Sport Shorts: Nestor Repeats at Wimbledon
Nestor Wins Wimbledon: On the storied grass courts of Wimbledon, Toronto’s Daniel Nestor arguably became Canada’s most successful tennis player ever. With Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic, Nestor won the 2009 Wimbledon doubles title – repeating his championship performance from 2008. The pair defeated top-seeded U.S. pair Bob and Mike Bryan 7-6 (7), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-3. This fifth Grand Slam title for Nestor is his 61st over his career. He has also competed at the last three Olympic Games, a streak that began in 2000 when he won a gold medal in doubles in Sydney. That Olympic title, with Montreal’s Sebastian Lareau, is Canada’s only medal in tennis.
Olympic Celebration in Russia: On July 4, 2007, the Black Sea resort of Sochi won the right to host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. On Saturday, Sochi hosted the “YES!” festival with a gala concert and special football matches. Sochi defeated Olympic bids from Salzburg, Austria and Pyeongchang, South Korea. Right now there are about 250 construction projects underway for the Games in the city, in Olympic Park by the coast, and in the Krasnaya Polyana mountain range. Russia has never been host of an Olympic Winter Games, but did host the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, boycotted by Canada and as many as 50 other countries.
Softball in Surrey: Many of Canada’s 2008 softball Olympians are in Surrey, B.C. for the 16th annual Canada Cup. Canada is one of 13 teams there, five of which competed last summer in Beijing. Canada lost the opener to Venezuela 1-0 in extra innings before winning 8-1 over the Netherlands and 5-2 over Australia on Sunday.
Judokas in Brazil: At a Grand Slam judo tournament in Rio, there were fifth-place finishes across the board for Canadian judokas. Beijing Olympians Amy Cotton (Judique, N.S.), Catherine Roberge (Beauport, Que.) and Nicholas Tritton (Perth, Ont.) finished fifth in their respective weight categories while Montreal’s Michael Popiel also added a fifth-place finish. The team will stay south in Brazil through next weekend, for a World Cup event in Bello Horizonte.
