Fifty parting shots from Wimbledon

Rafael Nadal avenged his losses to Roger Federer in the last two Wimbledon finals. Bob Martin/SI Related Links SI PHOTOS: Best shots from Nadal-Federer Jon Wertheim's Mailbag Jon Wertheim will answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag every Wednesday. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND Follow Jon Wertheim on Twitter

WIMBLEDON -- Cleaning out the Wimbledon notebook while still in awe of that final.

Four weeks after winning the French Open, Rafael Nadal is the King of Wimbledon, the first player to pull off the summer double since Bjorn Borg and the first player to beat Roger Federer at the All-England Club since 2002. If your heartbeat has returned to normal after that final, you're in better shape than we are. And if Nadal can improve on hard courts as radically as he improved on grass, this could get really scary.

• All hail women's winner Venus Williams, who has now taken the title five times. Discuss: any case to be made that her career eclipses Serena's?

• Serena Williams may have lost the women's final. But consider this: her record on the year is 31-4. And, in a weird way, it WAS good to see that her sour disposition in defeat extends to intra-family matches as well.

• Roger Federer is obviously at a bit of a crossroads, having failed to win a major this year, losing at Wimbledon for the first time since 2002 and, almost surely, finally abdicating his top ranking. Know what? A lot of players ranked No. 2 still win majors (especially when you're rival has never even reached hardcourt Slam final.) Has Federer fallen a level this year? Unquestionably. Has he won his last Slam? Hardly.

• Nice to see Marat Safin break through. We all know about his frailties and mercurial nature. But does anyone doubt that when he's on, he's a top-five player? (And where was Dinara for that semifinal match?)

• The Chinese equivalent of props to Zheng Jie both for run semifinal run and her decision to donate much of her winning the Sichuan earthquake relief effort. So long as that backhand doesn't desert her, look for her in the second weeks of more Grand Slams.

• Discuss: has Elena Dementieva leap-frogged Jelena Jankovic as the best WTA Player never to have won a Slam?

• If you were going to pick one player to score the most dramatic victory of the entire event, you could do worse than Andy Murray. His comeback defeat of Richard Gasquet was watched by more than 10 million people in Britain alone. Consider that ESPN's solid rating of .5 represents barely 500,000 homes.

• Hats off to Germany's Rainer Schuettler, reaching the semifinals and halving his ranking in the process.

• Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic (who broke his left hand in the semis!) won the men's the doubles, beating Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ulyett in the final. For Nestor this completes a career Slam.

• The Williams sisters won their third Wimbledon title together, beating Lisa Raymond and Sam Stosur.

• Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria won the junior boys title. Fourteen year-old Laura Robson, who lives within walking distance of the club, won the junior girls title. Think she might be dealing with any expectations these next few years?

• "Hello! My name is Justine Henin. Some of you might remember me from such hits as The Little Ingenue that Could, Damn the Torpedoes: the French Open story, 2005-07. I made a decision to retire from tennis a few weeks back! See that bruise on my backside? It's from where I've been kicking myself for having passed up a chance to have won my first Wimbledon!"

• Theory: there are two types of players: those who need time to adjust to grass and cool off after Roland Garros (think, Ana Ivanovic) and those who thrive on the back-to-back, either regrouping quickly from defeat (Serena) or to taking their momentum and confidence across the Channel (Nadal).

• Given recent events, Andy Roddick's decision to bypass Beijing and devote his entire summer to U.S. Open preparation looks increasingly sound.

• What do Vaidisova, Safin, Gasquet, Nadia Petrova, Jie, Schuettler and Arnaud Clement have in common? Their games were all swirling in the commode when they arrived at Wimbledon. All reach the second week and must surely leave with swollen confidence. (Win and tonic?) Can't recall such radically changing fortunes at another event.

• Federer wins his third round match over Marc Gicquel, 6-3, 6-3, 6-1. The headline in the Daily Mail: "Federer Express Hits the Buffers!"

• Of the eight women's quarterfinalists, two apiece came from the U.S., Asia, Eastern Europe and Russia. It's globalization: the game the whole world can play!

• Quick story: I arrive at the club on open Middle Sunday, to walk around the empty grounds for an hour, meet a friend, and use the WiFi. I stroll by the practice courts and pass Jelena Jankovic and her mother. J.J. is grimacing in pain. She is mummified in tape. Mom looks concerned. At one point J.J. grabs a railing for support and adjusts this blue bandage on her knee. I notice that it's about 2:20 p.m. and assume she's early bailed on a practice session that began at 2:00 p.m. Had one been so inclined -- and I assure you I was not -- they could very easily have profited from this inside information. Jankovic, though favored to win, barely put up a fight in her next match, no surprise to anyone who'd seen so gimpy the day before. Points: A) Before, absent concrete evidence, we accused people of fixing matches, we should consider this more plausible situation. Person A witnesses something -- eg, Jankovic exhibiting less mobility than Grandpa Simpson -- and either places a bet or calls his buddy to share this tip. Doesn't make it right, but least the purity of competition isn't being undermined. B) You are a fool to bet on tennis. Someone always has superior information.