Wimbledon finals

Because pictures worth a thousand words.

The moment it all happened

Anything is possible when you believed

The happy and adoring family

Maybe next time, Andy

On top of the world

Winner once more

A dejected Murray, with his girlfriend, Kim

Don't cry for me, Britain!

Pictures courtesy from Getty Images, AP and Murray Sanders. Taken from http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Sweet 17

It was indeed majestic.

The last time he was at the top of the ranking, it was two years ago, June 2010 to be exact. The last time he won the Slam was also two years ago, the Australian Open in 2010. He didn't win any Slams last year, the first time since 2002 he didn't win at least one. And many believed that the great man is on his way down, having turned 30 last year and busy with his family.

But not to him. Roger Federer defies the odds again by winning the Wimbledon Championship for a record equaling seventh times, by beating Andy Murray 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4. The victory returns Federer to No. 1 in ATP ranking and will tie him with Pete Sampras with a record 286 weeks atop the ATP rankings. He should pass Sampras next week.

So we meet again!

Murray carried the whole nation's hope of ending Britain's 76 years wait of a Champion. He did reasonably well in the first set, breaking Federer late in the game and holding his serve when serving for the set. The second set was tight, with breaks opportunity swinging both ways, but it was the maestro who took it when he broke Murray in the last game. The third set was briefly interrupted when torrential rain started to fall, and continued with the roof securely intact after a brief break. From then on, it was all Federer, again and again making those unbelievable shots, while Murray tried his best to keep his temper in check and keep up with a revitalized Federer.

When a Murray forehand looped narrowly wide after three hours 24 minutes of enthralling action, Federer dropped to the turf in joy, remembering those familiar feelings when he used to dominate the game and winning Slams after Slams. 

The king is back. And I hope he is here to stay.

The decision

The city of Cleveland has had it's fair share of heartbreaking moments in sporting history. They last won a major championship in 1964, when the Cleveland Brown defeated the Baltimore Colts for the NFL title. 46 years later, they are still searching for another major championship, and it looks like the wait will be longer now that their best bet at winning one has ditched the city he called home for 7 years.

Yes, LeBron James has left Cleveland for Miami. He will be joining Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, and with the three of them playing together in the same team, he hopes to win the coveted ring, which Kobe Bryant has on each of his fingers on his left hand. Yes, Kobe has 5 rings now, 5 championships that puts him one shy behind Michael Jordan. James, with all his MVPs and fantastic stats, will never be the greatest player ever if he doesn't start winning those rings. We can talk all day long about legacy and greatness, but without those rings, James is just another great player in the same boat with Steve Nash, John Stockton, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Reggie Miller, Allen Iverson and the list goes on and on.

And James wouldn't want that. That's why he is taking a paycut and ditching a city he called home for the past 7 years, an organisation who has bend over backward multiple times to give him everything he wanted, yet still fall short on delivering him the perfect support for a Championship win. Not to say he would never win one with Cleveland, but he prefers to take his chances with Wade and Bosh alongside him.

So, while Miami is building a dynasty, Cleveland is left devastated. Among others notable event in Cleveland's sports Hall of Shame:

The Drive - 1987 AFC Championship Game: Browns vs Broncos, leading by a touchdown with 5 minutes left, but John Elway lead his team 98 yards to tie the game and win in overtime.

The Fumble - 1988 AFC Championship Game: Browns vs Broncos, with 1 minute left on the clock, Earnest Byner was on his way to score the game-tying touchdown, but lost a fumble at the 3-yard line.

The Shot - 1989 NBA First Round Playoffs Game 5: Cavaliers vs Bulls, Michael Jordan scored the buzzer beater to win the series.

The Move - 1995: The Brown's owner decided to move the franchise to Baltimore, which led to plenty of lawsuits and ultimately, the suspension of the franchise for 3 years.

And now, the latest one to enter the list.

The Decision - 2010: James announcement - "This fall I am taking my talents to South Beach and play with the Miami Heat. The major factor was the best opportunity for me to win, to win now and for the future also. Winning is the most important thing for me. I feel like is going to be the best opportunity."

With Wade and Bosh alongside him now, it's a whole lot easier to win.

