• Novak Djokovic had the chance to serve for the first set – but blew it
• He then lost an enthralling tiebreak before the second set passed him by
• However, the Serbian regained his belief after a break in the third set
• Stefanos Tsitsipas received treatment on his back before the fourth set
• Djokovic secured a double break to force a decider before winning the match
• He is now on 19 Grand Slam titles – one behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer

Stefanos Tsitsipas excited thoughts of a major shift in men’s tennis, only to be crushed by the resilience of Novak Djokovic over five sets.

The Serb, just turned 34, eventually rebounded from his gruelling semi-final win to claim his 19th Grand Slam title at the French Open with another show of superhuman mental and physical stamina.

His 22 year-old opponent could not maintain his early momentum or quality and went down 6-7 2-6 6-3 6-2 6-4 in four hours and eleven minutes.

The 34-year-old is now on 19 Grand Slam titles – one behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer

It leaves Djokovic just one behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the race to see who can win the most Majors, a competition he now looks certain to win. He becomes the first man in the post-1968 Open era to have won each Grand Slam twice.

As seen in best of five matches before, the Serb’s energy levels strangely fluctuated, and he looked flat in the second set before revving himself up from the third onwards. It was his second comeback from two sets down in this tournament.

After the first two sets he focussed more on his opponent’s backhand, and it paid dividends.

With the Tokyo Olympics qualification deadline around the corner on 29^th June 2021, Making of Champions (MoC) will now host the inaugural MoC Relays at the Yaba College of Technology Sports Complex in Lagos, Nigeria, from Saturday 26^th–Sunday 27^th June 2021, to provide Nigerian & African Athletes seeking Olympic qualification in both their Individual Events and the Relays what may be the final opportunity to do so.

With the cancellation of the African Championships due to the scale and complexity of inviting over 1,000 Athletes from across the continent to Algeria, then Nigeria, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the MoC Relays is set to fill that void at the climax of Olympic qualifying in Africa with a much smaller event with no more than 50-100 Athletes from outside of Nigeria attending, and with a specific focus on the Relays, Sprints, and other select Track & Field Events.

The MoC Relays will feature 24 Athletics Events in total, including 18 Individual (10 Track & 8 Field) Events and 6 Relays – the 5 Olympic Relays (Men’s & Women’s 4x100m and Men’s, Women’s & Mixed 4x400m) and 1 Exhibition Relay (Mixed 2x2x400m). The individual Track Events include men’s & women’s 100m, 200m, 800m, 110m/100m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles, while the Field Events are the men’s and women’s Long Jump, Triple Jump, High Jump and Shot Put.

The MoC Relays is set to be one of the most important competitions in Africa recent memory, particularly for Team Nigeria, given the Olympic qualifying situation of the nation’s five Relay teams. Currently, only Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m Relay is in a qualifying position, occupying the 16^th and final slot in that event on the World Athletics  ‘Road to Tokyo’ rankings list, with a time of 43.05s from the Doha 2019 World Championships – a far from unassailable position as the qualification deadline approaches.

Nigeria’s men’s 4x100m and women’s 4x400m are both 17^th in their respective events, while the nation’s men’s 4x400m is 20^th and mixed 4x400m is 23^rd in those events – only the Top 16 in each Relay will qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, and there are only 2-4 spots left to confirm in each Relay, after most countries who have already qualified for the Olympic Relays did so automatically by reaching the Relay Finals at the 2019 World Championships or the 2021 World Relays in Poland.

The MoC Relays will follow Nigeria’s Olympic Trials at the same venue on 17^th–20^th June, which is also set to host a 5-nation Relay, and MoC is in communication with the organizers of the National Trials to ensure a seamless transition for Athletes from the Trials to the MoC Relays. MoC will also work with the incoming President and Board of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) who emerge from the AFN Elective Congress on Monday 14^th June to ensure a successful MoC Relays. According to MoC Founder/CEO Bambo Akani, all hands are now on deck to ensure all five of Nigeria’s Relay Teams qualify for the Olympics:

“Nigeria is still the giant of Africa when it comes to Olympic Relays – the nation has won 8 Relay medals out of 13 in Track & Field in Olympic history. It simply does not compute that Nigeria would not be represented in the Relays at the Tokyo Olympics, especially with the nation’s most talented generation of Athletes since Atlanta ’96. We have reached out to the General Coordinator of the National Trials to ensure that following their 5-nation Relay, Nigeria and other African nations will have yet another chance to secure their Olympic tickets at the MoC Relays!” 

