Week In Review, May 27-June 2: Real Madrid Rule Europe; Djokovic Sails, Nadal Exits French Open

Two of the greatest challenges in modern sporting history unfolded in contrasting ways last week. Rafael Nadal, the unbeatable King of Clay, was defeated in the first round of French Open while Real Madrid, the undisputed rulers of European football, extended their trophy record. (More Sports News)

Cricket's grand entry in America, the unheralded duo of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand making history in Singapore, three more Indian boxers booking Paris ticket were some other major developments of last week.

Keep reading as we take you through all this and everything else that happened in sports across continents and arenas in this piece. Here's your weekly review of sporting action from May 27-June 2.

Football

Things that one does repeatedly become muscle memory and for Real Madrid winning the UEFA Champions League final has become just that.

No team since the 1980-81 season has been able to get the better of Real in Champions League final and it was Borussia Dortmund's turn to end up on the wrong side last Saturday.

Dortmund kept disturbing Real's defence in the first half but could not disturb the scoreline which remained 0-0. Real's muscle memory kicked in after 70 minutes in the game as Vincius Jr and Dani Carvajal scored within 10 minutes of each other to take Carlo Ancelotti's side to the title.

This is Real's 6th trophy in last 10 years and 15th in total. Only AC Milan has won more titles in the history of the competition than the Madrid side has won in just the past decade.

Elsewhere, Greek side Olympiacos were crowned UEFA Conference Cup Champions after an extra-time goal helped them beat Italy's Fiorentina.

More squads were announced ahead of the Euro 2024. Check them all here.

Tennis

If Real Madrid's Champions League exploits seem unreal, wait until you check out what Rafael Nadal has achieved at the French Open. In 14 finals, Nadal has not lost even once on Parisian clay. Before this year, he had lost just three matches in his entire 115-match career at Roland Garros. Only Robin Soderling and Novak Djokovic are the opponents who had defeated him. Four times, Nadal raced to the title without even dropping a set.

The list can go on and on but we will stop.

For the first time ever Nadal tasted a Round 1 defeat at Roland Garros courtesy Alexander Zverev. An ailing body has not let the Spaniard be at his best and left his future in limbo. But his legacy remains crystal clear as the undisputed King of Clay.

With or without the King, the show had to go on in Paris.

Someone will have to play the match of her life and then put some more effort to stop Iga Swiatek from winning her third straight French Open title. Naomi Osaka tried in the second round but the world No 1 showed why she is at the top. Trailing 1-4 in the deciding set, Swiatek somehow snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to advance.

In men's singles, Andrey Rublev has been knocked out but other big guns remain in fray. Novak Djokovic is going strong, so are the next two seeds Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner. Quarters begin soon and the biggies will start cutting each other out.

The list will be narrowed down further in the coming days and by Sunday we will get our winners.

Talking of Indians, Sumit Nagal was knocked out in the first round of his maiden French Open but N Sriram Balaji has advanced to the third round in the men's doubles division. The world No 2 pairing Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden has also advanced to round 3.

Cricket

Cricket entered America with a bang. And all credit goes to Aaron Jones. The ICC men's T20 World Cup begun on Saturday with USA playing Canada. The hosts completed an easy victory riding on an incredible 40-ball 94 not out from Jones who hit 10 sixes in his innings.

The other hosts, the West Indies, played an interesting close game with Papua New Guinea but got home in the end.

India played its sole warm up game against Bangladesh and took away a lot of positives. Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya batted fluently and Arshdeep Singh looked threatening with the new ball. Virat Kohli did not play but the Men In Blue go into the tournament in good form.

Amid all this, the search for the next Indian head coach goes on. Reports suggest Gautam Gambhir is the frontrunner, but there is no official word yet.

In women's cricket, England completed a series whitewash of Pakistan at home. After defeating the visitors 3-0 in the T20I series, the hosts won the last ODI by 178 runs to take the series 2-0.

Badminton

After the big guns left stage in just the second round, Indian challenge at the Singapore Open seemed to be over. However, the pair of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand said not on our watch.

The duo beat world No 2 and World No 6 pairs in back to back rounds to reach their maiden BWF 750 event semifinal where they took the first game down to the wire but eventually lost in straight games.

This marks a breakthrough tournament for the rising Indian women's doubles pair and the fans will hope this is the start of something big.

Others

Indian women's team poor run in the European leg of the FIH Pro League continued last week as well. They lost to Germany 1-2 on Saturday and then went down against Great Britain 1-3 the next day. The double blow meant that the Indian women now have lost six matches on the trot.

The men's team had mixed results. They dominated Germany and won 3-0 on Saturday but against Great Britain they faced a heavy 1-3 defeat.

Three Indian boxers Nishant Dev, Amit Panghal and Jaismine Lamboria sealed Paris Olympics berth to join the three who have already qualified: Nikhat Zareen (50kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg) and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg).

In the US, Simone Biles won her ninth National Gymnastics Championships ahead of the Paris Olympics.

NBA Finals were also fixed after Dallas Mavericks overcame Minessota Timberwolves in the conference finals. They will now play the Boston Celtics for the championship.