couldnt come soon enough. And that exuberance rubbed off on everyone who laid eyes on him.Hes unique, his first manager, Mike Redmond,?once told me. Hes not the kind of guy where you co

It was a cathartic year in professional tennis with some notable drop-offs, flameouts, missteps and more than the usual supply of shenanigans.Here are our 10 biggest disappointments of 2016:1.?Maria Sharapovas drug banAfter five consecutive years of finishing among the WTAs top 10 players, the long, cool Russian ended 2016 with no ranking at all. That followed a cathartic year that began with a trip to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, her only on-court action of the season, and ended in October when the Court of Arbitration for Sport reduced her two-year suspension to 15 months.Sharapova was caught with meldonium in her system, a drug she said was first prescribed for a heart condition 10 years earlier, but one that has shown recovery benefits and was added to the banned list in 2016. Sharapova and her team, apparently, never read that email. Thus, the second-most successful active womens player (five Grand Slams), and possibly the most successful off it (with more than $20 million annually in endorsements), was taken out of play.Shell return in time for next years French Open at the age of 30 but hardly contrite. I know who I am and I know how Ive played the sport since I was a young girl, with integrity, she said. Ive never taken the easy way out. Im one of the biggest fighters in the game. I love what I do and I will continue to keep doing it and forming my legacy.2. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer lose a stepIn a case of cruel symmetry, the French Open represented the end of an era. Federer, struggling with knee and back injuries, was forced to pass on Roland Garros, ending his record streak of 65 consecutive Grand Slam appearances that dated to 1999, when he lost in the second round of qualifying for the US Open. Nadal won his first two matches in Paris and then withdrew before the third, citing a nagging left wrist injury.He had been seeking his unprecedented 10th French Open title. Nadal, now 30, finished the year ranked No. 9. Federer, 35, is at No. 16. Theyll both be in action for 2017, but few are willing to bet either will bring home another major title.3.?Novak Djokovics second-half flameoutHe won the seasons first two majors and the talk of a single-season Grand Slam seemed quite plausible. But after he completed his career Grand Slam, taking the French Open in a four-set final over Andy Murray, it all fell apart. He acknowledged private issues after losing to Sam Querrey in the third round at Wimbledon and then lost his first match in the Rio Olympics to Juan Martin del Potro, leaving the court in tears.There was a wrist injury that dogged him for months and an unnerving lack of confidence. Djokovic gamely reached the finals of the US Open and the ATPs year-end tournament in London, but he lost to Stan Wawrinka and Murray, respectively. The season couldnt end quickly enough for the 29-year-old Djokovic.4. Serena Williams surpassed by Angelique Kerber: Like her Serbian counterpart, Serena lost her grip on the No. 1 ranking in surprising fashion. In nine years of Grand Slam play, Angelique Kerber had never, ever reached a final. In Australia, the German had only reached the fourth round twice, but in 2016, she blew through to the final opposite Williams and emerged with a three-set victory, her first ever on the major stage.Serena won the rematch at Wimbledon but Kerber took the seasons last major, the US Open, and finished the season No. 1. Serena, who averaged two Slam titles for each of the past four years, looked all of her age - 34 - and her season ended abruptly in New York for the second straight year.5.?Garbine Muguruza doesnt back it upLike Djokovic, Muguruza saw her season essentially end after capturing her first French Open title. Before meeting Serena Williams in the 2015 Wimbledon final, the young Spanish player talked a good game, saying: She knows I can win against her, that Im not afraid, and I dont think shes used to this. Muguruza lost that match but returned the favor a year later at Roland Garros, winning her first Slam title by beating Serena in a straight-sets final.And then -- nothing. Muguruza got smoked 6-3, 6-2 in the second round at Wimbledon by qualifier Jana Cepelova. Then in her third match at the Rio Olympics, she lost 6-1, 6-1 to eventual gold medalist Monica Puig. Her US Open also ended badly, with a second-round loss to Anastasija Sevastova. Muguruza, now 23, has won all of three career titles. Its time to stop talking and start winning.6.?Nick Kyrgios checks outFirst, the 