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A landmark moment at Wimbledon, Beckham hatred and a dramatic French comeback feature in the latest edition of "On This Week ."

1975: Arthur Ashe becomes the first black man to win Wimbledon - July 5.

At 31 years of age, Ashe overcame his fellow American and defending champion Jimmy Connors in four sets to write his name in SW19 folklore.

Despite previously winning Grand Slams at the US (1968) and Australian (1970) Opens, his 6-1, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 victory over 22-year-old Connors at the All England Club was considered an upset.

Perhaps the pressure on the younger man to retain his title finally took its toll as he surrendered the first set in 19 minutes and then hanging on a short while little longer in the second to lose by the same score-line.

Ashe's dominance affected his opponent's temperament. Connors's frustration boiled over as he threw his towel and unleashed a barrage of expletives - and these antics did not go down well with the spectators on Centre Court.

The third threatened to go the same way until Connors mounted a spirited fightback from 3-1 down.

Ashe was not to be denied his moment of glory and edged a tight fourth and final set when he broke in the ninth game and sowed up the win on serve with a punched volley.

That same year Ashe rose to number one in the world in the men's rankings.

He continued his career until 1980, a reaction to suffering a heart attack the previous year, but the end of his playing days did not end his participation inn the sport. He took on the mantle of US Davis Cup captain and worked as a commentator and journalist before his death in 1993.

The only other black male to appear in a Wimbledon final since Ashe was MaliVai Washington in 1996. He was runner-up to Holland's Richard Krajicek.

1975: Muhammad Ali beats Joe Bugner in 15 rounds - June 30

Just three years before, the first contest between the legend and Brit ended in a points decision after 12 rounds - the winner Ali later declared that Bugner had the potential to one day become world heavyweight champion.

Their subsequent meeting in Kuala Lumpur finally gave Bugner an opportunity to fulfil that prophecy but despite lasting the distance of 15 rounds, he never looked close to doing so with a display of conservative boxing.

Ali had famously beat George Foreman to regain the WBA/WBC title the preceding October against George Foreman in the 'Rumble in the Jungle' and this would be his last match before the 'Thilla in Manilla' against Joe Frazier later that year.

As preparation for what we now know was a punishing match versus Frazier, the fight against Bugner could be considered a light workout. The former British and Commonwealth champion did not find the level of aggression required to upset Ali, although big in stature and solid in defence he found himself trailing early on as his opponent quickly built up a steady points lead.

As a result, despite having a claim to fame of lasting 27 rounds with the great man, Bugner never looked capable of creating an upset and once again Ali prevailed in an unspectacular snooze-fest of an encounter.

1998: Beckham sees red as England lose on Penalties to Argentina - 30 June.

The 1998 World Cup marked the beginning of a dark two-year period in the international career of David Beckham.

Beckham, a regular in his country's qualifying campaign, had endured a mixed tournament before that fateful day in St Etienne. Coach Glenn Hoddle accused him of not being focused enough and as a consequence dropped him for England's opening two games. However, Hoddle changed tact after a 2-1 defeat to Romania and Beckham responded by scoring a wonderful free-kick in a 2-0 win against Colombia.

That brief turn of fortune ended in the last 16 match against Argentina. Beckham had assisted Michael Owen to score 'that goal' in the first half but the future England captain lost his head in the second after a foul by Diego Simeone. Still lying on the ground, Beckham kicked out at the Argentine. Simeone fell over and the Danish referee Kim Milton Nielsen, having interpreted the then Manchester United star's act as one of violence and retribution, swiftly reached for the red card.

Beckham headed to the dressing room while 10-men England valiantly held their own into extra-time before they inevitably succumbed to penalties.

The recriminations over who was to blame for England's exit were not short in coming. The front page of the Mirror read the following day: 'Ten heroic lions, one stupid boy.' One North London pub was reported to have hung an effigy of the midfielder outside and the general abuse and criticism from fans and quarters of the media snowballed. Beckham was booed at Premier League matches when the new season commenced and it was claimed that he and his family began to receive death threats.

His personal torment while wearing English colours continued at Euro 2000 when he reacted to abuse and made an offensive gesture to fans after a 3-2 loss to Portugal.

1999: Manchester United pull out of the FA Cup - June 30

Fresh from winning an unprecedented treble, Manchester United accepted the FA's offer of missing next season's FA Cup in order to participate in the inaugural FIFA Club World Championship.

Now whether the club made this choice freely or were forced into this decision was an interesting talking point.

The noise coming from the powers-that-be at Old Trafford indicated that United were between a rock and a hard place. The chairman Martin Edwards went on record to say they had no alternative because it was in the national interest.

By this he meant that the FA were pushing the club to go to Brazil to play in FIFA's tournament in the belief that it would help England's bid to host the World Cup in 2006.

Despite concerns from fans that the FA Cup would now be a devalued competition without the holders, United trotted off in pursuit of global glory in January 2000.

However, nothing went to plan on this jaunt to South America. David Beckham was sent-off in the opening group game draw against Mexican side Necaxa, United were then humiliated against Vasco da Gama's front pair of Edmilson and Romario before a redundant 2-0 win against South Melbourne put them on an early flight home after finishing third in the group.

To top it all off when bidding for the World Cup came to a head in July 2000 in Zurich, England fell short in the second round with only two votes so United's participation was ultimately a fruitless venture.

2000: Substitute David Trezeguet scores golden goal as France beat Italy 2-1 to win Euro 2000 - July 2

The second successive final decided by a golden goal marked a thoroughly dramatic game and ensured that France achieved the unique feat of holding both World and European titles simultaneously.

The match in Rotterdam was undoubtedly a tougher measure of the French's resilience than their resounding 3-0 win over Brazil two years before in Paris.

The Italians were leading through Marco Delvecchio's volley but were made to pay for two missed gilt-edged chances from Del Piero when disaster struck less than a minute from the final whistle.

In the last roll of the dice, French captain Didier Deschamps popped the ball up the field towards David Trezeguet. The Italian's fabulous central defensive partnership of Alessandro Nesta and Fabio Cannavaro had cleaned up everything that had come their way up until that point. But a blink of an eye was all it took to change the path of the game.

Trezeguet leaped to head on for Sylvain Wiltord, who entered the box on the left with plenty of Italian defenders in position to cover.

Yet the fellow substitute chested the ball down and pulled the trigger with a shot both accurate and hard enough to fool goalkeeper Francesco Toldo.

The Italians were stunned into shock and the French revitalised having come back from the brink of defeat.

Roger Lemerre's brilliant substitutions came to the fore again when the third replacement Robert Pires crossed for Trezeguet in the 103rd minute. The Juventus-bound striker broke the hearts of the land he would soon call home when he cleanly stuck a volley into the top corner from close range.

On a night where France's usual inspirations of Zidane and Henry had failed to shine, it was the supporting cast of Les Bleus squad that came to the rescue.

Amardeep Claire / Eurosport