The top-ranked Djokovic is the first man in the Open era to win three straight Australian titles.

Born a week apart in May 1987 and friends since their junior playing days, the two played like they knew each other's game well in a rematch of last year's U.S. Open final won by Murray. There were no service breaks until the eighth game of the third set, when Djokovic finally broke through and then held at love to lead by two sets to one.

Djokovic also secured the second break of the match to take a 2-1 lead in the fourth set then went ahead by two service breaks and took a 4-1 lead when Murray double-faulted on break point.

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Much has been made of Ritchie's remarks today (let's face it: How often do most journalists get to use the word "grunt"?). But grunting complaints are hardly new. In fact, grunting is a pet issue for the British press, almost as much of a go-to at Wimbledon time as strawberries and cream.

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The 54-year-old tennis great has been diagnosed with high-altitude pulmonary edema, said Dr. David Silverstein, a consultant in cardiology and internal medicine at Nairobi Hospital.

"It is potentially dangerous when someone is at high altitude, but once brought down, recovery is quick," he said. "Martina is doing well and will continue to do well."

Navratilova had been assisted down Mount Kilimanjaro by porters and driven to the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre for assessment after having to abandon her attempt to climb the mountain in Tanzania for a sport charity.

The 27-person climbing team Navratilova was part of has faced heavy snows and mist since beginning the climb up the 19,340-foot (5,895-meter) mountain Monday.

"I'm disappointed not to be able to complete this amazing journey," she said in the statement. "It was something that I have wanted to do for so long but it was not to be."

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"I think that it's asking too much of the women," he said. "They shouldn't be playing as many events as the men. ... You shouldn't push them to play more than they're capable of." He added, "They should be required to be in less events, there should be less events for the women. It seems it takes an actual meltdown on the court or women quitting the game altogether before they realize there's a need to change the schedule." Presumably, he's referring to Vera Zvonareva's teary-eyed "meltdown" at Wimbledon in July and at last year's Open.

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That's why I was surprised when a link to an accompanying video slide show titled "The Beauty of the Power Game" was forwarded to me by a co-worker with a note that he found it "kind of weird and creepy the way they glammed them up." Having glossed over the slide show when reading the piece earlier, I clicked the link and started watching the first clip of Kim Clijsters. In slo-mo, she bounds into the frame, muscles rippling, and nearly goes into the splits as she brings her racket to the ball. She looks like a lioness on the hunt — long blond curls falling around her face, a sneer on her lip, her eyes narrowed with a singular, predatory focus. She is an awesome sight to behold. I think: What's weird or creepy about this?

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The six-time champion was upset in the quarterfinals by hard-hitting Tomas Berdych on Wednesday, stopping his bid for a record-tying seventh title at the All England Club and extending his recent stretch of disappointing play.

The 12th-seeded Berdych used his big serve and forehand to beat Federer 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, on Centre Court for the biggest victory of the Czech's career.

It's the first time since 2002 that Federer has failed to reach the final. Since losing in the first round eight years ago, Federer had played in the championship match a record seven consecutive times. He won the title six times and finished runner-up once, bolstering his reputation as the greatest player of all-time.

Winner of a record 16 Grand Slam titles, Federer said he was unable to play his best tennis Wednesday because of pain in his back and right leg.

"I couldn't play the way I wanted to play," said Federer, who had been chasing the record of seven titles won by Pete Sampras and 19th-century player William Renshaw. "I am struggling with a little bit of a back and a leg issue. That just doesn't quite allow me to play the way I would like to play. It's frustrating, to say the least."

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If it was an accident, then it's unfortunate, of course. But bloggers have been quick to express skepticism and call it a suicide attempt -- and not just because it's a juicier version of the story. Capriati has admitted to struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. As a teen superstar, she faced fame and pressure at a young age much like a child actor does, and we all know how those stories often end. At 17, she was caught shoplifting, and a few months later she was arrested for marijuana possession. After a two-year hiatus from tennis, Capriati returned to the sport. The peak of her comeback came with her three Major victories in 2001 and 2002.

