Bill Tilden with 10 is the only other tennis player in history with double-digit number of titles.

The thing is you get the feeling that Djokovic is about to climb even higher and could eventually challenge Federer’s record. Why? Simply because as of right now, the 28-year-old Serbian is so much better than the elite of today’s elite in men’s tennis.

As of the end of the Australian Open Djokovic is 23-22 against Roger Federer following his master-class performance against the Swiss in the semi-finals. In recent times he has also owned the Spaniard Nadal as was demonstrated by the recent 6-1, 6-2 demolition witnessed at the 2016 Qatar Open. He also has the measure of Andy Murray whom following his straight-sets wins in Melbourne he has now beaten seven times in their last nine meetings in Grand Slam finals.

In 2015, Djokovic won the Australian Open for the fifth consecutive time, and he also won Wimbledon and the US Open. This impression run that has come under the watchful eye of his coach, tennis great Boris Becker, has seen Djokovic win four of the last five major titles.

And, with three other majors ahead this year if he can maintain his current form, he could have 12 or 13 by the end of the year. The French Open title has managed to remain elusive but perhaps this could be his year given the psychological advantage he holds over nine-time champion Rafael Nadal and everyone else.

His dominance has been further demonstrated by his winning consecutive tour finals from 2012-2015. Djokovic  has risen and there is nobody to stop him.

There is not much mystery about why he has become so good. Djokovic, one of the best returners in the game is all about speed and power. He hits the ball as hard as anyone and he is faster than them all. He now covers the court better than Nadal ever did. His game is the perfect blend of Federer and Nadal and that has made him the very best in today’s game of baseline, power tennis.

It will be hard for him to maintain this kind of form given the intensity of the schedule on the circuit but if he can replicate what Federer achieved in winning so many majors during the latter part of the last decade it is not inconceivable that Novak Djokovic could be approaching 17 Grand Slam titles by the end of 2017.

That is, if no one figures out a way to outgun and to outrun him.

Prior to the start of the Australian Open Kerber, who before Saturday was the only woman ranked in the top 10 never to win a Grand Slam title, paid a visit to Graf, hoping to receive the desired inspiration needed to right that wrong. “She was telling me that I’m on a good way and trying to give me positive comments that I should believe in myself and everything is good,” Kerber said of her visit to the now retired icon.

Kerber played with confidence en route to the final. It was she who stopped the fairytale run of Britain’s Johanna Konta in the semi-finals. But getting to the final against a woman who was playing near perfect tennis going in Kerber potentially had her hands full against Serena who had been to the Australian Open on six previous occasions and had never lost.

But Kerber, armed with renewed confidence and buoyed by the idea of defending her countrywoman’s record, proved to have what it takes to win a major title.

Serena meanwhile, was being Serena. She destroyed all who came before her with sublime play but then in the final, all that she had going for her leading up into the final abandoned her.

In the eyes of pundits for Serena to lose this, she had to play badly and her opponent would have to be perfect. Both women obliged. Serena impregnable first abandoned her and she committed 46 unforced errors. In comparison, Kerber committed 13.

In the end, Kerber was the deserved winner.

Serena needs now to look into herself, recognize and accept that she has developed a case of the yips. She still has three other majors to go but if she is to tie and eventually surpass Graf she will have to be better than she has been in her last two Slams.

You have to believe though that she has it within her to do it and if that is the case, Graf may have won this battle but Serena will eventually win the war.

Elaine Thompson will be hoping she can turn the tables on Dafne Schippers. Danielle Williams will have ambitions of another gold medal run in the hurdles while Hansle Parchment and Omar McLeod will be looking to assert themselves on what is expected to be a quality hurdles field.

Meanwhile, Yohan Blake will be looking to make an impressive return following his one gold and two silver medals from London 2012. Asafa Powell will be going for his first individual medal while Nesta Carter and Kemar Bailey Cole will be hoping to deliver big time on the world’s biggest stage.

But will this be possible given the potential threat that the Zika virus poses to the Jamaicans and indeed, the more than 10,000 athletes expected to converge on Brazil this summer? The United Nations is considering whether to declare the rapidly spreading outbreak of the Zika Virus as a worldwide emergency and already medical experts are scurrying to make concrete determinations on the potential impact of the virus on the estimated half-million people expected to visit the South American country for the two-week global sports spectacle.

