TENNIS: “Wimbledon” //  MLB: NL & AL  Standings, Then & Now.  

For more analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com .  .  .  SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed. & Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner).  

Wimbledon   ---       Wimbledon, which is the third of four annual major Grand Slam tennis events, began Monday, June 24, and will continue through July 7. On grass in the United Kingdom, it is being presented for the 127th time and includes an expected assembly of tennis greats vying for a championship/Grand Slam title.

If Roger Federer takes the men’s title, it will be his eighth Wimbledon win, matching the 2013 French Open winner Rafael Nadal’s eight Paris takeaways. If Serena Williams takes the women’s title at Wimbledon, she will have 17 Grand Slam wins to her career, same as the number now held by Federer.

Both Federer and Williams won at Wimbledon last year. If competition overtakes Federer in 2013, it will probably be from either Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, who won at Wimbledon, 2011, and is now rated as the world’s number one tennis player, or from Spain’s Nadal, the Wimbledon men’s title winner, 2010, and maybe from Great Britain’s Andy Murray, often a threat at Wimbledon, though never a finals winner. This year, America's Andy Roddick won’t appear at Wimbledon. He retired from professional tennis, and so an American reaching the finals is unlikely.

As for a threat to Serena Williams at Wimbledon, analysts are saying it could only come from Russia’s Maria Sharapova, but we are not to hang with this because Sharapova hasn’t been at her potential in several recent matches, while Serena is enjoying a 31-match winning streak.

Some history:

Wimbledon has been held since 1877, interrupted only by World Wars One and Two.

The last British tennis player to win the men’s title at the British-held event was in 1936. In the next three years, the Americans Don Budge and Bobby Riggs took the men’s title at Wimbledon. Among other famous American men who have won at Wimbledon are Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors (2X), John McEnroe (3X), Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras.

The last American to win the men’s title at Wimbledon, that’s Pete Sampras, year 2000. Sampras held the record for number of Wimbledon wins after surpassing Bjorn Borg’s five wins---seven Sampras takeaways from 1993 through year 2000, a record matched in 2012 by Federer.

Among the better known U.S. women tennis players who have won at Wimbledon are Billie Jean King (6X), Chris Evert (3X) Martina Navratilova, and Venus and Serena Williams.

Navratilova holds the record for most Wimbledon women’s title wins---nine. Germany’s Stefi Graf is directly behind her with seven Wimbledon wins. Since year 2000, Venus and Serena Williams have dominated the women’s Wimbledon events, combining for 10 titles, each owning five.

MLB   ---    Four National League teams that were ranked in the bottom 10 as MLB season-2012 closed are now above .500 and holding second, third and fourth positions within their respective divisions. They are the NL West’s Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres, and the NL Central’s Pittsburgh Pirates and Philadelphia Phillies.

And a NL team that finished just at .500 last year is a division leader today, the NL West’s Arizona Diamondbacks.

Also, last year’s World Series winner, the San Francisco Giants, they are three games back of the Diamondbacks.

Meanwhile, teams now leading the NL East and NL Central finished last year in the top eight among all MLB franchises---the NL East’s Atlanta Braves, then six games ahead of the NL Central’s St. Louis Cardinals. Today, the Cardinals are three games ahead of the Braves and leading both leagues, while the Braves are second in the NL and third within both leagues.

Within the American League, the Cleveland Indians and the Seattle Mariners finished 2012 under .500/bottom 10, all franchises. Today, the Indians are in second place, AL Central, and the Mariners are in third place, AL West.

Too, last year the AL East’s Baltimore Orioles and Boston Red Sox completed inside the bottom 15, all teams. Today, the Red Sox are leading the AL East, and the Orioles are behind them, second place. Re. both leagues, the Red Sox are in second place, behind first place team, the NL’s Cardinals.

It’s worth repeating---“No way is professional American baseball the same season year after year.”

END.ml