A tribute

Finally, a complete collection.

After 3 finals at Roland Garros, Roger Federer finally won his first French Grand Slam title. Too bad it was not Rafael Nadal at the opposite end. Instead, Robin Soderling measured up to his big upset of Nadal to reach the finals. Alas, he succumbed to a hungrier and more determined Federer.

No more tears of disappointment and sadness, it's tears of joy this time around. And what a joy it was to see him finally lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaire. Winning the title also made him only the sixth man to achieve the career grand slam and put him level with Pete Sampras with a record of 14 majors. And bearing any upsets, he might surpass that mark by winning on grass in a few weeks time in Wimbledon.

Federer's Grand Slams record:

1. Wimbledon 2003: Only 21 years old, he beat Mark Philippoussis 7-6 (7/5), 6-2, 7-6 (7/3) and claim his first grand-slam title.

2. Australia Open 2004: Federer celebrates becoming world No 1 by outclassing Marat Safin 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 6-2 for his second grand-slam title.

3. Wimbledon 2004: Defeated Andy Roddick 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 for his second of many Wimbledon titles to come.

4. US Open 2004: Federer becomes the first man in history to win his first four grand-slam finals - and the first man in 16 years to claim three Majors in one year - with a 6-0, 7-6 (7/3), 6-0 rout of Lleyton Hewitt, his first victory in New York.

5. Wimbledon 2005: Three in a row, and the victim is none other than Andy Roddick, beating him 6-2, 7-6 (7/2), 6-4.

6. US Open 2005: Defeated Andre Agassi 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 (7/1), 6-1 to defend his title.

7. Australia Open 2006: Federer recovers from a poor start to sink unfancied Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 5-7, 7-5, 6-0, 6-2 for his second title in Melbourne.

8. Wimbledon 2006: Federer takes his winning streak on grass to 48 matches by beating arch rival Rafael Nadal 6-0, 7-6, (7/5), 6-7 (2/7), 6-3 for a fourth Wimbledon crown.

9. US Open 2006: Hi Roddick, bye Roddick. Third title here by beating Andy Roddick 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.

10. Australia Open 2007: Federer becomes the first man since 1980 to win a grand slam without dropping a set as he sees off Fernando Gonzalez 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 6-4 for a third title in Melbourne.

11. Wimbledon 2007: Federer emulates Bjorn Borg by winning a fifth straight title here, beating Nadal for the second year in succession in an epic five-setter - 7-6 (9/7), 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 2-6, 6-2 - that lasted close to four hours.

12. US Open 2007: Beat the joker Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/2), 6-4 for his fourth consecutive title in New York.

13. US Open 2008: Federer recovers from his Roland Garros and Wimbledon heartbreak months earlier to win a fifth straight title at Flushing Meadows, beating Britain's Andy Murray 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 in the final as a second seed.

14. French Open 2009: Federer grabs the elusive title at Roland Garros by beating surprise finalist Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-6 (7/1), 6-4.

With more Slams to come, for sure. Go Roger!

Eight goals thriller

Liverpool can't seem to get enough of scoring 4 goals in a game. It started sometime in March when they demolished Real Madrid four goals to nil in the Champions League. Four days later, they trashed Manchester United in their own backyard for what could have been the turning point of the season for them. Of course, with only a few more games left in the season, anything can happen.

They continued their 4 goals demolition against Blackburn, with Torres scoring a brace. Then came the moment of truth, the Champions League quarterfinals against Chelsea. Being 2 goals down from the first leg, they needed a miracle to reach the semifinals.

And it almost happened.

The only problem was they also conceded four goals in that game. And Chelsea got away that night to set a date with Barcelona, leaving Liverpool to lick their wounds, and leaving them with only one silverware left to salvage their season.

The Premier League title.

And first on their hurdle - Arsenal, who were also a victim of Chelsea in the semifinals of the FA Cup. They game was not short on goals, with Liverpool again scoring 4 goals with both Torres and Benayoun on target twice. But all their hardwork were undone by their defensive errors, and the brilliance of Andrei Arshavin, who scored all 4 goals to salvage a point for Arsenal.

