Sunday's men's tennis final in Melbourne between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal was truly an epic match, as reflected in Dawn.com's headline, "Djokovic, Nadal and an epic final".
The duo battled it out over five sets lasting 5 hours and 53 minutes -- 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 -- and when the duel ended, these two titans, with narry a trace of hubris, heaped fulsome praise on each other.
Here are some quotes (taken from TODAY and dawn.com):
Djokovic
(in tribute to Nadal)... "We made history tonight and unfortunately there couldn't be two winners."
(on the match itself)... “You’re in pain, you’re suffering, you know that you’re trying to activate your legs, you’re trying to push yourself another point, just one more point, one more game... You’re going through so much suffering, your toes are bleeding. Everything is just outrageous, you know, but you’re still enjoying that pain.”
Nadal
(in tribute to Djokovic)... "Congratulations to Novak and his team. They deserve it. They are doing something fantastic... [to have played] a fantastic match against Novak, thank you very much."
(on the match itself)... “Physically it was the toughest match I ever played... But that’s nice (to) be there fighting, trying to go to the limit, bring your body to the limit of its chances. Something I really enjoyed, and I (have) always said it’s good (to) suffer. So when you are fit, when you are with passion for the game, when you are ready to compete, you are able to suffer and enjoy suffering. I don’t know if I express it very well, but it’s something that maybe you understand... I suffered during the match, but I enjoyed all the troubles that I had during the match.”
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Update on Uggie the top dog snubbed by the Oscar committee...
The 10-year-old Jack Russell terrier which stars in the silent movie The Artist, and which was snubbed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, is "retiring" from films, Reuters reports.
One of its two trainers, Sarah Clifford, said: "He (Uggie) is at the stage where he just says, 'I think I want to go and lay in the sun by the pool.' "
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Finally, I don't envy the ST person who had to write today's editorial (leader), headlined "Not a natural state of affairs", with reference to the two human top dogs now helping with the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau's probe into their alleged misconduct. Headlines for leader pieces are usually punchy, opinionated even. This neither-here-nor-there one had neither bark nor bite.
And the leader itself seems, to me, to be an apologetic piece.
Most of all, when the Home Affairs Ministry (MHA) released its statement on the case last Friday (27 Jan) -- stating that there was no delay in releasing the news -- the MHA also said it had already planned to make the information public on 25 Jan, but it so happened that Wanbao had broken the story on the evening of 23 Jan. So, it came out with a statement on 24 Jan, a day earlier than planned.
So, okay, fine. But why did that 24 Jan statement not say explicitly that the two men had already been arrested, one on 19 Dec and the other on 4 Jan. I thought the ST leader could have at least raised this question. But I guess I'll have to let it be too.
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