A6 BAKER CITY HERALD • TUESDAY, JULY 12, 2022
SPORTS
Djokovic claims 7th Wimbledon title
Fourth straight is
his 21st overall
Grand Slam
BY HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer
WIMBLEDON, England
— Novak Djokovic waited. He
waited for Nick Kyrgios to lose
focus and lose his way. Waited
to find the proper read on his
foe’s big serves. Waited until
his own level rose to the oc-
casion.
Djokovic is not bothered
by a deficit — in a game, a
set, a match. He does not
mind problem-solving. And
at Wimbledon, for quite some
time now, he does not get de-
feated.
Djokovic used his steady
brilliance to beat the ace-deliv-
ering, trick-shot-hitting, con-
stantly chattering Kyrgios 4-6,
6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Sunday,
July 10 for a fourth consecu-
tive championship at the All
England Club, seventh overall
there, and 21st from all Grand
Slam tournaments.
“It’s weird. I felt like he
didn’t do anything amazing
today,” said the unseeded Kyr-
gios, offering an assessment
with which some might not
concur, given that Djokovic
Julian Finney/Getty Images-TNS
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates winning match point against Nick Kyrgios of Australia during their
Men’s Singles Final match at Wimbledon on Sunday, July 10, 2022, in London, England.
accumulated 31 winners and
merely eight unforced errors
over the last two sets, while
facing zero break points in
that span.
“But he was just so com-
posed. That’s what I was just
thinking to myself. In big
moments, it just felt like he
was never rattled. I feel like
that’s his greatest strength:
He just never looks rattled,”
said Kyrgios, about whom
those words likely have not
been uttered. “He just looks
completely within himself the
whole time. Didn’t look like
he was playing overaggressive,
even though it felt like he was
playing big.”
Among men, only Roger
Federer owns more Wimble-
Lillard signs extension, looks
forward to re-tooled Blazers
Two-year deal
worth $225 million,
according to
sources
BY ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
Damian Lillard’s new con-
tract with the Trail Blazers is a
point of pride for the six-time
All Star who has spent his entire
career in Portland.
“I don’t think that you earn
something like this just by going
out there and scoring a bunch
of points,” he said. “Something
that’s missing in our league is
character, and the fight and the
passion and pride about, you
know, not just the name on the
back, but the name on the front,
and how you impact the people
that you come in contact with.”
Lillard agreed to a two-year
extension through the 2026-27
season. A person with knowl-
edge of the negotiations said the
deal is worth $225 million.
Lillard formally signed the
extension with his son on his lap
and his grandmother watching
by phone from Oakland. He
spoke at a news conference the
evening of Saturday, July 9 at the
NBA’s summer league in Las
Vegas.
Lillard will make about $59
million in 2025-26, then about
$63 million the next year, said
the person who spoke to The
Associated Press on condition of
anonymity Friday, July 8 because
the extension has not been an-
nounced.
He’ll make about $137 mil-
lion over the next three seasons,
before the extension begins.
“There are two kinds of
teams: teams that are looking
for superstars and teams that
are looking for one. We’re lucky
enough to have one,” Blazers
coach Chauncey Billups said.
“One who wants to be here.”
Lillard was limited to 29
games this past season because
of a core injury that required
surgery. The Blazers finished
27-55, their worst record since
2005-06.
While Lillard was sidelined,
the team cleaned house, pulling
off a number of trades before the
February deadline — including
sending backcourt teammate
CJ McCollum to New Orleans
— that got the Blazers under
the luxury tax and freed up cap
space.
The Blazers then made a se-
ries of offseason moves to build
around Lillard. Portland ac-
quired Jerami Grant from the
Detroit Pistons and signed free
agent Gary Payton II, who was
key to Golden State’s champion-
ship run.
don titles than Djokovic, with
eight, and only Rafael Nadal
owns more major trophies,
with 22.
“The more you win, it’s log-
ical the more confident, the
more comfortable you feel
out there every next time you
step out on the court,” said the
top-seeded Djokovic, who was
pleased to hear some specta-
tors at Centre Court chanting
his nickname, “No-le! No-le!”
as he served out the final point
of a tremendously well-played
tiebreaker.
As of now, Djokovic will
not be able to try to pull even
with Nadal by winning the
U.S. Open, which begins in
late August: The 35-year-old
Serbian can’t enter the United
States because he decided
not to get any shots against
COVID-19, the same reason
Djokovic missed the Austra-
lian Open in January.
“I’m not vaccinated,”
Djokovic said Sunday, “and
I’m not planning to get vacci-
nated.”
Aside from his experience
— 32 Grand Slam final ap-
pearances versus one for the
unseeded Kyrgios — his skill
and his clutch gene shined in
the concluding tiebreaker, and
all of those qualities were pres-
ent for two particularly pivotal
games that helped swing the
match.
“Key moments,” Djokovic
called them.
They were games in which
Djokovic steeled himself, and
Kyrgios blinked. And games
that Kyrgios would not let go
as he began engaging in run-
ning monologues, shouting
at himself or his entourage
(which does not include a full-
time coach), earning a warn-
ing for cursing, finding reason
to disagree with the chair um-
pire he fist-bumped before the
match, and chucking a water
bottle.
With Djokovic serving for
the second set at 5-3, Kyr-
gios got to love-40 — a trio
of break points. But Kyrgios
played a couple of casual re-
turns, and Djokovic eventually
held. When that set ended,
Kyrgios waved dismissively
toward his box, sat down and
dropped his racket to the turf,
then groused to no one in par-
ticular: “It was love-40! Can it
get any bigger or what?! Is that
big enough for you?!”
Djokovic noticed.
“He knew on this stage,
when Nick starts to talk, he’s
going to be vulnerable,” said
Djokovic’s coach, 2001 Wim-
bledon champion Goran Ivan-
isevic. “That happened.”
In the third set, with Kyr-
gios serving at 4-all, 40-love,
he again let a seemingly sealed
game get away, with Djokovic
breaking there.
“It was a huge momentum
shift,” Djokovic said, “because
up to that point we were quite
even.”
Baker softball team
wins tournament
12-under team 4-0 at Fruitland
Baker City Herald
A Baker City youth girls softball team
went 4-0 to win the championship at the
Mesa Duel in the Diamond tournament last
weekend at Fruitland, Idaho.
The Baker Dawgs, a 12 and under squad,
beat the Nampa Elite 10-3 in the champion-
ship game on Saturday afternoon, July 9.
Baker’s Colbi Bachman was the winning
pitcher, going seven innings. All three runs
were unearned.
Bachman, Macey Morgan and Jaxyn Ra-
mos each had two hits for Baker.
The Dawgs opened the tournament with
a pair of games on Friday, July 8. Baker beat
Sawtooth/Hartley 16-1, then routed the
Nampa Pride, 17-0.
Baker opened Saturday’s play with a
6 a.m. PDT game against the Infield Dia-
monds, and the Dawgs, led by Bachman’s
4-inning no-hitter, won 10-0.
“We played really well over the weekend,”
said Steve Bachman, who, along with Jake
Collier, Nathan Rayl and Brandi Sangster, is
an assistant coach to the Dawgs’ manager,
Jamey Bachman.
The team’s roster is: Maley Martin, Jaxyn
Ramos, Colbi Bachman, Macey Morgan,
Kate Nilsen, Bailey Sangster, Claire Collier,
Jocelyn Rayl, Hannah Sullivan and Lexi
DelCurto.
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