The year began with tennis action. Hounded by media since late 2013, Swiss Star and 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer reached the finals of Brisbane International but lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the final. In a simultaneously ingoing tournament at Doha, Rafael Nadal also made a winning start by beating Gale Monfils in the final. In Australian Open, Federer continued to play like old times and reached the semifinals before losing to Nadal. Federer’s compatriot Stan Wawrinka emerged victorious in the final with Nadal, when the Spaniard couldn’t play with complete fitness. After Federer won 2014’s first ATP tournament in Dubai, the big Swiss was back in business though he lost to Djokovic at Indian Wells. In year’s second Grand slam at Roland Garros, Federer lost in quarterfinal to Ernests Gulbis but the French Open will be remembered for Rafael Nadal scoring his ninth victory. Three weeks later at Wimbledon, Djokovic ended the winner after a 5-set battle with Federer. In the last Grand Slam tournament of the year in US, Federer and Djokovic suffered semifinal upsets by Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic, who won the US Open. In the year-end ATP finals in London, Djokovic and Federer reached the finals but Federer withdrew due to injury. The Swiss ended 2014 with a new feather in his cap by powering Switzerland for their maiden victory in Davis Cup.
Brazil hosted the 20th FIFA World Cup in June-July 2014. Germany won the final 1-0 against Argentina after the hosts suffered the ignominy of losing to Germany 7-1 in the semifinals. There were brilliant performances spearheaded by Colombia’s James Rodrigues, who scored most tournament goals. James’ gem of a goal against Uruguay remained the topic of conversation for long. There was one bad incident in the match between Uruguay and Italy, when Uruguayan striker Luiz Suarez was suspended for nine international matches after he sunk his teeth onto the shoulder of Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini.
Caroline Wozniacki and Rory Mcllroy both benefitted from their break-ups. While Wozniacki’s tennis 2014 performance became famous, Mcllroy regained his world no.1 position on Golfing Circuits. After a disastrous 2013, Mcllroy has won two majors this year to turn up a grand show. In Spain, FIBA conducted its first basketball World Cup, which was won by USA, who beat Serbia in the final. There was furious action during the tournament and despite early promise, hosts Spain couldn’t make it to final. The 2014 Glasgow commonwealth games were dominated by England and Australia who won a total of 174 and 137 medals respectively. Similarly, 2014 Incheon Asian Games in South Korea ended with Chinese supremacy. China won 342 medals, followed by Korea’s 234 and Japan’s 200. End of year action included World Chess Championship between India’s Vishwanathan Anand and defending champion Magnus Carlsen with the Norwegian retaining his crown. Footballs fans in the subcontinent enjoyed the first edition of the Indian Super League football, which involved eight teams from different regions. They played round-robin league games on home-and-away basis for two months before the knock-out phase. Atletico de Kolkata, a team owned by cricketer Saurav Ganguly lifted the inaugural trophy by beating Sachin Tendulkar owned Kerala Blasters in the final.
In one of the most shocking sporting incidents of 2014, world no. 1 badminton player Lee Chong Wei was slapped an indefinite ban for a doping violation. The Malaysian is set to lose his No.1 tag to China’s Chen Long, when BWF rankings are announced next. In another incident at USA, swimming legend, Michael Phelps was arrested in Baltimore for drunken driving. After the 18-time gold medal winner pleaded guilty for his offence, he has been kept under 18 months of supervised probation.