World No. 3 Roger Federer earlier today announced his withdrawal from the French Open, apologizing to fans as he revealed his back injury had not yet healed.
The same injury had earlier necessitated his withdrawal from the bulk of the clay court season – most recently the Mutua Madrid Open, a title that eventually went to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Federer has struggled with the back injury for a while, having undergone surgery earlier this year. The 17-time Grand Slam winner, at 34 years of age, has been struggling with several injuries of late, most notably this year with both a bad knee and back.
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It is likely a prudent decision from the Swiss Maestro, who will want to rest his body ahead of the next Grand Slam – his favoured stomping grounds of Wimbledon.
The Swiss Maestro last missed a Grand Slam in 1999, when he skipped both the year-opening Australian Open and the US Open.
The Nokia 3210 was the world’s top-selling phone
Nokia no longer produces mobile phones, with the Finnish manufacturers bought by Microsoft in 2015. But the 1990s saw the brand almost synonymous with mobile phones, and the Nokia 3210 was arguably the most popular model.
The brand, now defunct, has come to represent durability – and perhaps the most commonly used mobile phones of the last two decades.
Max Verstappen was one year old
He’s now the youngest ever winner of a Formula One Grand Prix, but back in 1999, Max Verstappen’s father Jos was the one piloting Formula One cars for Honda, driving alongside the likes of Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barichello, Olivier Panis, Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve.
The younger Verstappen pulled off a stunning drive at last week's Spanish Grand Prix to, at eighteen years old, set not only a new youngest winners’ record, but also become the first Dutch winner in Formula One history.
But the last time Federer withdrew from a Grand Slam, Verstappen was still in diapers.
Lionel Messi had not yet made his professional debut
He’s consistently rated one of the best – if not the best - footballer of all time, and the 5-time Ballon d’Or winner has smashed nearly every record in football over his career so far. But in 1999, Messi was a young 12-year-old in training for what would go on to be one of the world's most illustrious professional football careers.
That year, Messi was with Newell’s Old Boys, having been a longtime fan of the Rosario-based club. In his six-year stint with them, Messi was one of their most prolific scorers, with over 500 goals to his name.
In 2000, a year later, a certain club named FC Barcelona signed him to their youth club, Barca B, with a promise to pay US $500 for the Argentine’s hormone injections; Messi suffered from Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD) and would have likely been unable to pursue a professional footballing career without the medication.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Rafael Nadal had not yet made his professional tennis debut
The Roger Federer – Rafael Nadal rivalry has become the stuff of legend, with the Spaniard leading his Swiss arch-rival 23-12 in the pair’s head-to-head. Although they have had some close finishes, it is by far the King of Clay who leads in terms of wins.
Federer himself was only one year into a professional tennis career at 18-years-old in 1999; but the most difficult opponent he has ever faced in his professional tennis career was still a teenager who would not make his tennis debut until three seasons later.
Now the namesakes of arguably the most prolific rivalry in tennis, ‘Fedal’ would not meet each other on the tennis court until years later.
Manchester United won the treble
Following a largely unsuccessful 1998 season, United in 1999 had the best season they had had in a significant period of time. That year, the squad took a treble of trophies – the FA Cup, the Premier League and the UEFA Champions League title.
United in 1999 became the first ever English club to achieve the feat.
They made a dramatic comeback in the Champions League final after trailing 0-1. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came in late in overtime to score the deciding goal that would take United to the title that season.
Virat Kohli was still in school
Now India's T20 skipper and one of the best batsmen in the limited overs form of the game, Virat Kohli has been delivering consistently superior performances through the 2016 edition of the Indian Premier League, and yesterday scored his fourth T20 ton with the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
In 1999, an 11-year-old Virat Kohli was a student at New Delhi's Vishal Bharti Public School, and had enrolled in the newly-created West Delhi Cricket Academy – part of its first intake.
Now he is one of the most well-known faces in world cricket and an idol to fans worldwide.
The Kargil War was underway – and won by India
One of the worst conflicts in the history of the Indian military, the Kargil War of 1999 saw armed forces from India and Pakistan locked in armed combat for possession of the contentious territory of Kargil in Kashmir.
Militants and insurgents had been crossing over from Pakistani territory, breaching the Line of Control which serves essentially as a border between the two warring countries.
The Indian army eventually regained posession of Kargil in a strategic missive called Operation Vijay, ending the Kargil War.
It also marked a new era in Indian television, with the war effort broadcast to screens across the nation, almost live as it happened.
Sachin Tendulkar played the most poignant innings of his career
Widely considered the greatest batsman in the history of the game, Tendulkar had been having a strong year professionally in 1999. However, that would change when, midway through the 1999 world cup, Professor Ramesh Tendulkar, Sachin’s father passed away mid way through the world cup.
Sachin missed the match against Zimbabwe, but came back from India to score a century against Kenya – 140 runs off 101 balls.
This was an emotional and an especially endearing moment for a common Indian fan. Sachin dedicated this innings in memory of his dad and considers this to be one of his best innings. It showed the vulnerable side to a man who is, and has been, considered nothing short of superhuman.
Mohammad Azharuddin was on the verge of being banned
Hyderabad-born Mohammad Azharuddin, who became the first batsman in the history of the game to score three centuries on his test debut, was India’s most successful captain in the long format of the game. In 1999, he had only recently lost the skipper’s role to teammate Sachin Tendulkar, and in the span of 8 months, his life would be turned on its head.
In the months immediately after the end of 1999, it would be revealed that Azharuddin had been heavily involved in a widespread match-fixing scandal that saw serious, and deep, associations with Mumbai’s underworld.
An eponymously titled film has since been released on the wristy cricketer’s life, chronicling his game and most significantly, the match-fixing experiences that would underline and mar what was an otherwise successful career from a talented batsman.
Serena Williams won a Grand Slam
….because some things don’t change.
The current World No. 1 made her professional tennis debut in 1995, aged only 14 – after having already played the sport for 11 years. The American tennis legend, regarded as one of the greatest the game has ever seen, was approaching her 18th birthday that year – and won not one but two Grand Slam titles in the lead-up to adulthood.
Serena Williams won the first of her 22 Grand Slam titles at the Championships in Wimbledon that year, and in 2015, with an absolutely stunning display of the prowess that first got her to top spot, returned to the Number 1 ranking.
Despite having missed a series of tournaments on the WTA circuit last year, Williams retained her No. 1 ranking – and continues to hold it to date.
And going into the French Open, it is still Serena Jameka Williams, who is reigning champion at the Stade de Roland-Garros and has won the title three times, who is the firm favourite to win the title yet again.
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