With 5 more games left, Liverpool cannot afford to drop anymore points if they want to overthrown Manchester United as the league's champion. Of course, they can still win all their remaining games and still be second in the league. It's all up to United to screw up, and drop points along the way.

And let's hope they do so.

Foiled yet again

Six wins in eight meetings. And the latest one in the semifinals of the Indian Wells Masters series tournament.

World number four Andy Murray defeated world number two Roger Federer 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 to reach the finals of the tournament and set a date with world number one Rafael Nadal. Nadal disposed Andy Roddick in straight set.

Murray was helped by Federer's 32 unforced errors. Federer has been in a slump eversince winning the US Open title last year, ironically by beating Murray at that time. He has since lost 4 straight to Murray, and has not won any titles.

In the women's finals, Ana Inanovic will be looking to defend the title she won here last year against Vera Zvonareva.

Yet another rematch

It's like a match made in heaven.

In the past 5 seasons of Liverpool's involvement in the Champions League, they have been pitted with Chelsea 5 times, once in the group stages and the other 4 times in the knockout phases.

2004/05 - Semifinals, Liverpool won
2005/06 - Group stages
2006/07 - Semifinals, Liverpool won
2007/08 - Semifinals, Chelsea won
2008/09 - Quarterfinals, Hopefully a win for Liverpool.

5 times in 5 years, what are the odds of that? Of course, with English team doing better each year and having more representatives in the Champions League knockout phases than other nations, it's inexplicable that one of them will face the other. And if everything works out well, we might have 3 English teams in the semifinals.

The draw for the quarterfinals:

Manchester United vs Porto
Villareal vs Arsenal
Barcelona vs Bayern Munich
Liverpool vs Chelsea

Pundits are predicting the first semifinals to be an all-English affair, with Arsenal and Manchester United locking horns to be in the finals in Rome. While the general concensus for the finals is a showdown between United and Liverpool. Now wouldn't that be just great?

Of course, Liverpool need to get pass Chelsea, and the winner between Barca and Bayern first. Chelsea has changed manager numerous times since their last encounter in 2004/05 season, with Gus Hiddink being the third manager in charge of their latest encounter. Surprisingly, it was Avram Grant who led a successful Chelsea squad past Liverpool last season, while the self-proclaim chosen one, Jose Mourinho failed in all of his attempts. Grant got the sack last season, when Chelsea decided to go with a world class manager in the form of Scolari, but the celebrated manager only lasted for a few months before he was replaced with Hiddink.

The quarter-finals will take place on April 7-8, with the return legs the following week.

Icing on the cake

It has to be something momentous, something huge, for me to start writing again. And I have finally find the reason to start again. I wanted to write about the Australia Open, but the heartbreak of seeing Federer losing the finals to his arch-nemesis Nadal was too much for me.

But tonight, seeing Liverpool trashed Manchester United 4-1 at Old Trafford is simply joyful. Especially when it came after the midweek game win against Real Madrid. Just the kind of boost that Liverpool needed after a bad run of results. Hopefully this will give them the motivation to go and win all the remaining matches left for the season.

Of course, it helps to have Gerrard and Torres fully fit and playing at their best. Like it or not, those two are instrumental in making sure Liverpool are back to the top. Problem is, Torres has been struggling with his hamstring injury all season long, and so does Gerrard.

Liverpool will be facing Aston Villa next, and it is important to keep winning to challenge for the title. Anymore stumble, like the ones they did against Middlesbrough and Manchester City, will resulted in a premature end to their title chase. Not to forget, they still have the Champions League quarterfinal to look forward to, and chances are, they might draw another English team.

The season is coming to an end, but it feels like Liverpool's season has just started.

Last 16 draw

These are the draws for the last 16 of the Champions League:

Real Madrid vs Liverpool
Chelsea vs Juventus
Arsenal vs AS Roma
Inter Milan vs Manchester United
Lyon vs Barcelona
Atletico Madrid vs FC Porto
Sporting Lisbon vs Bayern Munich
Villareal vs Panathinaikos

It would be interesting to see Alex Ferguson and Jose Mourinho matching up again. Mourinho is still in his first season with Inter Milan, and would love to have a go at Ferguson again. Inter Milan is sitting comfortably on top of Serie A at the moment.

Liverpool's reward of finishing top of the group in the qualifying round is a date with Real Madrid. Real might be struggling in the Spanish League, but that doesn't mean it's going to be an easy task for Liverpool. But nothing that Gerrard and co can't handle.

Both Arsenal and Roma are struggling in their local league, and it would be interesting to see who would win this clash. While Chelsea will be reunited with Claudio Ranieri in the form of Juventus when the two teams battle it out for a chance to play in the quarterfinals.

The ties take place on February 24/25 and March 10/11 with the final on May 27 in Rome.

Invincible no more

It wasn't a pretty win, but a win nevertheless.

Come to think of it, it was a historic win.

Xabi Alonso scored the only goal that mattered to end Chelsea's 86-game unbeaten home league record and put Liverpool as the sole leader in the English Premier League. It was also Chelsea's first defeat under new boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, who took charge of the team at the start of the season.

Liverpool so far has signalled out their title intentions, by beating Manchester United, and now Chelsea in what might be a very close race to be the champion of England. Even Hull City is in the running at the moment, but it is still too early in the season, as Jamie Carragher puts it.

But to break Chelsea's long standing record, and at the same time to score your first goal at Stamford Bridge eversince Rafa Benitez is in charge, that must be something.

I hope it's a sign for more good things to come.

Hull on cloud nine

A year ago, Hull City was playing in the English League Championship. Today, they are joint top in the English Premier League, albeit temporarily. Their bubble might burst anytime soon, but for now, they have won four straight game, and sit snugly at third with 20 points.

They are practically halfway to securing their top flight status with only 9 games played. 40 points are normally needed to be safe. With 29 more games to be played, it's considerably safe to say that Hull City will still be in the Premier League next season.

Nobody predicted that Hull will be doing so well so early in the season. Well, nobody also predicted that Spurs will be rooted at the bottom of the league searching for their first win too, but look at where they are right now. Until Juande Ramos gets the boot, Spurs will continue to struggle and might be in for a long hard battle of avoiding relegation. But that is another tale to tell.

Hull City meanwhile, keep on defying the odds and performing well playing away from home. So far they have chalked up wins against Newcastle, Arsenal, Spurs and their latest away win were against WBA. Their only blot so far were to concede 5 goals at home against Wigan.

The best part is, it's not that Hull played a totally defensive game. They do defend deep, but are also adventurous and can hold the ball for a long period of time. Their counter attacks are dangerous, and they have good players who are unselfish and pass the ball around really well. They also have a very good goalkeeper, Boaz Myhill, who made several good saves against WBA and has so far kept 3 clean sheets.

They will be entertaining Chelsea at home next Wednesday, and come Saturday, will be away at Manchester United. Most probably, they will lose both games, but my bet is, it won't be without a fight.

The tigers number one fan! How ironic!

Sorry ass Spurs

Yet another defeat, and rooted at the bottom of the league with just two points to show out of 8 games.

How worse can it get?

With a modest 4th place finish set for the year, the Spurs are surely not heading that way. They started the season on a losing end, and only got their first point away at Chelsea. After that game, manager Juande Ramos was still optimistic. The worst has passed, and it is time to move up the table. And so he thought.

A draw and 5 more losses followed, and to compound the misery, Spurs were outplayed and lost to Udinese in the UEFA Cup last night.

It doesn't take a genius to predict Spurs downfall. The arrival of Juande Ramos was thought to be a good sign to come. After all, he was the architect of Sevilla revival, and under his guidance, Sevilla went and win the UEFA Cup twice and did fairly well in the competitive Spanish La Liga. He also won his first silverware with Spurs when they beat Chelsea in the League Cup finals last year.

So it was understandable when Ramos predicted a top four finish. He has a good squad at his disposal, plenty of money to spend on new players, and the backing of the board. That's when everything starts tumbling down.

First of all, you don't sell your top strikers. Not only he sold off Robbie Keane, who with 15 league goals last season became the first Spurs player to score double figures in the Premier League in six consecutive seasons, Dimitar Berbatov also left for a greener pasture. Not that they could do anything about that, since Berbatov was really keen on a move to Manchester United. To fill in the void, Spurs bring in Darren Bent and Roman Pavlyuchenko, and both of them have yet to click playing together. Spurs spent £47.9 million on players like Luka Modric, Giovani do Santos, Heureolho Gomes and David Bentley combined. With that much money spent, it's amazing they are still rooted at the bottom when clubs like Hull City are flourishing well without spending half that much.

Players morale must be at a high time low in the dressing room. Recently David Bently vented out his frustration, with the result of him being omitted from yesterday's game. Jonathan Woodgate meanwhile warned his teammates not to repeat what Leeds United did in 2003.

Spurs are up against Bolton next, and their next two games will be against Arsenal and Liverpool. For now, their future look very bleak. Shebby Singh, a self-confessed Spurs fan, must be cursing in his sleep.

For once, I think he might fancy his chances of being the next manager of Tottenham Hotspurs.

Gooners shocked

Arsene Wenger 12th year anniversary in charge of Arsenal was spoilt when his team was shocked by newcomer Hull City at the Emirates. Prior to the game, Arsenal was riding on a 17 months unbeaten record at home, with West Ham being the only team who has beaten them previously.

Now Hull City can proudly add themselves to the list, after a courageous display of football.

Arsenal led early in the second half when Paul McShane put the ball into his own net after a neat cross by Theo Walcott created havoc in front of the goal. But Hull replied soon enough, with Marcio Geovanni letting fly a rocket into the top corner from 30 yards. Four minutes later, Hull was in front when Daniel Cousin headed the ball pass Almunia from a corner.

From then on, it was Arsenal pushing and pushing for the equaliser, and even with four extra minutes of stoppage time, failed to score that important goal.

It's a famous win for Hull City, and must have been their biggest win in their 104 years of history.

Victory in Merseyside

Robbie Keane is still looking for that elusive first goal in a red shirt. And he was thinking that the omens might be good this time around. Liverpool was playing Everton, the 208th Merseyside derby for the two teams. And Keane has a good record against Everton. He scored a hat-trick against the Toffees back in 2003. And a few years back, the previous incumbent of the number seven shirt - Harry Kewell - registered his first goal against the team across Stanley Park.

But who needs Keane, when you have Fernando Torres supplying the goals. Keane was instrumental in today's game, but it was Torres who took the limelight again. He scored two goals in the span of 4 minutes in the second half to win the game for Liverpool. It might have even been a hat-trick, if his third goal was not ruled offside.

Everton barely had any shots on target, and they played with 10 men when Tim Cahill got his marching orders in the 80th minute for a late challenge on Xabi Alonso. Everton is still looking for their first home win this season, after losing their first two games at home.

In another match, Chelsea did what Liverpool failed to do last week by scoring not only one, but two goals against the hapless Stoke City. After being the man of the match in last week's game, Thomas Sorensen failed to repeat his heroics when Jose Bosingwa and Nicolas Anelka put the ball pass him.

Meanwhile, Manchester United was gifted with a penalty to break the resilient Bolton and Christiano Ronaldo duly scored his first goal in the league. Wayne Rooney added a second after coming in as a substitute. But it was a game for United to win, as they dominated the whole game. And Robbie Keane is not alone in his search for his first goal for his new club, as Dimitar Berbatov is yet to score for Manchester United.

Liverpool is up against Manchester City next in the league, and it will be tough preserving their unbeaten run with Robinho and Shawn Wright-Philips playing so well. But with Torres scoring again, and Keane desperate for his first goal, it would be an interesting match to watch.

Roadblock

If you watch The Amazing Race, you will know that a roadblock is a task that only one person may perform.

So what does a roadblock means in football?

Well, it is when Liverpool failed to win at home when playing newcomers Stoke City.

No goals, and just one point to show.

After spending the week on a high by beating Manchester United and Marseille, Liverpool was brought down to earth by the resilient Stoke City players. Having 76% possesion of the football and 19 corners, none of their players managed to find the back of the net. Well, Steven Gerard did, from a perfectly taken freekick, but his goal was disallowed because the linesman had an itch on his armpit, and accidently raised the flag to scratch the itch. The referree, seeing the flag being raised, disallowed the goal. It would have been Gerrard 100th goal for the club, but I guess his 100th goal would just have to wait for another game.

