Newsday (N.Y.): Novak Djokovic defeats Roger Federer to become new king of Wimbledon

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

WIMBLEDON, England — Novak Djokovic understood whom he was playing and where he was playing Sunday. He also understood what he had to do against Roger Federer, a seven-time Wimbledon champion.

"You know he's not going to lose," Djokovic said. "I'm going to have to win it if I want to lift that trophy."

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Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.

S.F. Examiner: Here’s how you spell Djokovic: B-E-S-T

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

WIMBLEDON, England — They know his name now, know that he’s the best men’s tennis player in the world. They know his quickness, his return of serve and his ability to react, sprinting from one end of the court to the other. They even know his tendency to take tumbles as he reaches for balls beyond his reach, but not his hopes.

Novak Djokovic was always somewhat of an outsider, not so much an oddball but unusual — at least to Americans. Djokovic had a talent for mimicking other players, men and women — he knew every Maria Sharapova twist and move — and a talent for fading in big matches.

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©2015 The San Francisco Examiner

S.F. Examiner: Stabler’s magical memories remain vivid

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

Oh those Oakland Raiders of the 1970s, talented and uninhibited, who, like the poem, would knock you ’round and upside down and laugh when they’d conquered and won. They seemed less a team of athletes than a group from central casting, characters but, when needed, full of character.

Ken Stabler, who died Thursday at 69 from colon cancer, was the perfect quarterback for those Raiders, someone who sensed how far he could push the rules and, in a manner of speaking, push his teammates — which was all the way to the top.

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©2015 The San Francisco Examiner

S.F. Examiner: Slammed: Serena clinches hers, eyes history’s

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

WIMBLEDON, England — Go ahead and say it: Grand Slam. Magic words in tennis, in sport, an attraction beyond the norm, a standard of brilliance, a mark of excellence, an achievement sitting right there within the grasp — well, the serves and the ground strokes of the magnificent Serena Williams.

Williams had attempted to avoid the subject, the way some baseball announcers refuse to tell us a team hasn’t had a hit, fearing somehow the words would have an effect, be a jinx.

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©2015 The San Francisco Examiner

Newsday (N.Y.): Serena Williams wins Wimbledon and completes Serena Slam

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

WIMBLEDON, England — She had won Wimbledon, but Serena Williams was talking about New York and the U.S. Open. About the possibility of making history. About the possibility of becoming the first player in more than a quarter-century to win the tennis Grand Slam.

On a glorious day in suburban London, Williams beat Garbine Muguruza of Spain, 6-4, 6-4, giving her a sixth Wimbledon women's singles title and so much more. She now has a second "Serena Slam," winning all four of the majors in succession since the U.S. Open last year. And she has a shot at the true Grand Slam, all four in a calendar year.

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Copyright © 2015 Newsday. All rights reserved.