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The first-round match at Wimbledon took 11 hours, 5 minutes over three days. Isner closed out the victory Thursday with a backhand winner, then collapsed to his back as he tossed his racket in jubilation and relief.

Isner won 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68.

The match lasted so long it was suspended because of darkness — two nights in a row. Play resumed Thursday at 59-all and continued for more than an hour before Isner won.

The American finished with 112 aces, and Mahut had 103. There were only three service breaks in the match, the last coming on the final point.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Briton Andy Murray won his second-round match at Wimbledon and an ovation from the queen.

With Queen Elizabeth II visiting the All England Club for the first time since 1977, Murray defeated Jarkko Nieminen of Finland on Centre Court, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Murray, seeded fourth, is trying to become the first British player to win Wimbledon since the queen watched Virginia Wade win the women's final 33 years ago.

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2:45 p.m.: ...Nicolas Mahut and John Isner are locked in a marathon at 5-5 in the final set.

Six-and-a-half hours later, the match itself would be called because of darkness at 59-59 tied in the last set. Not only is the match -- over 10 hours spread out over two days already -- the longest of all time, the last set alone is longer than any previous match. Undoubtedly a testament to two supreme athletes -- the American Isner and the Frenchman Mahut -- by the time it was called it had devolved into an epically dull war of wills, booming serves and lumbering moves along the baseline.

The better action was really over on Brooks' blog. Checking in on his coverage throughout the afternoon proved the best ticket of the day:

4.05pm: The Isner-Mahut battle is a bizarre mix of the gripping and the deadly dull. It's tennis's equivalent of Waiting For Godot, in which two lowly journeymen comedians are forced to remain on an outside court until hell freezes over and the sun falls from the sky. Isner and Mahut are dying a thousand deaths out there on Court 18 and yet nobody cares, because they're watching the football. So the players stand out on their baseline and belt aces past each-other in a fifth set that has already crawled past two hours. They are now tied at 18-games apiece.

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I might congratulate Williams on her attention-getting abilities -- only, it's her other accomplishment this weekend that is truly deserving of praise: While photographers were scrambling to get just the right upskirt shot, she whupped her opponent, Patty Schnyder of Switzerland. You gotta give it to her: Williams is maintaining her number two world ranking while dressed for the Moulin Rouge.

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Thankfully, we can now return to our regularly scheduled lechery, because Williams took to Twitter to settle this debate once and for all: "I am wearing undershorts the same color as my skin, so it gives the slits in my dress the full effect!" She designed the skin-tight, curve-accentuating shorts herself and, as Tennis FanHouse reports, Williams explained that "the whole idea is just an illusion" of being bare-bottomed. Well, I'm not sure why you would want to, but there is no question you successfully pulled off that trick, Venus. 

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Surely our bottomless appetite for the spectacle of attractive, well-compensated people messing up helped create a perfect storm of giving the people what they want. Had any episodes of disoriented staggering around lately, Amy Winehouse? No? How about now? OK, we'll just stand outside rummaging through your garbage until you do.

And so, as we sat at our laptops this year, aggressively hitting the refresh button on TMZ, we waited and watched for our icons to go off their meds, to lose their shit and to generally behave in a manner confounding, larger than life and just plain nuts. They did not disappoint.

Christian Bale

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Here’s a question. Would any court in the land deny this wife restitution? And in the court of public opinion, would anyone take the side of a husband so stingy and unfeeling?

Let us now switch the husband’s gender. He is now a she: a lesbian tennis star willing to use the legal system to extract herself from another unhappy relationship. This makes the case more complicated, to be sure, but it does nothing to alter the injustice. And, if anything, the outrage should be greater.

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Softball, which I don't love, is also getting kicked out. I'm sad about that. Life's complicated.