More than 1.5 million Brazilians are believed to have already contracted the virus that is believed to cause birth defects in pregnant women and paralysis in some victims.

My greatest fear is the risk to the athletes and for more than one reason. The most obvious is the fact that the athletes could become infected and then come down with illness just prior to competition which would have an impact on the quality of some of the events on show. Imagine, Justin Gatlin and Usain Bolt, coming down with fever, conjunctivitis and joint pain on the eve of the blue ribbon event at the Olympics, the 100-metre dash.

Everyone would lose. The organizers, sponsors and most importantly, the fans, who would have been robbed of seeing Bolt achieve new levels of stardom in what could very well be his last Olympic Games.

There is also the risk of the virus spreading globally at a much faster rate. Authorities in Brazil believe the virus arrived in Brazil in 2014 when millions converged in that country for the FIFA World Cup. Now with the Olympics it could move into new regions because it will have a minimum of 500,000 new hosts to travel by.

I am wondering if it would not be prudent for the International Olympic Committee to look at naming an alternative site for the Games this summer. I am well aware that Brazil has spent billions of dollars in preparation for the Games. If they are not able to recoup some of it, the impact on their already ailing economy would be deleterious. But the potential for tens of thousands of women potentially giving birth to malformed babies could be just as devastating.

Maybe it’s time the IOC start canvassing for alternative sites because unless Brazil can find a way to stem the spread of this virus, it would be in the best interest of the planet to have someone else host the Olympic Games.

He came in for much criticism and sparked global debate about sexism in sport. He was fined and his team the Renegades was eliminated from the Big Bash competition. The controversy then died down only for the powerfully built Jamaican to stir them again when comments he made on his Instagram page. In it Gayle thanked those who supported him and told the others, ‘haters’ to kiss his black r&%*s.’

His backers cheered at the comments but it left Gayle in a bad light.

Off the bat, Gayle who recently signed to play for Somerset in the T20 Bash in the UK, was only able to do so after the club consulted with team captain Chris Rogers, one of those persons who Gayle suggested kiss his backside for calling him out on his inappropriate comments to the Australian reporter.

That the club found it necessary to consult the Australian before deciding to sign Gayle demonstrates  the seriousness of the situation Gayle now finds himself in. If Rogers had said he would not be comfortable playing with Gayle, the Jamaican who has made a good living playing in the T20 leagues across the world may have lost a significant amount of money because he could have missed out on an opportunity to earn as his illustrious career continues to wind down.

The Instagram rant from Gayle was ill-advised and revealed that he was not really apologetic for his “joke” that was blown out of proportion.

I agree that it was blown out of proportion and I would be stupid to deny that there is a significant level of double standard at play especially when considering that McLaughlin herself has been guilty of similar on-air offences, but one wrong does not make the other wrong right. And whether we like it or not Gayle was wrong.

And that rant on social media did not represent him getting the last word in. What it really was, was the Jamaican digging a deeper hole for himself. Gayle might never play in Australia’s Big Bash ever again because of those comments. He could also lose opportunities to play in other leagues as well. We hope that he doesn’t continue to suffer from those ill-advised comments but Gayle should be mature enough now to know that despite his star power, the people who pay him still hold the handle even as he clings strongly onto the blade.

It all comes down to respect. Gayle needs to understand that respect works both ways. People show him respect for what he does for the sport. He should also show similar respect for those who employ him and who pay good money to see him perform. He should also accept that just like he wants people to respect his position on this particular issue, he should respect those who disagree with him without being rude and crude about it.

In Jamaican parlance, it’s not a good look. And while there are those who feel that as long as Gayle is rich he doesn’t need to concern himself about the opinion of mere mortals, he need to appreciate that having all the money in the world does not give one the right to do and say what he pleases. Money eventually goes away but respect can last an eternity.

He should think about how he wants people to remember him, because how they remember him is what will define his legacy as a cricketer but more importantly, as a man.

The following are my top Jamaican sports men and women performers for 2015.

Our netballers are often overlooked for awards. The RJR Sports Foundation claims it is hard to nominate a netballer because they play team sports, which to me is ridiculous before you really don’t need statistics to determine what great play is. You see a great play and you know right off the bat that it is.

ROMELDA AIKEN

In June, Jamaica’s Rommel Aiken won her second ANZ Championship scoring 47 goals from 51 attempts to lead the Queensland Firebirds to a 57-56 win over the New South Wales Swifts in the finals of the biggest and best netball league in the world. The super tall Jamaican also won her third ANZ Championship Most Valuable Player Award. She also won the Australian Conference Most Valuable Player award and was the first shooter to 400 goals this past season.

Her Jamaican teammate Southern Steel’s Jhaniele Fowler-Reid won the New Zealand Conference MVP award.

ALIA ATKINSON

Alia Atkinson will go down in history as the Jamaican swimmer who made the breakthroughs for swimmers here. In 2014, she became the first Jamaican to set a world record and win gold at the World Short Course Championships. In 2015, she recorded another first when she became the first Jamaican to win medals at the World Long Course championships. She also joined an elite group of swimmers to break 1:06.00 for the 100-metre butterfly. It was the fastest time of the year and one of the fastest times ever.

ALICIA ASHLEY

In October Jamaica’s Alicia Ashley became the oldest woman ever to win a world title when she defeated Christina McMahon by unanimous decision to win the vacant WBC female World Super Bantamweight title in New York. The 48-year-old known as Slick had lost the title to Jackie Nava in September 2014.

DANIELLE WILLIAMS

In August Danielle Williams shocked the world when she won gold in the 100 metre hurdles in a personal best 12.57s at the IAAF World Athletic Championships in Beijing, China. She was the first Jamaican to win the title since Brigette Foster-Hylton in 2009. The soft-spoken Jamaican, a five-time NCAA Division II champion, also won the World University Games title in Gwanju, South Korea in 12.78s.

WOMEN’S MILE RELAY TEAM

Christine Day, Shericka Jackson, Stephanie McPherson and Novlene Williams-Mills pooled their respective talents to pull off an unlikely victory over the USA at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Beijing, China. The team defeated a powerful USA team of Alyson Felix, Francena McCorory, Natasha Hastings and Sanya Richards-Ross to win Jamaica’s second world mile relay title (first was in Edmonton in 2001) and helped Jamaica close the championships in style winning three of the four relays.

ELAINE THOMPSON

This young woman from Manchester High (currently at Utech) demonstrated to the world that whenever Jamaica’s giants – Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce and Veronica Campbell – finally decide to walk away, the sprints will be left in her capable hands. Plagued by injury in previous years, Elaine blossomed this year and peaked in Beijing in 21.66 seconds, one of the fastest times ever run. Merlene Ottey’s national record of 21.64s is under real threat. She was beaten into second place by another young star on the rise Dafne Schippers who ran the third fastest time in history.

SHERONE SIMPSON

Back in 2006, Sherone Simpson was the fastest woman in the world in both 100m and 200m. Knee injuries, surgery and an unfortunate drug suspension ran her off track for a while. She switched camps and came close to being back to her best, winning her first title since the 2006 Commonwealth Games when she claimed the 100 metres at the Pan Am Games in Canada. It was also the first time she was breaking 11 seconds since 2008, when she won silver in the 100m in Beijing.

SHELLY ANN FRASER-PRYCE

What can you say about this great female sprinter, arguably the best female 100m sprinter ever?  She claimed her second straight and third overall 100m world title in 10.76 (easing down) and won another gold in the sprint relay when Jamaica ran 41.07 the second fastest time in history.

VERONICA CAMPBELL BROWN

Coming off an extremely ordinary year few would have seen VCB finding something special to run 21.97s second collect an unexpected bronze medal in Beijing. It was one of her fastest times ever in a performance no one saw coming.

CHRIS GAYLE

The West Indies continued to look like rank amateurs in 2015 but those who saw Chris Gayle’s 215 against Zimbabwe during the ICC World Cup in February will never forget it for its sheer brutality. The powerful Jamaican slammed 16 sixes and 10 fours as the West Indies racked up 372 for 2 against Zimbabwe. The inning was so memorable that few remember that Marlon Samuels scored an unbeaten 133 that was also quite good. It’s a shame the West Indies were later blown away by South Africa and New Zealand and unceremoniously dumped out in the quarter-finals.

