This final was so much about whether Roger Federer could overtake Pete Sampras's 14 grand slam titles, it was impossible to resist a temptation to read all sorts of things into the retired American's reactions. Sampras arrived late at 2-1 in the first set, sat down in the front row and acknowledged a round of applause as Federer was about to serve. It couldn't have helped.
When Federer got to 7-6 in the final set he was seen to yawn. Was it tension? Did he prefer not to contemplate the possibility of even a friend breaking his record? Or had he just seen it all before? Or jetlag? Or had he come to realise that being a spectator isn't always what he imagined?
As the fifth set zig-zagged on to become the longest fifth set in a men's singles final at Wimbledon in the open era, Ol' Stone-Face was seen to take off his shades and roar with laughter. Perhaps we were wrong. Perhaps he no longer cared.
Of course professional tennis has already changed quite a bit since he was in it. Nothing is more likely to induce scepticism than that. This match illustrated the importance of Hawkeye – which Sampras never had to use - especially when it denied Federer a chance to close out the first set with his serve.
The American had saved two break points superbly at 5-5, but appeared to have lost a third when a thumping Federer forehand drive was signalled in by the line judge. Roddick appealed, Hawkeye showed Federer's shot out, and Roddick shakily held serve to reach 6-5 four rallies later. This is one of the reasons why Federer does not like Hawkeye – it can influence the outcome of matches and yet it is not 100% accurate. For instance, when Roddick did not see a line judge call "out" to his sharply angled volley, and when umpire Lars Graff asked if he wanted to appeal, the American said no – an unwise decision as Hawkeye surprisingly showed the ball as in.
Roddick was struggling physically, we were told, at the end. But what about Pete, so was he, wasn't he? Was he slumbering? When the 96-minute fifth set came to its tortuous end, he was seen to purse his lips slightly as though trying to savour what had happened.
"Sorry Pete, I tried to hold him off," Roddick called out while collecting the loser's trophy. It brought a huge beam in response. And showed how wrong we were. It didn't need chiselling after all.
