5 best athletes for the week 2nd May - 10 May

Every week, we profile 5 athletes across sports whose performances in the week have stood out as superlative.

Stephen Curry

He is the reigning NBA MVP, and the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry has proved exactly why he deserves that title. Out for a number of matches with a serious knee sprain, Curry came back in the Warriors’ game against home side Portland Trail Blazers, a match that went down to the wire.

In the end, with the match going into overtime as each team attempted to wrest the lead from each other in the dying moments of the game, Curry scored 40 points, 17 of those in overtime, to take his team to an eventual victory.

If reports are to be believed, Curry is on the verge of taking his second MVP title in a row, and today showed why he merits it.

Andy Murray

He may have lost the final to Novak Djokovic, but Andy Murray excelled through the Madrid Open

The Scot recently faced off against powerful World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the finals of the Madrid Open in Spain, and although he did not come out victorious in that contest, still wins as one of our athletes of the week.

Now dropping to World No. 3 following that loss, Murray nevertheless put up a strong fight against a number of opponents in the match, most notably King of Clay Rafael Nadal.

The resurgent Spaniard took titles at both the previous two clay court tournaments – in Monte Carlo and Barcelona, and with the prior took his 28th Masters title, then equalling Novak Djokovic’s all-time record – a record Djokovic himself would break with his win in Madrid.

However, Murray looked commanding in the match against Nadal, beating him in straight sets after having emerged victorious over the Spaniard in the finals of the same tournament in 2015.

Murray has recently taken a renewed liking to drop shots, and used them to his advantage in the match against Nadal. He would bring them out again in the final against Djokovic, and to some good effect. After controlling Nadal in the semi-finals, he taxed Djokovic in the second set, with the Serb committing a number of unforced errors and unable to parlay some renewed shot-making from the Scot.

For impressing in both victory and loss, Andy Murray is one of our athletes of the week.

Luis Suarez

Suarez has scored as many goals in his last 3 matches as Aston Villa have all season

FC Barcelona striker Luis Suarez has enjoyed a good season – a season so good, in fact, that he has been significantly responsible for his team’s presence at the top of La Liga.

With 56 goals in 51 games for the team, Suarez also starred in his team’s victory last week against Espanyol, a victory that kept the table-toppers in the lead, with Real Marid and Atletico Madrid also involved in a close title chase.

Suarez scored two goals and assisted to take his team to a victory they needed to remain on top, and with Real Madrid only a point behind them, one that is crucial to a title victory.

The Uruguayan also leads the list of top goal scorers in Spain, ahead of both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Virat Kohli

Kohli contributed the majority of the runs in a decisive victory for his team

He is consistently hailed as one of the strongest batsmen in world cricket today, and Virat Kohli, captaining the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League, put in a superlative performance at his team’s match against the Rising Pune Super Giants in Bengaluru last week.

With the home side chasing a massive total – 192 – set by a strong performance from Pune batsman Ajinkya Rahane, the Challengers needed to set a solid foundation against their rivals.

KL Rahul looked strong with the bat, and began the Challengers’ juggernaut, but it was Kohli who spurred on his side, leading decisively from the front. Missing an opportunity to run Kohli out early in the match would prove very expensive for the Rising Pune Super Giants, with Kohli going on to score 108* off only 58 deliveries, contributing the lion’s share of his team’s score.

Although his team were patchy with the ball and in the field, Kohli hit his own second hundred in IPL 2016 – and in T20 cricket (the first coming against the Gujarat Lions last week) to steer his team to victory.

Jorge Lorenzo

Lorenzo took a decisive win at the French MotoGP last week

Movistar Yamaha MotoGP rider Jorge Lorenzo is the reigning MotoGP world champion, and the Spaniard has had a good year so far. Rival and double world champion Marc Marquez led the championship standings ahead of last week’s French MotoGP at Le Mans, having finished every race so far on the podium, while Lorenzo had had a retirement early in the year.

Lorenzo smashed a track record at Le Mans to go top in qualifying, and began the race on pole. Beginning the race from the front, Lorenzo took a lead in the opening seconds of the race, and proceeded to widen it as the race progressed.

That would not be the end of Lorenzo’s glory. With podium contender Marc Marquez firmly in P2, Lorenzo was still behind on the championship standings. With Marquez crashing out, however, and Lorenzo driving a completely flawless race, the reigning champion, who is in his final year with Movistar Yamaha MotoGP, took not only the race win but a 7-point lead in the championship with it.