The Wonderful World of Sports

Congratulations Germany for winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil by beating Argentina 1-0 in extra time. I don't think there was a runaway favorite in the final, with both teams having a legitimate chance of winning. However, recent history has shown that the team that scored the most goals during the World Cup leading up to the final would end up winning; it was no exception this year. Germany now become the first ever European team to win on South American soil.

photo from fifa.com , courtesy of Getty images

It was an amazing World Cup with a brilliant mix of expected results and massive shockers. There were a lot of upsets - defending champion Spain failed to make it past the group stage, along with Italy and England. As scintillating shockers go, however, none would have been as big as Germany's 7-1 demolition of Brazil in the semifinals. (There are a while lot of amazing stats but rather than list them all here, you can just take a look at this link from Sky Sports.)

That Brazil semifinal loss wasn't the only shellacking that happened in a major sporting event in the last several days though. In the women's final at Wimbledon last July 5, Petra Kvitova won her second trophy by being in the zone and dismantling Eugenie Bouchard 6-3, 6-0. After the minor blip in the first set when Kvitova lost focus and got broken while serving for the set at 5-2, she didn't drop another game. It was the most comprehensive Wimbledon rout since Steffi Graf beat Monica Seles in the 1992 final with the loss of only 3 games as well. I normally prefer watching competitive matches when I am not strongly rooting for one player but sometimes it's great to see someone at the top of their game, with winners just continually flying off their racquet. It was an absolute tennis master class!

photo from the www.telegraph.co.uk, courtesy of Getty images

Petra must also be Novak Djokovic's lucky charm. The first time she won Wimbledon in 2011, Novak also won. The two are now both two-time Wimbledon champions. However, unlike Petra, Novak was taken to the absolute limit by Roger Federer who had great chances to win the title, including when he held breakpoint in the fifth set. Alas, it was not to be as Novak saved that point and Roger eventually folded when he served to stay in the match at 4-5. (Of course, it can be argued that this really was Novak's match to win since he served for the match in the fourth set and even held match point then before possibly succumbing to nerves.) This meant that Novak is now the #1 player in the world again, supplanting Rafa Nadal (too bad). It also prevented Roger from claiming a men's record 8th Wimbledon title and his 18th Grand Slam title overall.

photo from www.news.com.au, courtesy of AFP

So a big congratulations to Germany, Petra, and Novak for their amazing recent sporting successes (all on grass, I might add. :))