TENNIS

Both the Men and Women Finals at Wimbledon.  For the women, it was a battle of two underdogs, as no female tennis player ranked in the Top 10 made it to the Finals this year.  Instead, we got to watch two players at the top of their game, #23 ranked Sabine Lisicki vs. #15 Marion Bartoli.  Lisicki was the favorite coming into the match, but everyone underestimated just how dominant Bartoli has been playing.  Bartoli again took the reigns in this match and beat Lisicki in convincing fashion, giving France the Wimbledon female crown.

And in the Men’s final, we got the match-up that everyone expected in #1 Novak Djokovich vs. #2 Andy Murray.  Murray has been playing some of the best tennis of his life, but he also had the added pressure from his home country:  Great Britain.  Even though they are the host of the biggest tennis tournament of the year, they haven’t had a player win it in 77 years.  Andy Murray looked like their best chance in a long time.  He made the championship match last year against Roger Federer, but fell short.  Even though he got all the way back, could he close things out against the mighty Djokovich?   The answer:  A Big Yes.  Murray didn’t even lose a set.  He was that laser-focused on winning this thing.  In the post-match speeches, Djokovich was humble, saying that he knew how much this meant to Great Britain, and he was honored to be a part of the event.  Murray ends the 77-year drought, while his supermodel girlfriend, Kim Sears, watched on with proud eyes.

BASKETBALL

And in the NBA, the big story of the weekend was the ultimate end to the Dwight Howard saga.  For the past week, he has had the Mavericks, Rockets, Lakers, Warriors, and Hawks all after him begging for him to sign.  Dwight, having an ego, loved every minute of this.  But, this weekend, Dwight finally announced his decision… the Houston Rockets.  Dwight said via Twitter that he thought the Rockets were the best fit for him out of all his selections.  He didn’t want to stay in LA because he didn’t enjoy playing in head coach Mike D’Antoni’s system nor playing second fiddle to Kobe Bryant.  Houston has a good  chance to win a championship, as they have an emerging superstar in James Harden to team with Howard.

Finally, in other news related to the Howard saga, current emerging star center Omar Asik said that he didn’t want to play in Houston alongside Dwight.  He didn’t want to come off the bench, and has asked for a trade.  However, it appears that the Rockets brass are going to ignore and deny his request.  That’s rare.  Plus, it was rumored that the Rockets were trying to get Hawks all-star Josh Smith to create a ‘Big Three’ in Houston, but on Sunday it was reported that Smith had signed with the Detroit Pistons.  Bummer for the Rockets, but this makes the Pistons suddenly look very interesting on paper.  They have a huge front court with Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe, and now a flashy scoring small forward in Smith.  Pair all that with their up-and-coming point guard Brandon Knight and they may have a playoff bound squad.  It’s going to be an exciting season!