Bud Collins rates Nadal-Federer final No. 1 too
MORNING BRIEFING
Tennis commentator John McEnroe had said the 2008 Wimbledon final was 'the greatest match I've ever seen.'
Wimbledon final gets more raves
The evidence continues to mount that Rafael Nadal's victory over Roger Federer ranks as the best-ever Wimbledon final. John McEnroe weighed in with this comment on NBC Sunday: "This is the greatest match I've ever seen."
And Bud Collins agrees.
"This was the heavyweight championship in the world of tennis -- a singular match in Wimbledon's history," he said. "I have covered 41 finals, including the classics of 1980 and 1981 with [Bjorn] Borg and McEnroe, but this 4-hour 48-minute final is No. 1."
And you might say Collins is a decent source. His latest book is titled "The Bud Collins History of Tennis: An Authoritative Encyclopedia and Record Book".
Trivia time
When Pete Sampras won the first of his seven Wimbledon titles in 1993, who was his opponent?
Moving up
Britain's Chris Eaton, 20, was the world's 661st-ranked tennis player when he qualified for Wimbledon and then won his first-round match. He also picked up more than $40,000.
But Eaton, who drives a modest Vauxhall Astra -- complete with taped-up side mirror -- says his life won't change much.
"Maybe I'll buy some better duct tape," he told the BBC.
Like father, like son
In response to Monday's Morning Briefing item about Kurt Hoover catching two foul balls from back-to-back batters at Angel Stadium, reader Andy Selesnick e-mailed with another foul-ball story.
He said his friend, Marc Lebowitz of Los Angeles and his 9-year-old son Jeremy went separately to a game at Dodger Stadium a few years ago. Jeremy was there for a birthday party.
After the game, Lebowitz said to his son, "Jeremy, you won't believe it, I caught a foul ball." And his son said, "Dad, you won't believe it, but I caught one too."
Different views
Phil Simms and Cris Collinsworth were on a conference call Monday to announce they'd be working with James Brown on the new "Inside the NFL" show that has moved from HBO to Showtime.
When the topic of Brett Favre came up, Simms said he hoped Favre would stay retired but understands why he is thinking about coming back.
"When you retire, there are always issues about coming back," Simms said. "It takes about three years to get it out of your system. You forget how tough it is and only remember the good parts."