NICHOLAS WALTERS

The Axeman continued to deliver in 2015 knocking out Nonito Donaire and Vic Darchinyan before losing his title on the scale. He was robbed of another victory in December when judges ruled his fight with Juan Sosa a majority draw.

USAIN BOLT

2015 may just be Bolt’s penultimate year in the sport as there is a strong feeling 2016 will be his last year as a competitor. Eleven world titles and six Olympic titles as well as the world records in both 100 and 200 metres means the ‘tall man’ has nothing left to prove – he is the greatest sprinter that has ever lived. During the season he struggled with injury which affected his form. But he showed up in Beijing and showed that he doesn’t lose when it matters most. Outside his false start in Daegu in 2011, Bolt has won every major individual final since 2008. Justin Gatlin threatened that record in 2015 but Bolt delivered in what was perhaps his greatest race. He came back to run a world leading 19.55s in the 200m before claiming his third World Championship triple with another great anchor leg in the sprint relay. We will miss him when he finally decides to walk away.

Bolt, whose form throughout the year was ordinary by his lofty standards but that he was able to overcome the challenge of injury to win three gold medals for a third time since 2009, makes him a hot favorite. The Pocket Rocket looks even more certain by virtue of her dominant year during which she was easily the class of a quality women’s field to win the women’s 100-metres and anchor Jamaica to relay gold and the second fastest time ever in the sprint relay makes her a virtual shoe-in.

The toughest group to select a winner from however is in the People’s Choice Award. Well, it certainly seems that way. For me, it’s easy.

Simon Dawkins’ last minute strike against Nicaragua was special. Having been surprised 3-2 by the Central Americans here at the National Stadium in Kingston, the Reggae Boyz needed to fly to Managua and win by two clear goals. But with mere seconds to go and Jamaica leading 1-0, having thrown the kitchen sink at the home team, Jamaica desperately needed that second goal to go through to the penultimate round. Enter Simon Dawkins whose world-class volley at the death changed the fortunes of the Reggae Boyz and prevented a fourth straight failed campaign since Jamaica last qualified for France ‘98.

Alia Atkinson and Chris Gayle both created history. Jamaica’s most successful winner and the 2014 Sportswoman of the Year, became the first ever Jamaican to win a medal at the FINA long course World Championships in Kazan, Russia when she won silver in the 100-metre breast-stroke in August.

In February, Gayle became the first batsman to score a double century in a One Day International World Cup when he smashed 215 against Zimbabwe. He also created his own exclusive club as the only man to score a Test triple century, ODI double century and T20 century.

Danielle Williams shocked the world and herself to win gold in the women’s 100 metre hurdles at the IAAF World Athletic Championships in Beijing, China. No one could have predicted that Williams would have taken on and beaten a field that included the defending champion Brianna Rollins and her teammates Sharika Nelvis, Dawn Harper Nelson, and Jasmin Stowers who dominated the sprint hurdles all year long. But, through a series of mishaps and perfect timing, the soft-spoken World University Games Champion came through to win in a personal best 12.57s and add to Jamaica’s impressive medal haul.

But as impressive as all these performances were, the one that tops the list for me and should win the People’s Choice Award is the stirring performance of Jamaica’s women’s mile relay team at the World Championships. The team of Christine Day, Shericka Jackson, Stephanie-Ann McPherson and Novlene Williams Mills, evoked tears of joy as they ran a near perfect race to claim Jamaica’s second mile relay world title and it’s first since 2001.

But that’s not the only reason why they should be the People’s Choice for 2015. There are many reasons why this mile relay team was successful. From Paul Francis’ brilliant setting up of the team, putting Shericka Jackson on the second leg and forcing Alyson Felix to run one of the fastest legs in history to catch Stephanie McPherson, to the brilliant opening leg produced by Christine Day. But the woman who made it all possible was the wily veteran Novlene Williams Mills.

Few who follow track and field closely will forget how close Williams Mills came to copping gold in Osaka in 2007, leading the 400 metre finals for all but the last 30 metres before running out of gas and being passed by the British pair of Christine Ohuruogu and Nicola Sanders.

Ever since then Novlene has always given her best for her country before she had to face her toughest battle yet.

