Nick Place
and Chris Tunnock write:


Fourth
straight Wimbledon for Federer. It seems kind of unfair to salute Roger
Federer’s fourth straight Wimbledon
title in a “sports shorts”, but blame whoever organises the international
sports calendar. Almost lost among the drama from Germany was Federer seeing
off his nemesis, Spanish gun Rafael Nadal, in four sets, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (2-7), 6-3. World number one Federer was so dominant over the course of the 2006 championship
that it was only Nadal stealing that third set in the final that stopped the
Swiss from becoming the first man since Bjorn Borg 30 years ago to claim the
title without dropping a set. Nadal had an unexpectedly successful fortnight
but will be looking forward to meeting Federer on hardcourt or trusty clay next
time out. The win gave Federer his eighth major.

Goggin
and Leaney in the money. Also potentially lost in the German
wash were strong performances on the US
tour from a couple of Australian golfers. Tasmania’s Matthew Goggin duked it
out with the Tiger overnight in the Western Open in Lemont, Illinois, and ended
up tied for second with Woods, two shots behind South Africa’s Trevor Immelman,
who had needed a par on the last to win, and instead knocked in a long birdie putt. Stephen Leaney belied his ranking of
233 to finish tied for fourth.

Tour de France shakeup. And then
you’ve got the world’s most prestigious bike race, also struggling for
attention amid the World Cup celebrations.AustraliansCadel Evans and
Michael Rogers passed the first test of attrition in this year’s Tour
with
Saturday’s time trial and remain in contention. Evans remains on the
top tier
of favourites alongside Denis Menchov, the Russian from Rabobank who
won one of
the other major tours in 2005, Spain’s La Vuelta. Floyd Landis is now
an outright favourite, riding a brilliant
time trial to finish second after bike problems. He is now second
overall. Robbie
McEwen won his 11th career Tour stage on Friday and now has a
stranglehold on
the green jersey competition for the sprinters. Monday is a rest day,
Tuesday is a flat stage for the sprinters or a breakaway, and Wednesday
heralds
the first stage in the mountains for the overall candidates to test
their legs.
The last 40 kilometres are downhill so it will not offer any great time
gaps,
but it will give us an insight into whose legs have the strength to
carry them
through the mountains and onward to victory.