This Day in Sports History

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1922: Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: French phenom Suzanne Lenglen wins her 4th consecutive Wimbledon singles title; beats American based Norwegian Molla Bjurstedt Mallory 6-2, 6-0.

1960: Fidel Castro ends Havana’s International League team, Sugar Kings’ move to New Jersey. 

1972: Sourav Ganguly, who was born today, was first an elegant strokeplayer who struggled on the periphery. In 1996 he caressed centuries in his first two Test innings, in England, and soon established himself in both Tests and one-dayers (in the latter form of the game he will go down as an all-time great). Less than four years on, days after the match-fixing crisis rocking the cricket world, Ganguly was captaining India and went on to become the country’s most successful leader – until MS Dhoni came along. Ganguly masterminded India’s miraculous come-from-behind triumph against the all-conquering Australians in 2001 and set the tone for India’s next series down under with an outstanding 144 in Brisbane. He put together a new-age Indian team, leading India to the finals of the World Cup in 2003, a drawn series in Australia, and a famous Test and ODI series win against Pakistan in 2004. In 2005, though, things went downhill and he was axed from the captaincy following an acrimonious row with the coach, Greg Chappell. Ganguly was written off by most pundits but made an astonishing comeback against South Africa in 2006 and got to the 100-Test landmark at the MCG in December 2007. He called it a day after the 2-0 win against Australia at home the following year. 

1984: Wimbledon Men’s Tennis: John McEnroe defends his crown, thrashing fellow American Jimmy Connors 6-1, 6-1, 6-2. 

1994: Preliminary trial rules there is enough evidence to try O.J. Simpson.

1995: Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: German superstar Steffi Graf beats Arantxa Sánchez Vicario of Spain 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 for her 6th Wimbledon title. 

2000: Wimbledon Women’s Tennis: Venus Williams wins her first career Grand Slam singles title; beats fellow American Lindsay Davenport 6-3, 7-6.

2014: FIFA World Cup: Germany defeat Brazil by a record 7-1 in the semi-finals to make it to the final; Miroslav Klose of Germany breaks the World Cup goal scoring record with 16 goals.

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