21-year-old Aussie took himself out of the running for Rio following a long-running feud with the Australian Olympic Committee. Kyrgios website explained in a statement the reason was, The AOCs unfair and unjust treatment and that the organization had chosen to publicly and privately disparage him.Then, three October days after winning the biggest title of his career in Tokyo, Kyrgios visibly tanked in a 6-3, 6-1 loss to Mischa Zverev in Shanghai. If you dont like it, I didnt ask you to come watch. Just leave, Kyrgios explained. He was fined $25,000 and suspended for the balance of the season. In a tweet, Kyrgios had the last word: Im better than that. I can go on about excuses but there are none. Sorry. Hes got all of 2017 to make up for it.7.?Eugenie Bouchard drops off the (tennis) radarIn 2014, the Canadian blew through to the semifinals of the Australian Open and French Open and the final at Wimbledon. It was an astonishing breakthrough for a player who turned 20 that season, suggesting there was a new competitor at the highest level of tennis. But then Bouchard lost 18 of 30 matches in 2015 and reportedly sustained a concussion in a fall in the US Open locker room.The 2016 campaign was better (31-24 and over $500,000 in prize money), but the record in majors was a so-so 4-4 after shed gone 19-4 two years earlier. Her social media skills, on the other hand, are stellar. Bouchard spends an awful lot of time sharing provocative shots of herself on Twitter and Instagram. Might time be better spent on the practice court?8.?Gael Monfils goes rope-a-dope?The 30-year-old Frenchman was one of the feel-good stories of the 2016 season, finishing with a personal-best year-end ranking of No. 7. He vaulted into the semifinals opposite Djokovic at the US Open, his best effort ever in New York, but was visited by a fit of Monfils Madness.He was booed in the second set of a four-set loss for an apparent lack of effort, moving ESPN analyst John McEnroe -- of all people -- to call Monfils sluggish behavior bizarre and unprofessional. Djokovic became so unstrung he ripped open the collar off his shirt. Monfils later defended his actions as strategy. Instead of being able to say this was finally the year Monfils won a Slam, people were saying it was the same old Monfils.9. Roland Garros still roof-lessThe record Paris rainfall forced the Louvre museum to move its lower-level art treasures to higher ground and left the Seine rising to dangerous levels. But at Roland Garros, the only Grand Slam venue without at least one roof-covered show court, there was no defense against the weather that wreaked havoc on the schedule.French Open tournament director Guy Forget, a popular rainy-day interview subject, said the schedule for a new roof was now 2020 -- at the earliest. In other countries, Forget acknowledged, things are quicker. Welcome to France.10. The Gong Show dooms Andy MurrayThe Wimbledon champion was facing Kei Nishikori in the US Open semifinals and looking good, leading two sets to one. And then, with the score tied 1-all in the fourth, a huge noise -- much like a gong -- rang through Arthur Ashe Stadium. The point was immediately stopped by chair umpire Marija Cicak, sending Murray into hysterics.He felt he was in command of the point and it should have continued, based on Cicaks earlier promise to play through such distractions. Later, the USTA said that a digital audio sound processor had malfunctioned. By then it was too late for Murray, who dropped the next five games to lose the fourth set and then lost the fifth set 7-5. Trent Alexander-Arnold Jersey . "It doesnt get any better than that," Giambi said. "Im speechless." The Indians are roaring toward October. Giambi belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer with two outs in the ninth inning to give Cleveland a shocking 5-4 win over the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night, keeping the Indians up with the lead pack in the AL wild-card race. Roberto Firmino Jersey . 8 Iowa State on Saturday, sending the Cyclones to their third consecutive loss. The Longhorns (14-4, 3-2) got their biggest win of the season with their third in the row in the Big 12. http://www.liverpoolgear.us/Authentic-Caoimhin-Kelleher-Liverpool-Jersey/ . No. 13-seeded John Isner and No. 21 Philipp Kohlschreiber were among six players who dropped out of the tournament on Tuesday, joining No. 12 seed Tommy Haas and two other players who withdrew on Monday. Virgil van Dijk Liverpool Jersey .J. -- Marshawn Lynch said Thursday it will be good to get back to football after the Seattle quiet talking running back wrapped up his final mandatory media session of Super Bowl week. Naby Keita Liverpool Jersey . Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision. Lets hope that someday, when we think of Jose Fernandez, we can remember the smile, we can remember the charisma, we can remember the special joy he brought to every day he ever spent on a baseball field.But right now, its just too hard to get beyond the sadness. How do we even put that sadness into words as we try to process the incomprehensible news of the passing of one of baseballs shining stars, at the far-too-young age of 24?We will always have Fernandezs remarkable numbers to remind us of what he had already accomplished in a career that would last a mere 76 trips to a big league mound. But how do we measure what it is weve lost, what the Miami Marlins have lost, what the sport of baseball has lost?Where was this man heading in life? Where was he heading in baseball? Its like asking, How high is the sky? Because for Jose Fernandez, life had no limits. Every day, he looked at the world and thought, Why not? Ask anyone who ever spent five minutes around him. They would be the first to tell you there were four words in the dictionary he could never accept:That. Cant. Be. Done.So of course he made it out of Cuba, no matter how many attempts it took. Of course he jumped straight from the Florida State League to the big leagues at 20 years old. Of course he made it back from Tommy John surgery in just 13 months and looked as if hed never missed a start. Of course he would make 42 starts at home in his career and lose only two of them.This was the essence of Jose Fernandez. He approached every day thinking only of what he could do, what he would do. His world was filled only with possibilities. So on this day, the cloud above us is darkened by all those painful thoughts of what might have been. And its going to take a very long time to stop asking ourselves that question: What might he have been had he lived the rich, full life he deserved?He could have been Pedro Martinez. He was that talented. He was that unique. He was that irrepressible. He had that much natural pitching genius inside of him.Four years into his career, he had an ERA+ of 150 -- which is incredible. If youre not familiar with that stat, it compares each pitcher to the other pitchers of his time, and the average pitcher is graded at 100. So that tells you how much better Fernandez was than anyone around him.But maybe this will tell you more: Among right-handed pitchers whose careers began sincee World War II, do you know how many had a better ERA+ through 70 starts or more? That would be none.dddddddddddd. Zero. Behind Fernandez youll find the likes of Dwight Gooden, Tom Seaver and Roger Clemens. Fernandez was off to a greater career start than all of them. Wow.But with this man, the what might have been scenarios shouldnt merely be confined to what he could have accomplished on a pitchers mound. This was a guy who was going to make a mark on the planet.People were drawn to him. People who spanned every spectrum of American life. His teammates. His coaches. The Latino community of South Florida. Kids. And when he pitched, when Jose Day arrived in Miami, there was nothing like it. Nothing.In the 2014 and 15 seasons, his starts in Miami drew an average of 26,938 ticket buyers. When anyone else pitched, the average attendance was 21,113. That difference computes to 27.6 percent more customers roaring through the turnstiles when Fernandez pitched than for any other game.?He would bounce around the field on those days with the joy of a kid ripping open his birthday presents. His chance to take that baseball and work his magic couldnt come soon enough. And that exuberance rubbed off on everyone who laid eyes on him.Hes unique, his first manager, Mike Redmond,?once told me. Hes not the kind of guy where you come in and hes sitting at his locker with his game face on and you cant talk to him. I mean, hes hitting in the cage, hes bunting in the cage, hes in my office, hes sitting on the couch, hes talking to me about a couple of hitters. Then hes out, and hes back in. Hes joking with the guys. Hes all over the place.So hes unique. I never played with a guy like that, man. And thats how he is every day. ... Just that day that he gets the ball, he cant wait. He just really loves to pitch.There is nothing sadder, in life or in sports, than unfulfilled potential. So to have the life of this man -- with this sort of talent, this much possibility, this sense of joy, this unending love of living every day -- be cut short so soon, it is even harder to comprehend than it is to accept.Maybe someday, well be able to focus again on that talent and that joy. But right now, this just feels like one of the saddest sports stories of our lifetimes. ' ' '