Greetings Scorumers

Welcome to the post, things seem to be eerily silent on the platform today and wise people say "There is always calm before the storm". Hence, I am pretty positive that many of us are up to something exciting and much is going on behind those presentation screens. On my end of the Scorumverse, me and two other writing wizards have been putting pen to paper to create a series of dramatic sports articles, which are going to be...

Oh, hold on a second please, let me take this opportunity to milk your attention and share an incredibly short story as to how I came up with this idea.

One stormy Sunday evening, I was sat at home searching for something to distract me from the upcoming horrors of Monday morning work blues. As the sports channels lacked anything of real drama or purpose, I started flicking through some of football's most historical thrilling events to recall unbelievable comeback moments where against all odds a team or player recovered to win from an almost impossible scenario. Then suddenly a thought sprang to mind - "Why not capture these special moments in my own words and share them with Scorum readers". Then, a moment later, "how about I expand this idea" as there are numerous sports where such breath-taking events have been captured.

Gratefully, some excellent writers welcomed the idea, gave their consent and now together we present to you an electrifying series of comebacks in various sports which we are naming:

                "Tri-sports Super Comeback Series"

That's right, as evident from the name it would include 3 sports and the greatest comebacks in their respective fields to make us recall those nail-biting moments. After all, what's more sensational than snatching victory from the jaws of defeat?

So, let's cut to the chase and explain which sports and writers are involved in the series:

  1. Tennis

Sir Andy Murray said:

In tennis, it is not the opponent you fear, it is the failure itself, knowing how near you were but just out of reach.

To recall the near and out of reach scenarios of this marvelous game, we have none other than:

@Jodcarey

His message to the readers: "It gives me a great pleasure to contribute one of three sections to this ambitious series on what in sport is my favourite part - the great turn around of a game when all hope is lost to the fan! There is nothing sweeter in life than proving everyone wrong and to do so in the most desperate of situations when all hope is lost to everyone looking in on from the outside. These are far more powerful occasions in sporting history than those where a player or team comfortably sweeps their way to victory against a weak opponent.

My background in tennis is actually pretty new, I only picked up a racket properly when I hit 30 and the same goes for watching too. Within 5 years I've gone from nothing to an ntpr rating of 5. I've been that hooked on the sport for both health and enjoyment reasons. Both singles and doubles have their own complexities and challenges but here I will be focusing on the great singles comebacks of all time.

Tennis and in particular Grand Slam tennis defines the great match comeback in such an elaborate sense because the sheer amount of energy it takes a player to come from 2 sets down (most likely already having spent 90 - 120 minutes on court) to win 3 sets to 2 is beyond belief in the men's game. These matches can last up to 5 hours and be brutal on the player's physical energy and health so to endure 5 sets and to come out on top is a major physical and psychology feat. I look forward to bringing you matches that you won't quiet believe actually happened and others that contained shots of extreme magnitude and players with hearts of lions, balls of steel!"

>> Very inspiring as always. And, for more about the story of lion-heart players who proved everyone wrong please follow @Jodcarey for the 1st post of the series. Next in the list is:

 2. Cricket

According to Henry C. Blofeld:

One-day cricket is an exhibition. Test cricket is an examination.

The writer i am going to introduce in this category has the potential to deliver the best of the both, please welcome

@talesfrmthecrypt 

Some words from him: "When Hassan contacted me and explained his master plan I was immediately sold on the idea. There aren’t many grander sports than Test Match cricket and fewer still that have been played at international level for such a long time meaning that the list of matches to choose from is incredibly long. Despite the fact that the sport is played across 5 grueling days, the result of a match can often hinge on the tiniest little incident, a moment of brilliance or a calamitous mistake. A game can seemingly be heading in one direction only for it swing back in the other. This is the natural ebb and flow of a cricket match.

Test Match cricket, as the name suggests, is the ultimate test of a player’s skill and technique. However, it is also a game that is played in the mind and psychological strength is just as if not more important than technical ability. Only the mentally strong players and teams throughout history have been able to drag themselves back into games and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Writing about these kind of comebacks, I will be looking at how those teams managed to over come those dark times in the dressing room and on the field to ultimately emerge victorious.

Of course cricket is more than just Test Matches. The shorter forms of the sport in ODIs and T20s are specifically designed so that a team is never out of the game. I would suggest that we are seeing some of the fastest and best innovation in any major sport happening within white ball cricket at the moment. New world records seem to be set several times a year with batting totals continuing to reach new heights. What is a winning score these days? No one seems to know! A side can spend 20 overs in the field getting pulverised by the opposition only to come out themselves, swinging from the hip and win. It’s fast. it’s furious and it’s going to be great fun to write about the best comebacks in 50 & 20 over cricket."

>> Like myself, if you had missed some great match-ups in cricket, this is the time to get connected with @talesfrmthecrypt and get to know all about them. Moving on to the last one:

 3. Football (Soccer)

Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that.
(Bill Shankly)

The seriousness of the most intense match-ups of football but, with a lighter mood would be brought to you by:

That would be me. I feel like after the words from the brilliant writers I introduced above, there is not much of a space to add something further. By now, you would have already been intrigued by the prospect and the nature of content that we are going to present in this series. But, for the sake of providing a synopsis, I would do my utmost to revive the very essence of the toughest comebacks from premier/champions league and the mighty world cup. My very own favorite club "Manchester United" is know for some exciting comebacks in the soccer history by scoring in extra times. The credit of which should probably go to the club's ex-manager (Sir Alex) who had a reputation for demanding an additional time, later on termed as "Fergie time". Similarly, the archives of soccer are filled with many such scenarios where a complete score shift occurred just in moments. And, we stand witness that nothing could beat the excitement of those stunning last minute goals and the extreme celebration that follows. 

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Each of the 3 writers are going to publish a weekly post dedicated to this series. So, don’t forget to hop on the next transport heading towards the legendary courts of Wimbledon, hosted by @Jodcarey

                   See you all there, have a great weekend ahead.