Wimbledon final gets more raves

The evidence continues to mount that Rafael Nadal’s victory over Roger Federer ranks as the best Wimbledon final ever. 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 consecutive 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.”

Collinsworth, who spent eight seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1980s, said he didn’t have that problem.

“I never retired,” he said. “I got cut.”

More Favre

On another conference call Monday, this one to announce the hiring of Dan Patrick to work on NBC’s NFL studio show, Patrick was asked whether he had been paying attention to such shows.

“I watch with a critical eye,” he said, “but I also watch with great admiration for those who can do it and do it well. So I didn’t sit there and go, ‘I can do that better.’ I had a harder time watching ‘SportsCenter,’ I’ll grant you that.

“You do that for so long, you do it for 18 years, and then it’s kind of hard to watch. It’s sort of like Brett Favre having to watch Aaron Rodgers with the Packers.”

Trivia answer

Jim Courier.

And finally

Reader Bill Littlejohn claims that less than two months after her retirement, Justine Henin isn’t completely ruling out a return to tennis.

“I guess Aaron Rodgers makes her nervous too,” Littlejohn added.

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