TENNIS
- Ivan Dodig reached his first Grand Slam final this weekend, falling in the men’s doubles final to the Bryan Brothers. Read more here: Dodig/Melo fall to Bryan Bros. in Wimbledon doubles final
- Ana Konjuh reached the semifinals of the Juniors tournament at Wimbledon before falling in three sets to American Taylor Townsend. Ana played the tournament without her first serve, making it very difficult on service games. Her next tournament begins July 15th in Contrexeville, France.
SOCCER
Video of the Week (Thanks to Faux Cro)
- Dinamo Zagreb were crowned winners of the Croatian Super Cup on Saturday, beating Hajduk 4-1 in penalties after a close match ended with the teams at one goal apiece. Read more here: Dinamo Defeats Hajduk, Clinches Super Cup
- Croatia fell in the Round of 16 of the U-20 World Cup to Chile last Monday. Read more here: Mladi Vatreni bow out of World Cup after 2 late Chilean goals
- Tomislav Dujmović has completed a move from Dinamo Moscow, where he failed to get consistent playing time, to RNK Split. He hopes to lead Split to the “European places, if not the title”.
- Genoa is rumored to have offered four million euros for Dinamo Zagreb defender Šime Vrsaljko. Šime was left out of the Dinamo squad for the Super Cup, but nothing has been confirmed from the two teams.
- Lazio is said to be in the hunt for 22 year old forward Ante Vukušić. The move for the ex-Hajduk man is expected to be made official this week.
BASKETBALL
Martin Junaković passes up the court
- Croatia were knocked out of the U-19 FIBA World Championships in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-ups Serbia. They fell 66-73, despite 30 points from star Dario Šarić. Šarić made the all-tournament team, as he was the 2nd in the tournament in points per game (20.3), assists per game (4.9), and rebounds per game (11.2).
Croatia-Serbia highlights
Dario Saric interview
- Bojan Bogdanović, who was drafted by the New Jersey (Brooklyn) Nets and left overseas for the past two years, has signed a three year deal with the Nets that will see him compete for the backup small forward position. Bojan is the first Croat to play in the NBA since Roko Ukić left the Bucks in 2010.
- The U-20 European Championships begin this week, with Croatia facing Turkey in their first game on Tuesday. Some of the U-19 players will be joining the team after their exit in the World Championships, but Dario Šarić does not look to be among them.
ATHLETICS
- Ana Šimić and Blanka Vlašić jumped in the women’s high jump at the Paris Diamond League meet on Saturday, both turning in mediocre performances in front of a crowd of over 55,000. Ana jumped 1.92 meters and finished tied for 4th, three centimeters off her personal best. Blanka finished in a tie for 2nd, jumping 1.98 meters but not coming close on her three attempts at a season high of 2.01 meters. She will be competing at the next Diamond League meet, in Monaco on July 19th. The Croatian record holder sits 3rd in the Diamond League rankings, with three competitions remaining. The winner of the “Diamond Race” receives $40,000, while 2nd, 3rd, and so on take home nothing.
Blanka’s final attempt at 2.01m
“I’m glad I had a good feeling and good rhythm at the competition. I am stronger than before and this stadium surface is acceptable for me now. I still see every height as a challenge and I used too much energy on the lower heights, which I didn’t even notice at the time” – Blanka Vlašić
- Sandra Perković threw for a season’s best, world lead, and meet record at the Diamond League meet in Lausanne last week, winning by over 2.5 meters. Her throw of 68.96 meters bested her own world lead by 48 centimeters. With two Diamond League competitions remaining for the Women’s discus, Sandra has clinched the Diamond League title. She has 20 points (5 wins), with her nearest competitors at just four points.
While I am against this, let’s remember there are tons of Hrvati in Vojvodina, especially Subotica.
Why would Hajduk sign him? Hajduk has a better GK.
WTF delac is going to Vojvodina! That’s like being exiled to the forbidden zone in planet of the apes. Time for hajduk to come to the rescue.
dvije djevojke, jednu je nas.
You guys see the news that Matej Delac (some of you will remember him when you foolishly said he was the future national team GK while never having watched him play after he was signed by Chelsea; you’ll also remember me warning you that he would never wear the Chelsea jersey in a competitive match) signed with Vojvodina. Wow, his career has slipped so low that he now has to got play in Novi Sad. Can’t wait to watch his first game at Zvezda or Partizan and the abuse he will take. That will be entertaining.
The rules in the NBA on using your hands vary on the each night depending on the refs/players but they are really cracking down on it. Basically you can’t extend your arm ever and if someone is posting you up, you can only use a forearm on the back.
As for Saric, if he can develop a jump shot then maybe he can use that creative dribbling effectively. But like Ziva Istina broke it down; 3s will be able to guard him as he doesn’t have the speed for them and 4s can just back off of him daring him to shoot. I do see him as a eventual 4 if he can add weight due to his rebounding instincts. And as per the NBA finals, a lot of teams are playing small ball these days with athletic 4s.
I casually watch basketball once a decade or so. Most of your tactical comments go over my head. When did hand checking become illegal in the US?
A friend of mine is a high school coach in NYC and he said that fouls are called if you even put a hand on someone’s back.
We shall see. But, in the NBA he won’t have the athletic advantage over his defender. A “3” will be able to guard him one-on-one……Now, if he has any low post moves, then watch out. That would force teams to play a “4” and then he would be able to create some good mismatches that work in his and his team’s favor.
Hopefully no DUI arrests and other related booze incidents in the NBA for him.
Too bad we didn’t get to see him play the USA. I really would have liked to see what Billy Donovan would have done against him.
@ Armada
You can’t tussle with the muscle?
I love the big athletic Hrvatice!
Dobri Dosli Bojan! Please be half decent.
@ Zach
Always appreciate your work with these pieces.
Dario Saric has got that swag with the handle. I know some of you Hockey watching zemljaci do not understand what that is, but it means everything! When they try to jump him in the NBA he will roll buy them Rubio Style. Give this kid a solid year of training and getting his young man body and with the new rules on the perimeter with NO hand checking and we can have fun watching him rock in the A!
The U19 Team were without 18 year old Mario Hezonja, who should be a lottery pick in the NBA draft next year. He supposedly has infinite upside except for his mental game. I watched the team play and they definitely could have used another main scorer because everything was going through Saric. And Saric looked better than the competition, but I think he has a lot of work to do before being able to mak an impact in the NBA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dvYe-fSyNg
I’m 6’3” 230 and pretty well built, but I can’t compare with those guns brate, she would squeeze the life outta me…
Armada87 unless you have zero muscle or are 60 + no way.
Sandra is 6’0”, 200 pounds…
bitch would eat me for breakfast…
Shouldn’t tennis be moved to the LGBT section?
Did yall here about the Serbi gettin pissed at Dodig’s Cro logo on his shirt, the Serb’s claim it’s an insult to all Serbi worldwide & the logo clearly resembles the notorious Ustasa symbol
Nice compilation put together of Kovacic, well done Faux Cro, really good work
wow at ..Sandra Perkovic ..SHE’S A BIG BIATCH