The year 2014 has seen many sporting events take place with the one most notably being the FIFA World Cup in Brazil as well as the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
The year 2014 has seen many sporting events take place with the one most notably being the FIFA World Cup in Brazil as well as the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Athletes with huge reputations behind them made their presence felt with quality gameplay and also raked in the awards.
There were also some of them who just for the sake of it, couldn’t muster up the hits even with the fan following and previous glories attached to them. The year 2014 was an unforgettable one for these sports stars who would not want to look back at all.
The below stars did disappoint this year and that’s the reason why we rank them in our 2014’s Duds of the Year category.
Sebastian Vettel (Formula One)
Four-time F1 champion Sebastian Vettel will want to forget the 2014 season as soon as possible. The German driver came into this season as a strong contender to win yet another championship but the former failed to win a single race this season, raising doubts about his authority. Red Bull finally let go of Vettel at the end of this season as the German will now drive for the Ferrari Scuderia.
Mario Balotelli (Football)
Another dud is none other than Italian forward Mario Balotelli. The former AC Milan striker switched to Liverpool in the summer transfer window this year with a 16 million pound tag but failed to hit the ground running. A single goal in the FIFA World Cup and was also dropped from Antonio Conte’s Italy squad for Euro qualifiers, Balotelli is having a catastrophic time this year.
Rafael Nadal (Tennis)
Besides winning the French Open this year, Spaniard and former world number Rafael Nadal had an underwhelming 2014 on the tennis court. After a heartbreaking loss in the finals of the Australian Open early this year, Rafa went on to win his ninth French Open title only to lose in the fourth round of Wimbledon to an unseeded Nick Kyrgios. Injury worries, poor form plagued the Spanish star thus forcing him out of the US Open as well.
Cheteshwar Pujara (Cricket)
Many former Indian cricketers predicted Cheteshwar Pujara as the next ‘Rahul Dravid’ of Team India but the Rajkot-born had a poor outing in the Test arena. In 8 matches played, Pujara could only muster up 376 runs at an average of 23.50 with only 2 half-centuries in the bag. The England tour was a washout for Virat Kohli and Pujara himself where the duo had a torrid time scoring runs off the bat.
Tiger Woods (Golf)
Former world number one in golf, Tiger Woods disappointed this year with some poor strokes and there might be a case of stiff competition. The rise of Rory McIlroy in the Golf arena has seen a sharp fall for Woods who played 7 PGA tourneys this year but failed to win in any of them
