A quite spectacular year for world sport

THERE are less than 72 hours to go before we bid adieu to 2019 and welcome a brand new decade, and sports fans all over the world will reflect on another eventful year filled with memorable moments. As always, it was a tall order to pick just five events - that's all this page can fill - but these were the ones (in no particular order) that will live long in my memory.

Wimbledon magic

No tennis fan will soon forget the epic men's final that Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic served up at this year's Wimbledon grand slam. The titanic tussle between these two icons of the game was just three minutes shy of five hours, a new Wimbledon record.

In fact, the July 14 match could well have gone on much longer than that, but for a new rule that introduced the first-ever fifth-set tie-break in a Wimbledon final. The match ebbed and flowed with emotion and tension as the two legends traded blows, neither one willing to budge.

In the end, it was Djokovic who spectacularly retained his crown after saving two championship points. This was his 16th Major, and leaves him just four behind Federer and three fewer than Rafael Nadal.

Liverpool's trophy haul

What a year it's been for the Reds. After giving it their all in the English Premier League (EPL) and amassing 97 points - only to fall short to eventual winners Manchester City who notched one point more - Liverpool still managed to add three big trophies to their cabinet. They won the Champions League in style by brushing aside Tottenham Hotspur, and followed that up with the Super Cup in August and their first Club World Cup earlier this month.

With Jurgen Klopp's men currently protecting a 13-point lead at the top of the EPL, their long-suffering fans are quietly hoping the Reds can do enough to finally win a first league championship since 1990.

Marathon record

Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge is a man who will forever be known as the first runner to complete a 42.195km marathon in under two hours. He did so in 1 hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds at a special event held in Austria on Oct 12.

He was the only participant in the race, and he ran behind a pace car, and was escorted by a group of athletes choreographed into rotating teams of pacemakers.

His feat wasn't recognised as an official marathon record - which Kipchoge himself holds, incidentally, at two hours, one minute and 39 seconds - but his amazing achievement was definitely worthy of a gold medal for the human spirit.

The Tiger roars loud and proud

It's been quite a season for American golfer Tiger Woods. On April 14, the 43-year-old produced a performance on the course that stunned the sporting world with a stirring comeback that hardly anyone saw coming.

At the Augusta National, Woods shot rounds of 70-68-67-70 to claim his first major in 11 long years. The Masters was his 15th major overall, and came barely two years after he told Jack Nicklaus that he was "done" with the game due to a spinal injury.

Woods proved to himself and all his detractors that he's far from done. He went on to captain the US team at the Presidents Cup, and is currently among the bookies' favourites to retain the Masters in 2020.

Hamilton's reign continues

Is there anything that Lewis Hamilton cannot, or has not, accomplished on the Formula One circuit? The 34-year-old had a monumental 2019, even by his lofty standards. He kept his closest challengers such as Valtteri Bottas and Charles LeClerc at bay as he cruised to 11 victories out of this season's 21 races.

That kind of scintillating form meant he clinched his sixth F1 driver's title at the US Grand Prix, with two races to spare. That puts him just one world title behind the record set by Michael Schumacher, and it's a mark that Hamilton will almost certainly equal in 2020, unless his rivals can conjure up something to dethrone him.