In National Basketball Association play, the Los Angeles Lakers captured their 15th title in 2009, beating the Orlando Magic in the best-of-seven finals in five games.
VOA: standard.2009.12.24
An exciting Moroccan youth Atlas Lions knocked out Nigeria after winning 2-1 in Port Harcourt and Egypt drew 0-0 in Harare after beating the Zimbabweans 2-0 in Cairo.
Nadal recovered from that disappointment in spectacular style by going unbeaten through the clay-court season and winning the French Open, Wimbledon - beating Murray in the semi-finals - and a first US Open title to complete the Grand Slam set.