WINNERS

NICK KYRGIOS
It seems the 24-year-old is really sticking to his New Year resolutions. With 2020 having just begun, the well-known bad-boy of Australian (or even global) tennis is showing an entirely different side of himself, not only through his actions – by igniting a series of actions in support of the bushfire victims – but also through his performances. Kyrgios is putting on a great show at the ATP Cup, winning against world number six Stefanos Tsitsipas and impressing in the quarter-finals against Great Britain where he needed a little over an hour to deal with Cameron Norrie. Although he has an issue with consistency, Kyrgios is showing a lot of promise for the upcoming Australian Open.

AUSTRALIAN SPORTS COMMUNITY
It’s really important to come together in difficult times and support those in need. And that’s exactly what the entire Australian sports community has done. Not only through the actions of well-known individual athletes (Nick Kyrgios, Aaron Mooy, Tim Cahill, Matt Ryan, Kyah Simon, Ben Simmons most notable among them), but also through those of entire organisations such as the Football Federation of Australia and Tennis Australia, everyone has embraced the people who lost their property and suffered damages due to the disastrous fires that are ravaging the whole nation. Such actions show that there is still plenty of compassion left in the world.

ARIS
Someone was destined to pull the plug on PAOK’s winning streak that went on since two season’s ago. But no one could predict the way that was going to happen. Putting four goals in the back of a net that was hardly ever violated in domestic tournaments, Michael Oenning’s men showed that they have plenty more to accomplish in the league and they are a force to be reckoned with. Every attack they made in the night was a threat to goalkeeper Zivko Zivkovic’s net and they made the most of the opportunities that were given to them. Even the fact that their opponents took an early lead wasn’t enough to hold them off in a game that will be remembered for many years to come by fans of the god of war.

SINNERS

STEFANOS TSITSIPAS
Have the roles between the young starlet of world tennis and Nick Kyrgios been reversed? Demonstrating horrible behaviour during the ATP Cup and showing outbursts that placed even his father Apostolos’ health in jeopardy, a lecture from his mum is the least he should receive! Let’s hope the stress isn’t getting to him and his attitude changes rapidly in the few days ahead as he will need to be at the top of his game if he is to even repeat his feat from last year, let alone go even further at this Australian Open. His father/coach’s remarks about Kyrgios also rub off negatively on the famed athlete, as he called him a ‘joke’, saying that Stefanos is thinking ‘like an idiot and making his opponent look good’.

OLYROOS
With the team’s presence in the summer Olympics on the line, fans and critics alike were expecting a solid opening performance by Graham Arnold’s men, after an extended training camp that forced many A-League clubs to give up on their young players. Instead, what they got was an underwhelming sight of eleven players that barely knew what to do inside the pitch. It’s not the 1-1 result against Iraq that hurts the team’s efforts, but it’s the sense that things can’t really get any better than this for the team, making Tokyo already seem like an unreachable dream from the very first game. It’s just another example of how low the sport has fallen in Australia.

GREEK FANS
Fans in Greece are always looking to outdo themselves when it comes to violent incidents. The most recent of them featured an attack with a gun against former Olympiacos striker Darko Kovacevic, with the assailant waiting for him outside of his house in Glyfada and shooting at him on sight. The experienced forward was able to avoid injury by diving to his right as the attacker escaped in a Smart vehicle that was later found burned near the old airport in Helliniko by the police. Furthermore, an Aris fan of Bulgarian origin was found dead after trying to escape rampaging PAOK supporters who were assaulting him, as he ran into an oncoming vehicle that ended his life. It’s quite worrisome that these events have become quite common for the Greek football scene, as soon just declaring you team of choice could mean putting your own life at risk!