TODAY, SUNSPORT looks at the performances of Barbados’ top sportsman, Darian King, this newspaper’s choice of Sports Personality Of The Year.
A MAN once said Darian King operates best when doubted.
Of course, everyone loves to be praised for their accomplishments and at the very least feel appreciated.
Darian included.
But the thing people most want isn’t quite what the King of Swing needs.
The man made that statement earlier in the year, not long after the National Sports Council doubted dear Darian and chose Windies skipper Jason Holder as its Sports Personality Of The Year for 2015.
SUNSPORT, however, heaped praise on him as the newspaper’s choice for the award, but that didn’t stop people from overlooking his then career-best ranking of 193, six singles titles, five doubles crowns and his historic appearance at the US Open.
It was widely felt that if King didn’t win the award then, he wouldn’t ever, considering how hard it would be to top his 2015 season.
The Bajan ace was sidelined for a month with left wrist tendinitis and then couldn’t get past the semi-finals of three straight Futures tournaments.
But you can question King all you want because he has no doubt about how good he is.
He did find a way to better 2015, and in no way anyone at home could have imagined, as the King of Swing had the best season on tour by any Bajan tennis player.
That is in no way subjective either, with King passing Martin Blackman as the highest ever ranked Barbadian pro on the ATP circuit by reaching a career-best No. 130.
The record-setting feats didn’t stop there for the right-handed baseliner, who became the only Bajan player to appear at the Olympics and the qualifying rounds of both the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
And he didn’t make up a number in the Grand Slams, having picked up opening round victories at the All-England Club and in Flushing Meadows.
King probably was unlucky not to advance to the main draw of that US Open after going up a break in the third set of his second-round qualifying match against Kazakhstan’s Aleksandr Nedovyesov.
Yet his best was probably reserved for the level below.
Counted out of every final, King proved them wrong again by winning three ATP Challenger titles in three different cities and two varying surfaces.
His breakthrough victory was the best one too, as he had to come from a set down before stunning then world No. 77 Victor Estrella in the final.
It was just one memorable win after another, with the underdog King boxing above his weight category to take down the likes of Benjamin Becker, Dennis Novikov and Mitchell Krueger in one whirlwind summer.
He even returned to show his result against Estrella was no fluke by whipping the Dominican Republic star on home soil in straight sets to valiantly level Barbados’ relegation tie.
You can doubt how good he is, but King certainly doesn’t.
