Perhaps most poignantly, though, it gave Federer one Grand Slam title in 2008 that might quickly climb his rankings of most cherished, and it made him a de facto New Yorker.

“It’s incredible the amount of people here in New York that just come up to me and recognise me now and sort of wish me luck, cab drivers screaming out I’m still the guy, and, ‘You can do it.’ It’s great, you know. “I think the French Open loss was brutal, but I got over that one pretty easily, played great on the grass, and had a really tough loss at Wimbledon which, you know, I was proud to be part of such a great match, but at the same time, you know, it just sort of made me sad, you know, not having won that great epic match. Maybe I was always dreaming about it and not winning it, you know.

‘Always positive’

“I was always positive, you know.”

All along, as he lost 12 different matches to nine different players and struggled in the hardcourt season, losing an Olympic quarter-final to James Blake, he dealt with the world’s acknowledgement of his fresh imperfections while winning only two titles before the US Open.

The US Open cured that, even if he still doesn’t feel he’s moving as he once did.

After a frenetic final point on which Federer, 27, menaced at the net and Murray, 21, scampered around using his uncommon court coverage, Federer finally hit an overhead that Murray couldn’t quite squeeze back. He then sank to his knees and rolled around on the New York concrete.

... contd.