With 11 players behind the ball, Stoke City defended deep and well to deny Liverpool any scoring oppurtunity. Liverpool had 30 shots on goal, but most of them were from long range and out of target. Robbie Keane had a few good chances, but none really counted. He remain goalless for his new club, and suddenly the £20 million Liverpool paid for his services seems a little too much.

While everyone in the red shirt were pushing the ball forward, Pepe Reina was seen having a ciggarette and drinking a couple cans of beer while lounging in between his goalpost. Must be lonely with his defenders playing as midfielders, leaving him all alone at the back. Rory Delap occasionally threw the ball to Reina, but Reina was up for it and caught the ball easily. It's amazing that Reina didn't join the other Reds up front since he really had nothing much to do standing in between the goalpost. He might have been able to score the winning goal, since everyone else was just plain unlucky (except for Keane though, he was pretyy useless).

So there you go, a roadblock along the way. Would it matter? Probably so, if Liverpool is looking to win the title. Because dropping points while playing in Anfield against lowly teams would definitely come to haunt you later on in the season.

Is he worth £20 million?

Four games into the season, with no goals to show so far. Yes, it is still early to judge Robbie Keane, but with a price tag of £20 million, a lot of expectations are on him to shoulder the scoring load for Liverpool this season. And so far, he has done none of it yet.

The arrival of Fernando Torres last season really helped Liverpool in the scoring department. Torres justified the £26.5 million spent on him with a record breaking 33 goals in his debut season. And it didn't take long for him to get settle down in England, scoring his first English Premier League goal on his Anfield debut in a match against Chelsea. And from there on, he never looked back.

Keane has been playing in England for years now. He was with Wolverhampton, Coventry City, Leeds United and Tottenham in a career spanning close to 10 years. Of course there was that half season he spent with Inter Milan, but that was a big flop for him. He only survived a few months there with 9 games under his belt and no goal to show.

He might need some time to settle in and get used with Liverpool style of play, but with his experience playing in the Premier League, it shouldn't be long before he can get that first elusive goal. Liverpool is on track at the moment, winning 3 games and drawing one. But the icing on the cake was last night game when they finally beat Manchester United 2-1. It was their first league win over Manchester United since April 2004. And if they can keep playing on like they did yesterday, they might be one of the front-runners for the title this season.

It is still too early to predict anything. But there's no harm to have a little hope.

Picture perfect!

Back to winning ways

It's good to see him winning again. Especially after he had such an unlucky year, losing the Australian Open in the semifinals, then trashed by Nadal in the French Open finals, and again losing to Nadal in that epic Wimbledon finals.

He finally got it right in the US Open. Seeded second for the first time in four and a half years, Roger Federer finally won his first major title of the year. And in doing so, he became the first man to win five Slams in a row at two different events, having also completed the feat last year at Wimbledon. No one had won five US titles in a row since Bill Tilden in 1924.

Federer dispatched sixth-seeded Andy Murray, the conquerer of the world's number one Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, 6-2 7-5 6-2. Murray went into his first Grand Slam final with a 2-1 lifetime record against the champ. But trying to become the first British man to win the US Open since Fred Perry in 1936, he never had a chance. He might have played the perfect game in his win against Nadal, but against Federer, he was out of sorts.

Federer hit 36 winners compared to Murray's 16 and he earned nearly half his points at net, a skill he honed while winning the Olympic gold medal in doubles. He only took one hour and 51 minutes to finish the match, which in fact was one of the easiest match he had on his way to winning the title.

In the semifinals, he beat Novak Djokovic 6-3 5-7 7-5 6-2 in nearly 3 hours, and had to rely on his strong servis game to hold onto his serve. He mustered 20 aces along the way, while limiting his errors to 28 compared to Djokovic's 47 errors.

The quarterfinals was also a close game, with Federer beating Gilles Muller 7-6 6-4 7-6 in two hours and 30 minutes. Muller, the big server from Luxembourg led the tournament with 128 aces but Federer managed on to win the match by limiting his errors.