Fighting cancer, doing a double mastectomy and undergoing chemotherapy is one of the most difficult things anyone can endure. But despite the adversity she won that battle to become Diamond League champion in 2014. In 2015, there were so many better than she was but she never stopped trying.

Earlier this season, a thyroid problem had her feeling weak and tired and impacted her training. It’s among the reasons she struggled on the circuit this year but as fate would have it, she was matched up with no other than rising American star, World Indoor champion Francena McCorory on the anchor leg. Before Felix won the individual title with the fastest time in the year, McCorory was the fastest in the world for 2015.

Her 49.83 was matched up against Williams-Mills’ 50.47s that was run in the women’s final where she finished sixth.  So with the Americans holding a slight lead, Novlene, having overcome cancer, age, and thyroid problems, had one more thing to overcome – a three-metre lead held by the USA courtesy of Felix’s 47.72 run.

But in those 400 metres, the 33-year-old tucked in behind the American and timed her run to perfection, surging past the American down the stretch to take Jamaica to the title. The shriek released by Shericka Jackson as her teammate crossed the line echoed the exultation here at home thousands of miles away.

That emotion surpassed that evoked by the lovable Danielle Williams who was a pleasant surprise for Jamaicans. There were tears everywhere and the sight of Novlene surging down the home stretch, no matter how many times you watch it, generates those palpable emotions like you were seeing it for the first time. And that is why I feel that the collective performance of our golden quarter-milers, Day, Jackson, McPherson and Williams-Mills deserve to be the People’s Choice performance for 2015.

Walters, who lost his featherweight title on the scale in June, was moving up in weight to junior lightweight and that means that he would be facing a bigger man that he is used to fighting. He was also facing someone who had a good knock out record – 14 knockouts in his 18 fights. The last six fights Sosa fought all ended in knockouts. Hence, it was potentially a dangerous fight but the winner was guaranteed a title match against the super featherweight champion Takashi Uchiyama of Japan.

In the eyes of many who watched it, including yours truly, it was not even close. The Axeman dominated the fight from the opening bell and to most objective observers, the Jamaican won every round. However, at the end of the day, one judge scored it 96-94 for Sosa while the other two scored the fight 95-95. I was shocked, stunned. I could not believe what I had just witnessed.

I wasn’t the only one. This is what the highly respected boxing writer Dan Rafael of ESPN wrote minutes after the fight. “Former featherweight titlist Nicholas “Axe Man” Walters moved up in weight to junior lightweight and put on a power-punching clinic in what appeared to be a rout of tough Jason Sosa on Saturday night on the Luis Ortiz-Bryant Jennings undercard at the Turning Stone Resort Casino.

In the end, however, the fight was shockingly scored a majority draw, with two judges, Don Ackerman and Wynn Kintz, scoring the fight 95-95, and the third judge, Tom Schreck, scoring it an even more stunning 96-94 for Sosa. ESPN.com had it 100-90 for Walters, who appeared to dominate from the opening bell and put a beating on Sosa.

“They all stink. They shouldn’t judge again,” said Carl Moretti, vice president of Top Rank, which promotes Walters and Sosa.

Harold Lederman, HBO’s unofficial judge, who was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame this week, had it 99-91 in favor of Walters.”

Having watched the fight Lederman, who Rafael referred to in his piece, when asked about who he thought won the fight, said there was no question about the winner. He argued that maybe he would give the final round to the American but there was no doubt about who the winner is. Or so he thought.

Remember all these media people, experts in the sport, also sit at ringside in positions that allow them to see clearly what goes on in the ring but even if their collective decision could be question (and I don’t think you honestly can), the numbers are there to back their claims up.

CompuBox, a computerized scoring system run by two operators, corroborated the views of the boxing writers and pundits. CompuBox has been around since the mid 1980s and gives a very accurate reflection of what occurred in the ring. According to CompuBox, Walters threw 622 punches and connected with 281 or 45 per cent of them. Sosa threw 873 and connected with 168 or 19 per cent of them. Anyway you slice it Walters connected with more than 100 more punches, was more efficient and was more dominant.

