A reading of tea leaves in sports for this year:
- Tennis: In men's tennis, Jan Sinner emerged in 2023 and came good at the AUS open. Carlos Alcaraz and Jan Sinner are clearly the next gen leaders, with Jan perhaps having an edge. Paris and Wimbledon will be the markers this year. Women's tennis could see Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek with a host of Russian/Ukrainian players competing. There's no clear rivalry here. India's Sumit Nagal shows some promise to make it to the Top 50.
- Cricket legends like Rohit Sharma and Ashwin may retire soon, making way for new talented Batsmen like Jaiswal, Sarfaraz, and possibly Dhruv Jurel to shine. Also expect IPL viewership to have some fatigue with the world T20 not getting as many eyeballs in India. Viewership for the Women's Premier League could potentially experience a significant boost.
- In the Premier League, Liverpool, Arsenal, and Man City are in a close competition. Other leagues are similar, except for Germany where Leverkusen is leading with Xabi Alonso as manager.). The surprise package was Girona in La Liga. Football will continue to be European centric irrespective of the MLS and Saudi leagues and money. Eventually it has to make commercial sense and the European market is where the money is.
- Track and Field: Led by Neeraj Chopra India can expect a good showing at the Paris Olympics. Avinash Sable hopefully can beat the Kenyans and shooters, wrestlers and weightlifters could bring some medals.
- Badminton: Anmol Kharb seems ready to take over the baton from P V Sindhu and there's some talent coming through the men's section as well.
- Hockey: India will be close to the top but perhaps not at the summit in both men's and women's field hockey.
- Football players and coaches: The Messi-Ronaldo competition is truly over, and it's now up to Mbappe, Bellingham and Haaland and perhaps some others who have not yet shown up. Klopp will retire with a great legacy and perhaps take up Germany as the next challenge. Mourinho will make an umpteenth comeback?
- Indian sports such as Kabaddi will struggle to build a global presence but continue to catch eyeballs in India.
In some ways this will be a transition year for sports but who knows the stars foretell.
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