(Photo Credit: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / Getty Images)

Catching Up On Anything You May Have Missed Over The Weekend

Novak Djokovic withstood two match points and won a magnificent five-set final at Wimbledon on Sunday, defeating Roger Federer 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 4-6, 13-12 (3). No final had ever gone to 12-12, and that only underscored the tautness of this battle that was also the longest in the tournament’s history at four hours and 57 minutes.

Here, with the crowd clearly pulling for Federer, Djokovic simply flipped a mental switch in earning this title.

“You have that kind of electric atmosphere, that kind of noise, especially in some decisive moments where we’re quite even. You just try to ignore it. I like to transmute it in a way: When the crowd is chanting ‘Roger,’ I hear ‘Novak.’ It sounds silly, but I try to convince myself that it’s like that.”

This victory was Djokovic’s fifth at Wimbledon; Federer has eight.

In Saturday’s ladies’ final, Simon Halep won her first Wimbledon title by beating Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2. Williams lost in the finals for the second consecutive year.

Golf:
South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli shot a final-round 64 to win the John Deere Classic on Sunday. It was the first PGA Tour victory for the 29-year-old. The bigger news is that the British Open is this week and being played in Ireland for the first time since 1951.

Elsewhere:
Kurt Busch won two-lap overtime over his brother Kyle to take NASCAR’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday night.

The Tampa Bay Rays got a combined pitching effort that produced a perfect game through eight innings on Sunday against the Baltimore Orioles. Hanser Alberto’s single leading off the bottom of the ninth ruined the effort by Ryne Stanek and Ryan Yarbrough. The Rays won 4-1.

Maikel Franco hit a walk-off solo home run to lift the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-3 win over the Washington Nationals.
The Oakland A’s scored in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off 3-2 win over the Chicago White Sox. The A’s have homered in 15 straight games.

The Oakland A’s scored in the bottom of the ninth for a walk-off 3-2 win over the Chicago White Sox. The A’s have homered in 15 straight games.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman