UP - Stan Wawrinka and Li Na - It's a funny old game tennis. Going into the tournament as the 8th and 4th seeds respectively and yet few would have bet on either of these two winning, such is the dominance of players like Djokovic, Nadal, Williams and Azarenka. So it was certainly refreshing to see two 'surprise' victors at this years Australian Open, especially Wawrinka who beat Djokovic and Nadal on route to becoming the first man outside the 'Big Four' to win a Slam since DelPo in 2009.
UP - IBF - Groves vs Froch. It's the rematch that everyone wants to see and thankfully the IBF have stepped in to say that a rematch must occur within 90 days due to "inappropriate stoppage" by referee Howard Foster. Foster controversially ended the match with Groves in the ninth round after Groves was well ahead on points. Froch needs it to defend his title and Groves will want revenge after the last bout. Fiery.
UP - David Moyes - Is last week the turning point for Moyes' season? Okay so they may have lost the worst penalty shoot-out in the history of football. But finally Moyes has signed a player which fans can be happy about. Somehow Moyes has managed to secure the signing of Juan Mata. Admittedly not a position they really needed more players after Rooney and Kagawa but an excellent signing nonetheless.
UP - France Handball - Hipster choice of the week. On Sunday France celebrated winning the European Handball Championship with a crushing 41-32 over Denmark to cement their reputation as the greatest handball team in history. It may not be a heavily followed sport over in the UK but there can be little doubt that it is a fast-paced and exciting one that certainly deserves more coverage.
UP - UoN - I delayed this weeks ladder by one day so I could hopefully include the University of Nottingham (my Uni) beating Nottingham Trent in the opening event of this years Varsity; the ice-hockey. At 3-0 down within 8 minutes I was on the verge of publishing what I already had but something told me not to. A stunning 4 goal comeback from Uni led to a 4-3 victory for the second year running. Looks like I made the right choice in waiting.
DOWN - Gareth Bale - The initial media buzz around Gareth Bale has slowly died down despite the Welshman having an excellent season so far. However this week Bale was the victim of a poor tackle in a match against Granada, resulting in a full-blooded boot to the balls. Luckily he has not suffered any lasting damage but is being rested for tonight's Copa Del Rey quarter-final. Click on the image on the right to wince at the tackle.
DOWN - Formula One Cars - Its slowly returning after the Christmas break and this week saw the reveal of the new generation of Formula One cars. And what an ugly bunch most of them are. The new 'anteater' nosecone is simply horrible as it protrudes from the front of the car. Luckily some teams have avoided using them but it looks like they are set to stay for now.
DOWN - Bowls - Now I know bowls can be considered a bit of a dull sport, but the videos that emerged from this weeks Indoor World Championships were a little bit embarrassing to say the least. The first shows the compare attempting to get a rather perplexed crowd clapping along to Happy by Pharrell Williams whilst the second shows 'Barry from Eastenders' singing to the crowd. Very strange.
DOWN - Andy Murray - Whilst Andy Murray did not necessarily play badly on his return from injury, his quarter-final loss to Roger Federer at the Australian Open has left him nearly 10,000 rankings points away from world number one. However, with Wawrinka winning in Melbourne it gets even worse as Murray drops to sixth in the world, his lowest ranking position since 2008.
DOWN - Manchester United Penalties - I briefly mentioned them earlier but they were so bad they need to be spoken about again. The very fact that the penalty shoot-out finished 2-1 to Sunderland after ten penalties shows how truly shocking they all were but Manchester United's were something else. Jones, Welbeck, Januzaj and Rafael all missed with Fletcher the only saving grace.
