Djokovic’s Dream Made Real With Wimbledon Conquest

 It was the final game of an era, and Rafael Nadal punched the strings of his racket as if it were the culprit instead of the faithful companion that had helped him win 2 Wimbledon titles and 20 straight matches here.

What has long defined Nadal is his optimism: his ability to play the point at hand without being weighed down by the baggage from the last. But Novak Djokovic has been simply too much for even Nadal to bear this season.

Djokovic has been better than Nadal on three surfaces and in four countries now, and there were rub-the-eyes moments in this Wimbledon final Sunday when it seemed Djokovic was toying with him, too. Although Nadal, a Spaniard who is a born competitor, managed to wrestle the third set his way, he could not find the form or the solutions — to borrow one of his favorite English words — to keep Djokovic from fulfilling his boyhood quest and winning the men’s Wimbledon final, 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3.

“The most special day of my life,” Djokovic said. “This is my favorite tournament, the tournament I always dreamed of winning, the first tournament I ever watched in my life. I think I’m still sleeping.”

Tsonga Stuns Federer at Wimbledon

Pete Sampras, the greatest men’s player of the 1990s, has seen his records fall like dominoes to Roger Federer, but he still has the historical edge at Wimbledon.

Federer, a six-time champion at the All England Club, remains one title behind his American friend Sampras, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the powerful Frenchman, made certain it stayed that way by doing what no man has ever done against Federer in a Grand Slam tournament.

Until Wednesday’s quarterfinals, Federer was an astonishing 178-0 when he won the first two sets of a Grand Slam singles match. But Tsonga — with his potent serve, percussive forehand and footspeed — put an end to that streak: rallying to win, 3-6, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4, 6-4, on Centre Court.

“I think my game was plenty good enough this year to win the tournament, but unfortunately there’s only one who can win it, and the rest go home empty-handed,” Federer said. “That’s what happened to me today, but Jo played an amazing match.”

For his efforts, Tsonga, a 26-year-old Frenchman seeded 12th here, will get to play Novak Djokovic in the semifinals on Friday.

Djokovic had surprising difficulty on Wednesday against the 18-year-old Australian qualifier Bernard Tomic. He shouted after errors and was left sprawling on the grass at one stage after Tomic surprised him — not for the only time — with a quick change of direction.

James Can Learn From Nowitzki’s Lessons

 Dirk Nowitzki had just turned 28 — or one and a half years older than LeBron James is now — when the Dallas Mavericks lost the 2006 N.B.A. finals to Dwyane Wade and a Miami team they couldn’t put away after leading by 2 games and 13 points with six minutes left in the fourth quarter of Game 3.

And so it was that the Mavericks wound up losing four straight, three games by a total of 6 points, with Nowitzki missing a game-tying free throw with 3.4 seconds in one, punting the ball into the stands after another and later being called out by Wade as a poor leader and finisher and something of a whiner.

Forget for the moment that Wade would not have bared such feelings about another team’s star if that player had not been viewed as somehow less authentic, a European wannabe. The criticism wasn’t without merit. It took five long years for Nowitzki to return to the stage of his failures, to prove that he had heard the criticism and taken it to heart.

In leading the Mavericks to their first title in Miami on Sunday night, claiming the finals’ most valuable player trophy after the 105-95 closeout in Game 6, Nowitzki was a more versatile player, a more confident closer and a much better leader.

In Stars and on Scoreboard, Mavericks Coming Up Short

Two losses by a combined 10 points does not seem like enough to flunk out of these N.B.A. finals. But as they sorted through the latest lessons from Game 3, the Dallas Mavericks resembled schoolboys trudging off to finish their homework.

Challenges mounted Monday in the wake of the Miami Heat’s 88-86 victory Sunday, a game that ended on Dirk Nowitzki’s missed 16-footer and exposed more questions facing the Mavericks, notably finding fourth-quarter help for Nowitzki and figuring out how to hold a lead.

Dallas also must deal with LeBron James as a facilitator, a supporting role to Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh that he has cast for himself. James was credited with the assist on the winning basket, a crisp backhanded pass to Bosh, whose 16-foot jumper put the Heat ahead to stay.

Nadal Beats Murray to Reach Finals

Rafael Nadal of Spain defeated Andy Murray of Great Britain, 6-4, 7-5, 6-4, to reach the final round of the French Open Friday, giving him a chance to win a sixth crown at Roland Garros.

Powering the ball into the deepest corners and countering Murray’s controlled pace, Nadal broke his opponent’s serve six times en route to the victory, his 11th in 15 matches against the scrambling Scotsman and his fourth on clay.

Murray, seeded fourth, managed to break Nadal’s serve only three times. He hit 35 winners, one less than Nadal.

The semifinal victory by Nadal, seeded first, gives Nadal an opportunity to match Bjorn Borg’s record six championship titles between 1974 and 1981.

After 3 hours 14 minutes on court, Nadal steps to the line to serve for the set. He doesn’t waste time, as befits a winner who wants to finish off his opponent. His first winning point is an overhead smash into a corner.