Walters was the more dominant by virtue of what you saw happening in the ring. He was walking down Sosa and hitting him at will. In the fifth round he hurt Sosa and during the fight hit him repeatedly with body shots. In fact, during the right, the broadcasters put up a graphic showing that Walters had connected with 94 body shots equally distributed to either side of Sosa’s body. It was like watching Mike ‘The Body Snatcher’ McCallum all over again.

His punches were cleaner and Sosa was always on the retreat.

Yet, with all this evidence before them, the two judges scored it a tie while the other incredulously gave the fight to Sosa.

It’s things like these why people perceive that boxing is corrupt and that many judges are in the pockets of promoters and other people seeking to manipulate results for their own benefit.

It’s fights like these that turn people off from boxing. Anyone watching this fight could clearly see who the winner was but the judges’ decision made people question what they were seeing. A friend of mine posted on Facebook following the shocking outcome saying that he wondered if his eyes were fooling him when the final decision was announced.

For integrity to return to the sport, there should be system in place for people to review the fight on tape and a determination made on the outcome; whether there is sufficient evidence to overturn the decision or go with the original decision. The outcome of this fight was a travesty and puts an undeserved blemish on the record of the talented Jamaican and I think that is a very great injustice.

For years the world has questioned the integrity of Blatter but nobody has ever been able to prove anything against him. Even now with this claim that he inappropriately paid Michel Platini more than US$1 million, there was not enough evidence for a criminal charge hence the eight-year ban. Platini, too, has been banned for eight years. Both men are planning to appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Like Blatter, Diack has not been squeaky clean. Back in 2011, he was investigation by the International Olympic Committee’s Ethics Commission for allegedly taking bribes from a Swiss company when it had the exclusive marketing contract for the IAAF Championships.

So, that he is alleged to have collected money to cover up positive tests by Russian track and field athletes is not too surprising.

For Coe however, his image had been relatively clean which is why he easily won the IAAF presidency. He had campaigned on cleaning up the sport and making raft of changes that would attract more fans the sport that Usain Bolt has been carrying on his shoulders since 2008.

However, a recent email from Coe’s right hand man Nick Davies and Diack’s son, Papa Massata Diack, suggested that he was aware that there were several Russian cases in 2013 the year that country hosted the IAAF World Athletic Championships. That and the fact that in the email, Davies discusses the possibility of delaying the release of the names of the Russian athletes believed to have been doping.

While this does not directly link Coe to anything, the email does suggest that Coe, who promoted Davies after he became president may have also been aware of what was happening in Russia long before German television station ARD aired it’s revealing documentary last year. If investigations can find a link that puts Coe in the know, his could be the shortest presidency on record.

Coe has come under a lot of pressure since he assumed the presidency of the IAAF because with the revelations that have been made about doping in the sport since he took over, it is hard to conceive that he, as Diack’s vice president, would not have been aware of what was going on as it relates to the efforts to cover up positive doping tests by members of the very administration under which he served.

These allegations are very serious, because they potentially implicate every elite athlete who ever took a drug test whether it was in competition or out of competition. The very fact that every athlete who took a test could possibly offer an IAAF administrator large sums of cash to make it go away means that if Coe was aware that this was happening and failed to do anything about it, he would be considered to be as bad at those complicit with these illegal and immoral practices.

If that is the case then under no circumstances could be remain president.

Eaton won gold at the IAAF World Athletic Championships in Beijing this past August in a new world record. He was outstanding. Just watching him compete in each of the 10 disciplines gave you goose bumps and that 45-second run in the 400 metres was just incredible. But how does a man who competes in one single event for the entire year get Male Athlete of the Year?

I will be the first to acknowledge that decathletes do not get to compete much, but surely no one can be considered the best male athlete across all disciplines after just one event. It is for a similar reason why I would not have picked Usain Bolt for the award this year because he didn’t compete much. Yes, he came to the World Championships vulnerable and proved all the doubters wrong by winning the sprint double and then securing his 17 global gold medal in the sprint relay but his body of work for 2015, hampered by injury, was just not sufficient for him to be considered.

Similarly, Eaton’s body of work falls short and is why he could not be my Male Athlete of the Year.

