Ashes 2023: Stuart Broad's bail-switching and more sports star superstition
- Published
At the Ashes on Tuesday Stuart Broad tried his mysterious routine of taking the bails - on top of the stumps - and turning them over before replacing them. He did it to "try to change his luck" as England faced Australia in the fifth Test, and it seemed it worked! Yesterday, England won the Test by 49 runs, levelling the Ashes series to 2-2. Broad took the final two wickets after his magical bails trick. And he's not the only famous face who uses a superstitious tradition to try to change his luck! Read on for more...
Next up, you'll know him from his recent Manchester City treble fame, but when Jack Grealish used to captain Aston Villa, he had a strange - and tattered - choice of boots that he brought to the pitch. The reason? He had been wearing the same pair of Nike Hypervenoms since the start of March when he came back from injury. He explained: "I got a few goals and I got a few assists and thought these were my lucky boots, I had to keep them!" They obviously did the job. Since then he has been seen wearing a slightly less broken pair for his games with Manchester City.
Over in the world of tennis world number two Novak Djokovic comes bouncing into the list with his habit of bounce, bounce, bouncing the ball loads of times before he serves. Sometimes he does it 30 times! He says: "On the important points, I try to focus more and with that focus comes the ball bouncing... I'm not trying to irritate anybody, just trying to focus."
Keeping with tennis and another player who is apparently superstitious is former US player Serena Williams. The 23-time Grand Slam champion especially used to like wearing lucky socks and, believe it or not, reports suggest that she didn't wash or change her match socks at all until each tournament was over! Phew-wee!! She also reportedly used to tie her shoes in exactly the same way before every match.
No one has won more Olympic medals than Michael Phelps - 23 of them golds. So what's his secret, could it be his pre-race ritual? Well, he certainly had one that seemed to do the trick. He'd walk poolside listening to certain music on his headphones, then he'd take them off and spin his arms round three times. Not twice, not four times, but always three. We're pretty certain it takes *slightly* more than that to become an Olympian of his standard, but it seems his little routine helped!
When working on water you've got to feel pretty comfortable around water. Well, former world champion rower Annie Vernon used to take her water bottle and pour her own water onto the oars for good luck.
And one more back on the tennis court. Goran Ivanisevic is a former Wimbledon winner. When he won in 2004, he said part of it was because he relaxed after every match by watching Tellytubbies! Eh-oh!
- Published19 June 2023