MoC Competitions have quickly risen in prominence across the African continent since the 1^stMoC Grand Prix launched in 2018, with Athletes from across Nigeria and Africa attending each edition. The inaugural MoC Relays will mark the first time that Making of Champions will host three elite World Athletics-recognized Competitions in one year, following the BetKing/3^rd MoC Grand Prix in March, and the inauguralAFN/MoC Invitationalin May, currently Africa’s 2^nd and 8^th best Open/Invitational Competitions in 2021, according to their World Athletics performance rankings! Indeed, Nigeria’s Grace Nwokocha & Kenya’s Ferdinand Omanyala both achieved Olympic 100m qualification at the BetKing/3^rd MoC Grand Prix.

The MoC Relays is part of Making of Champions’ continuing efforts to launch the “MoC Athletics Challenge” – a new series of annual competitions designed to provide quality opportunities for Athletes across Nigeria and Africa to qualify for International Competitions such as the Olympics in 2021, and the World Championships and Commonwealth Games in 2022 and beyond!

Event Schedule & Entries for Athletes/Teams

According to the MoC Relays Schedule, any National 4x100m Teams attending will get two bites of the cherry, with 4x100m Semi-Finals on Day 1 & Finals on Day 2 of the Event, while the Mixed 4x400m Final takes centre stage on Day 1, with the men’s & women’s 4x400m Finals on Day 2. Athletes will also have the opportunity to qualify automatically or improve their World Rankings for Olympic qualification in their individual Events, particularly with the Semi-Finals of the Sprints (100m & 200m) on Day 1 and the Finals on Day 2.

Interested Athletes must register online at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MoCRelays by Monday 21^st  June, to be considered for invitation for their individual events, the standards for which are listed in the online registration (the full list of invited Athletes will be published by Tuesday 22^nd June).

In addition, interested Teams (Countries, Clubs, States, etc) who wish to enter the Relays should send their Team Lists to admin@makingofchamps.com also by Monday 21^st June. Each Team may consist of no more than 24 Athletes for the 5 Olympic Relay Events – 12 Sprinters (6 men & 6 women) for Men’s & Women’s 4x100m and 12 Quarter-Milers (6 men & 6 women) for Men’s, Women’s & Mixed 4x400m.

Any Athletes or Teams requiring one can download our Official Invitation Letter for the MoC Relays.

Nigeria’s Israel Adesanya has retained his Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight belt after defeating Italian contender, Marvin Vettori, at the Gila River Arena in Arizona on Sunday.

He won via a unanimous decision – 50-45, 50-45, 50-45.

The win is Adesanya’s third title defence after losing to Jan Blachowicz in a bid to add the light heavyweight title to his laurels.

Adesanya showed improvements on his groundwork as he expertly untangled himself from all of Vettori’s takedowns.

Renowned as one of the best strikers in the division, the 31-year-old landed several leg shots and jabs as he dimmed Vettori’s dream of becoming the first Italian UFC champion.

It is the second time both fighters faced themselves in the UFC with Adesanya running out victorious via split decision in their first meeting in April 2018, which was the Nigerian’s second outing in the UFC franchise.

Both fighters have had heated conversations on social media and during press conferences but Adesanya had said he was ready to defend his title and rule the middleweight division after failing to secure the light heavyweight title from Poland’s Jan Blachowicz last March.

He earlier promised to send the Italian to the floor in the second round but the fight ended at Round five.

Vettori attempted to make history early Sunday morning as he looks to dethrone Nigerian Israel Adesanya to become Italy’s first UFC titleholder.

Vettori, ranked third in the division, has won five straight bouts leading into this championship tussle.

Vettori is unofficially nicknamed “Angry Marvin” appropriately as he brings an aggressive, bar-room-brawling stand-up style to his fights. His footwork and movement are choppy, forcing him to rely on his power and belligerent forward pressure as opposed to any fluidity of movement or defensive evasiveness.

Adesanya entered the fight off a March loss to Blachowicz in a battle for Blachowicz’s light heavyweight title.

Nigeria’s Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, fighter, Kamarudeen Usman says plans are underway to set up a sporting Academy in Nigeria.

The Multi-decked Ambassador said this in Abuja, Nigeria when he paid a familiarisation visit to the Chairman, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, NIDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa.

According to him, setting up the Academy is a way to give back to the nation.

The International Sports celebrity noted that the Academy would train Nigerian youths on his expertise: kick-boxing, boxing and mixed martial arts.

He encouraged youths to work hard, noting that no impossibility is insurmountable if believed.

Usman, who has been away from Nigeria for over a decade, said he was happy to be home, despite discouragement from individuals.

On her part, the NIDCOM boss, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, said “his homecoming, brings a message of hope, to signify Nigeria’s unity in diversity.”

Dabiri-Erewa described him as a kind-hearted Champion, who wants to empower the youths of Nigeria, in the area of sports.

She called on other Nigerian Diaspora to follow Usman’s noble example, in contributing to the country’s development, in their various capacities.

She told the UFC fighter that the Commission is ever ready to assist him in implementing his vision.