Personally, Eaton’s countryman Christian Taylor would have been a better selection given his thrilling battles with Cuba’s Pedro Pablo Pichardo that saw each man approach and breach the 18-metre barrier all season long. It was like watching Bondarenko and Barshim in the high jump in 2014 when you got the feeling that the world record was constantly under threat.  And then at the World Championships, in the heat of battle Taylor leaps to an astonishing 18.21m, a new American record and the second longest jump of all time. Only Jonathan Edwards’ 18.29m is better.

The man who truly deserved the title did not even make the final three. 2015 1500-metre World Champion Absel Kiprop had a stellar year. Unbeaten over the 1500m and setting the third fastest time in history, he proved to be extremely dominant throughout the year. The world title in Beijing was just validation of his class and dominance throughout the season. However, for some reason he didn’t make the cut. Maybe, he should have made the final three instead of Bolt.

To be fair it was a tough year because South Africa’s Wayde van Neikerk was also a strong candidate for Male Athlete of the Year considering his 43.49s run to claim the world title in Beijing, beating Kirani James and Lashawn Merritt in the process. It was the first time in history that the first three men in a global final ran under 44 seconds. The South African’s time was the fourth fastest ever run.

Among the women, Dibaba was great. After setting a world indoor 5000m record of 14:18.86,  Dibaba was then unbeaten in her five 1500m races during the summer. Firstly, she ran an African record of 3:54.11 in Barcelona, the fastest time in the world for almost 12 years, and then topped that with a stunning world record of 3:50.07 in Monaco to beat a mark that had been on the books since 1993. In Beijing, Dibaba was majestic through all three rounds of the 1500m, winning every race comfortably, and she also took a 5000m bronze medal.

But while her case is a lot stronger than Eaton’s I believe the award should have gone to Poland’s Anita Wlodarczyk was better, if only just.

This is how the IAAF summarized Anita’s year.

“Wlodarczyk was utterly dominant this season in the hammer. The Pole won all 11 of her competitions, including the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015. She also became the first woman to throw beyond 80 metres, setting a world record of 81.08m in Cetniewo in August.”

Dibaba lost in the 3000m at the World Championships and again in the final Diamond League meeting of the season. Anita did not. She was undefeated and is why she wins the title for me. But the bias against field event athlete continues to haunt them and that’s not right.

The IAAF has been making the effort in trying to make the selections fair and they have to be applauded for that, but in my book, despite their best efforts, they got it wrong.

Five-day Tests are rapidly going the way of the dinosaur. The world has changed a lot since that first Test match was played  on March 15, 1877 between England and Australia. Australia won that match by 45 runs to issue in a new era for the sport. Here they are again ushering an era that could possibly save the format from extinction.

Fans of the sport no longer have the time to sit around for five days to witness the ebbs and flows of Test cricket, and except for India where people are absolutely nuts about the sport, the young generation of supporters are more inclined to be fans of T20 cricket matches that last a little longer than an average baseball game in the USA and in which there is always an outcome. Tests played out over five days can sometimes peter out into a tame draw. There is very little value in waiting five days for an outcome and one doesn’t come.

Today’s sports fans are more than ever before about results and while day/night cricket doesn’t guarantee results, it does represent a start to overhauling the sport that has refused to evolve in any significant way in more than 100 years. For years now there have been discussions about shortening Test cricket to four days and making pitches that give bowlers and batsmen equal opportunity. Over the past few decades the rules of the game have made it easier for batsmen and more difficult for bowlers. What that has done is skew games towards ending in draws than ever before and that’s boring.

If Test cricket is to survive, it needs to be played at a higher tempo and there need to be an increased likelihood of a result. So maybe there needs to limits placed on the number of overs each team faces. So, instead of having teams bat for an eternity piling up ridiculous totals, maybe there needs to be a limit on the number of overs each team faces. So, Team A faces 100 overs regardless of how many wickets they lose. Then Team B bats. Team A bats again for another 100 overs and the Team B bats and tries to overcome whatever differences there are in the runs scored by Team A, that is if there is a difference.

That way there is a guaranteed result each time, the game moves along at a much faster pace and most importantly, a result is achieved within say, four days.

There are other ways in which the game can evolve to make it relevant. Such a result would also minimize the effect that weather can have on a game, hence no more ‘disappointing’ draws.

Day/night cricket is here to stay but more, much more needs to be done if Test cricket is to have any kind of future.