He had his toughest match in the Fourth Round, where he needed three and a half hours to beat Igor Andreev from Russia in five sets, 6-7 7-6 6-3 3-6 6-3. It was a tense match where Federer had an error strewn game, committing 60 unforced errors but he made that up by hitting 66 winners to claim the match.

Federer's 56th career crown moved him into sole possession of second place on the all-time Slam title list, one more than Roy Emerson and one below the career record 14 won by Pete Sampras. Up next will be the Australian Open for him to equal Sampras 14 amazing feat. It won't be easy, but as long as he believes in himself, I'm sure he will be the greatest ever player in the history of tennis.

When the holding gets tough

As expected, the Jamaicans are in the finals of the 4x100m relays. Both the men and the women. And they look good for the gold, barring any mishandling of the baton. Like what happened to the U.S. The Americans found out that they just couldn't handle the baton properly, the hard way.

First, the men dropped the baton. Tyson Gay just couldn't connect with Darvis Patton and he ended up empty handed. Tyson Gay will now leave Beijing without running in a final. He failed to qualify for the 100m finals a few days back. Then the women followed suit. Lauryn Williams now has two Olympic baton drops on her resume. She and Marion Jones had a slip-up in the 2004 Olympics, a blunder that cost the U.S. a gold medal. Not that it mattered though, since if they did win the gold, it would have been stripped anyway because of Marion Jones involvement with a certain drug.

It must be heartbreak for the Americans, who see themselves as favourites to win the sprint events. Instead, they keep falling short of expectations. For the first time in Summer Games history, the U.S. will leave an Olympics 0-for-6 in the sprint races: the men’s and women’s 100s, 200s and 4x100 relays.

Now Jamaica has the chance of emulating the 1984 U.S. sprint team, which went 6-for-6 in the Olympic sprint races.

Ops! I think I drop something!

You're supposed to hold it, not drop it!

Lightning does strike twice

The fastest man in the world did it again. And it was as impressive as the first time.

Usain Bolt of Jamaica broke the world record by winning the 200m in 19.30 seconds, becoming the first man since Carl Lewis in 1984 to sweep the 100 and 200 gold medals at an Olympics. Bolt is also the first man ever to break the world records in both sprints at an Olympics.

He was way ahead of the other runners, but instead of slowing down like he did in the 100m race, he went all the way eyeing the old record of 19.32 seconds set by Michael Johnson in Atlanta in 1996. Churandy Martina of Netherlands Antilles was second, 0.52 seconds behind Bolt. But he was later disqualified because of lane infringement, together with Wallace Spearmon of the United States.

Bolt still have another event, which is the 4x100m relay. Jamaica is one of the favourite, with Asafa Powell also in the team. So far Jamaica has caught the headlines with the sprinters winning gold in the sprint event. The women won the 100m and 400m race, and they are also favourite for the 200m and the 4x100m relay.

Another new world record for Bolt

Bolt crossing the line way ahead

The end of a hope

A few hours ago, the whole nation was hoping for our first gold in the Olympics. The signs were good. Lee Chong Wei is seeded second, and he played a solid game going through to the finals. But he is up against the world's number one, Lin Dan from China.

Can a Malaysian be mentally strong enough to win away from home?

We saw Venus Williams crumbled under pressure when being heckled by the big Chinese crowd. In the game against Li Na, she lost the handle, committing so many unforced errors and double faults on her way to the exit.

And the Chinese crowd can really be zealous and rowdy. They cheer on every mistakes you make, and disrupt your concentration so bad that you started to make more mistakes.

And that was what exactly happened to Chong Wei. He lost the first set tamely to Lin Dan, 12-21. From the moment the game started, Lin Dan was in control. He played a perfect game, ripping Chong Wei apart mercilessly.

The second set had the same story. Lin Dan raced to an 8-0 lead before Chong Wei finally got on the scoreboard. It ended as quick as the first set, with Chong Wei soundly defeated 8-21. All those expectations, all those hopes, in the end were too heavy for Chong Wei to carry on his shoulder.

Yet another silver medal. And another four years wait for our first gold.