Venus and Serena Williams

The Wimbledon women’s final had ended anticlimactically on Saturday, and Tony Adamson, the announcer at the All England Club, intoned: “Ladies and Gentlemen. The runner-up. Venus Williams!” Even for those who had watched the match closely, those words still had an odd ring to them. Wimbledon has long been the Williams sisters’ territory, but it was Venus, not Serena, who had the biggest stake in the place.

Venus had won five singles titles, including the last two. She had won 20 straight singles matches and until Sunday, 34 straight sets. But despitefew hints of regime change in the early rounds, this did not turn out to be her year. Instead, it was her younger sister Serena’s turn to keep the inscribers busy. Serena broke open this often edgy final midway through the second set and then secured her third Wimbledon singles title by breaking Venus’s serve in a tight final game to win, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Serena’s victory on Saturday provided the latest confirmation that she is back on another historic run. At age 27, she now holds three of the four major singles titles: Wimbledon, the Australian Open and United States Open.Remarkably, she remains No. 2 in the rankings behind Dinara Safina, who has yet to win a single major. Over all, Serena has won 11 Grand Slam singles titles: the best total in her family (Venus has seven) and just one behind Billie Jean King, who stands sixth on the career list and was in the Royal Box on Saturday.

Staples Center Michael Jackson tickets

Staples Center Michael Jackson tickets is via a public lottery over at StaplesCenter.com. If you want to register, you have until 6pm Pacific Time today (July 4). After that, a drawing will be held, and lucky winners will receive two tickets each. A total of 17,500 tickets are available for the event, with 11,000 granting access to the Staples Center itself and 6,500 more giving admittance to the Nokia Theater across the street, where large TV screens will broadcast the memorial live.

I’m sure there will be scalpers out on the street trying to make a profit off any free tickets they receive, so that might be another option if you really want to attend. Flying to L.A. for an event like this isn’t an option for me, so I’ll just watch it on TV like most everyone else! Fans of the King of Pop will get a chance to pay their final respects to the entertainer, at the Los Angeles Staples Center, Tuesday. AEG, the concert promoters behind Jackson’s ill-fated ‘This is It Tour,’ announced that it will distribute 11,000 tickets to the event free of charge.

Staples Center has been chosen as the venue for an official public Michael Jackson Memorial, scheduled to be held Tuesday, July 7 at 10 am. The event will also be simulcast on screen at the Nokia Theatre at LA Live! across the street. Free tickets to both venues will be distributed in a random drawing. You must register at StaplesCenter.com by 6 pm Saturday, July 4th to have your name placed in the drawing.

Peachtree Road Race

Peachtree Road Race will postpone official results for 48 hours, but the Atlanta Track Club said it will not delay Saturday afternoon’s the finishing times for 55,000 runners. The protest also won’t affect Sammy Kitwara’s victory. The 22-year-old Kenyan completed the 6.2-mile course in 27:21. It was his Peachtree debut, and his fifth consecutive road race win overall.

A protest filed by another competitor against men’s fourth-place finisher Tadese Tola of Ethiopia will delay the official results until Monday. The protest was lodged over sportsmanship on the course, the Atlanta Track Club’s Tracy Lott said. Lott, who said she was unsure who filed the protest, expected the results for the enter field to be posted around 2 p.m. on ajc.com. This is the first year that all runners were electronically timed.

Switzerland swept the men’s and women’s wheelchair divisions, with both racers setting personal bests, albeit in unofficial times. Marcel Hug of Switzerland won the wheelchair division in 19:36.92. His personal best was 20:49. Edith Hunkeler of Switzerland defended her title in the race, winning in a course record 23:09.98. Her personal best was 23:18. The previous course record was 23:11. Hunkeler is now a five-time Peachtree winner.