As much as I enjoy the chance to watch the mostly non-elite minor-league prospects who make up the U.S. team -- seriously; I'm nerdy like that -- I agree with the International Olympic Committee's decision to drop the sport after Beijing.

Because the U.S. major leagues rightly refuse to interrupt their schedule to allow players to go the Olympics, Olympic baseball is missing most of the world's best players. Big-league teams are reluctant to let their top minor-leaguers go to the Olympics, so the games don't even really work as a treat for prospect hounds. The U.S. team features a few top guys, such as Matt LaPorta and Trevor Cahill, but it's dominated by Quadruple-A types like Nate Schierholtz and Jayson Nix.

Baseball also requires a specialized stadium that in most cases becomes a white elephant the day after the last game because -- and this is another good reason -- there are large swathes of the world where baseball doesn't matter. Europe is one of those, and the Olympics have a European sensibility.

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This column's alleged favorite subject just keeps giving, doesn't he? When last we spoke, ESPN's Chris Mortensen was just reporting that Favre wanted to play again, according to sources close to the quarterback and the Green Bay Packers.

That story has borne out, and now Favre's in a game of diva chess with the team, having asked for his release so he can sign somewhere else because he's not feeling the love radiating properly from Green Bay. The Packers have said he can come back to hold a clipboard for Aaron Rodgers if he wants to. Oh, snap! The club knows he wants no such thing. It's a standoff for the moment.

What the Packers would really like is for Favre to go away and stay away. Come back to get his number retired, talk to the team before a big game now and then. But not go away just any old way. If the Packers release him, he could go sign with an NFC North rival -- the division isn't exactly brimming with All-Pro quarterbacks these days -- and come back twice a year to haunt the Packers as a Lion, Bear or Viking.

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Annika Sorenstam said Tuesday that she'll be ending her career at the end of the golf season. On Wednesday, in a much bigger shocker, world No. 1 tennis player Justine Henin, two weeks shy of her 26th birthday and not injured, said she's walking away from the game effective immediately. She's the first player ever to quit at No. 1.

Imagine if Tiger Woods and Roger Federer had announced their retirements on consecutive days. They'd knock the NBA and NHL playoffs off the front pages for a week.

The bizarre coincidence of the timing of their announcements aside, Sorenstam and Henin's retirements don't have much in common. It would be easy to clump them together and ponder what it is that's forcing the top women out of their sports early. But it might not be all that fruitful. Sorenstam and Henin are separate cases.

Sorenstam is 37 and at a more logical point in her career to step away than Henin, especially since she's soon to be married for a second time and says she wants to have a baby.

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This is the second straight tie and the fifth time in the five-year history of the panel that an ESPN expert has won at least a share of the title. That's not surprising given that the four-letter has at times made up about half of the panel and even in this year's expanded field accounts for a third of the players.

Zillgitt, like USA Today colleagues Jarrett Bell and Larry Weisman a first-time entrant this year, rallied in Week 17 to catch Schlereth at the wire, going 12-4 while Schlereth went 11-5.

Mike Golic shared the championship with Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports last year. The other winners were Ron Jaworski in 2003 and Sean Salisbury in 2004 and '05, the only repeat winner. Jaworski had the highest winning percentage this year, but since he didn't pick a winner in any of the Monday night games he announced for ESPN television, he finished in a tie for seventh place.

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Later that New Year's Day at the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., Boise State beat Oklahoma 43-42 in overtime. The ridiculously thrilling upset -- which featured three touchdowns in the last 86 seconds, a hook-and-ladder play and, on the game-winning two-point conversion, a Statue of Liberty play -- was one of the greatest college football games ever played.

So it goes? Good with the bad. Cycle of life. A rainbow for every storm-cloud and a birth for every death.

If only.

How many great games and thrilling moments would have been needed to make up for all of 2007's tragedies? More than any year can provide. There were some nice moments in 2007, but it was a year of death and a steady rain of scandal.

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