd edition of this globally-popular event.

This year’s tournament looks like being a particularly close one, if the implied probabilities on the Bigbetbookmakers.com site are anything to go by. Last year’s winners Sweden are highly rated as they bid for a twelfth title and their third in a row, but at this early stage, it is hard to separate them from 26-time winner Canada when it comes to predicting which country will take home gold.

Sweden, who are currently ranked second in the world, appear to have the tougher draw, being placed in a section that includes Russia, the dangerous Czech Republic team and Switzerland. Canada’s Group will pit them against the United States and Finland, but they will be confident of beating the remainder of the teams in that section, and with the top four nations qualifying for the quarter-finals, they should have an easy route to the last eight.

Of the other major nations, Russia look a serious threat to both Sweden and Canada. The Russians were beaten by the Canadians in last year’s quarter-finals but so far on the Euro Hockey Tour, they’ve been the dominant team, winning both the Karjala Cup in Finland and the Channel One Cup on home soil. The record 71,000 crowd who turned out for the Channel One Cup final between Russia and Finland showed that the sport is in rude health domestically, and the victory of the Russia B team in the Lucerne Cup against Switzerland, Austria and Slovakia bodes well for the future.

Swedish fans will be particularly concerned that their side twice surrendered two-goal leads in the tournament, and at the moment, it could be argued that they are the continent’s third-best team behind the Russians and Finland, who will be aiming to improve on their quarter-final loss last year.

Finland are likely to provide the main opposition for Canada in Group A. Although the scrap with the United States will be as competitive as ever, the US have not won this competition since 1960 and reaching the semi-finals, as they did last year, will represent a solid achievement.

Outside the top six, none of the other nations are expected to make much of an impression, but qualification for the quarter-finals would represent a significant achievement for Germany and their new head coach Tony Soderhelm, though Slovakia, with home advantage, are likely to be strong challengers for the fourth quarter-final place. And in Group B, both Norway and Latvia will hope to take advantage of the deterioration in form of last year’s finalists Switzerland.

And it will be fascinating to see how the two newly promoted teams, the UK and Italy cope with the higher level of competition. Neither are predicted to make the last eight, but they will both add flavour to what promises to be an absorbing World Championships.

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