It’s just possible that Roger Federer might have won more public love from a single defeat — that epic Wimbledon final — than he won from four entire years of incomprehensible dominance.

Once he arrived here for the US Open, his winking wit seemed to return, and he said strangers wished him back to No. 1 from his newfound settlement at No. 2 behind Rafael Nadal. The 27-year-old man from one of the world’s most un-New York places — the staid Basel, Switzerland — repeatedly said he felt like a New Yorker.

So as the grand arc of Federer’s celestial tennis career resumed its upward track Monday evening, the Arthur Ashe Stadium DJ played Still The One, and Federer soon said puckishly, “It’s great, the guy putting on the music being my fan, right?”

He had summoned much of his vast repertoire and sapped the drama out of a US Open final and his 6-2, 7-5, 6-2 victory over first-time Grand Slam finalist Andy Murray of Scotland loosed a barrage of edits to the tennis record books.

It made Federer the first player with five consecutive US Open titles since Bill Tilden won six from 1920-25. It made Federer the first player to win five consecutive titles at two different Grand Slam tournaments because he won five straight Wimbledon titles between 2003 and 2007. It gave Federer 13 Grand Slam titles, halving his deficit behind Pete Sampras’s record 14. It gave Federer 34 straight wins in Flushing Meadows, 35 if you count a walkover in the fourth round of the 2004 tournament.

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