Reign in Spain: nation basks in Wimbledon, soccer

In just seven days — from the soccer field in Austria to the lawn at Wimbledon — Spanish sports transformed itself into pure gold. A nation rollicked after winning the European Championship June 29 with a 1-0 victory over Germany. More followed on Sunday when native son Rafael Nadal captured tennis's marquee event in an epic five-set Wimbledon slugfest against mighty Roger Federer. Gone was all that anguish in which the national soccer team left its fans crushed. Gone was the annual exercise in disappointment at the All England Club. A nation's sports demons were put to rest. "There are entire centuries when a country accomplishes nothing at all, and then there are weeks like this past one in which it shatters its most deep-rooted inferiority complexes," said Javier Romano, a columnist for the Spanish sports newspaper Marca.... [read full story]