The king is dead, long live the king after a Wimbledon to cherish

TV VIEW:SUE BARKER let John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg in on the secret: Pete Sampras was on his way from Los Angeles and would be making his first appearance at Wimbledon since 2002. "Wow," said the pair, as one, thrilled that the American would be present to "pass on the torch" as Roger Federer set about breaking his Grand Slam titles record.

No one had told Boris Becker, though. “I zink Pete vill be watching ze match in Kalfornya in his beautiful haus,” he said a few minutes later, as he took us on a guided tour of the innards of Wimbledon.

Fortunately, by the time Sampras took his seat alongside Rod Laver and Borg in the VIP box, Boris had been told he was due, otherwise he’d have guessed the big lad in the shades was the governor of the Bank of England.

And the governor was there.

As were, among others, the motley crew of Woody Allen, Alex Ferguson, Henry Kissinger, Russell Crowe and David Coulthard. We’d have paid anything to hear the chat between Woody and Alex in the VIP bar, especially if Woody dared to remind Alex of Michael Owen’s injury record.

Andy Roddick threw a glance up at Sampras and we wondered if he was wondering what we were wondering: “A bit presumptuous this, eh?”

It was, too. Before the coronation of the king the king has to win the crown, and Roddick was a touch determined to usurp him.

As luck would have it, it proved to be the most unimaginably breathtakingly magnificent of finals. We say unimaginable largely because we had a notion the game would be as competitive as, say, Venus Williams’ obliteration of, cough, world number one Dinara Safina in the women’s semi-finals.

True, Roddick is useful and no stranger to success, but bearing in mind his response to a question on a celebrity edition of The Weakest Link – “Name a female farmyard animal which sounds like a letter of the alphabet”. “Baaaa?” – we wondered if he’d have the ability to outsmart the master.

We should have remembered, though, that he’s feisty – “Stay in school, kids, or you might end up being an umpire,” he said after a run-in with officials at the Australian Open – so the final wasn’t, after all, a conclusion of the foregone kind.

Britain, of course, was busy wondering about what might have been. “The Daily Telegraph will be running an Andy Murray dartboard tomorrow for you to throw your abuse at him,” Jim White, a columnist with the paper, told the BBC’s Celina Hinchcliffe after Murray’s exit at the hands of Roddick. Then he giggled, which suggested he might have been joking, but we weren’t entirely sure.

In fairness, the BBC had tried to reduce the pressure levels on Murray ahead of his semi-final, only asking Dame Kelly Holmes (double Olympic gold medallist), Sir Steve Redgrave (five-time Olympic gold medallist), Sir Chris Hoy (four-time Olympic gold medallist), Sir Roger Bannister (first sub four-minute miler), Sir Matthew Pinsent (four-time Olympic gold medallist), Sir Geoff Hurst (1966 World Cup winner) and Sir Clive Woodward (rugby stuff) for their opinions on what Murray was on the verge of achieving.

Six Knights and a Dame might sound sort of like the sequel to Four Weddings and a Funeral, but in the end Roddick buried Murray, Britain the bridesmaid once more.

“Another British dream cast to the four winds,” sighed John Inverdale, before confidently predicting that Murray would triumph in 2012, just before the London Olympic Games. McEnroe grinned, as only McEnroe can, while Becker pursed his lips sympathetically.

Anyway, back to yesterday. We weren’t expecting much, certainly nothing to match Serena Williams’ positively glorious epic against Elena Dementieva in the semis – or “Elena Dementia”, as a forgetful Tracey Austin was in the habit of calling her.

You’d never know, one of these days folk will stop sounding bored and haughty when they talk about the sisters’ genius, and recognise their sporting story for what it is: one of the greatest ever told. If their brilliance is an irritant, maybe they should direct their ire at the European factories churning out their opponents, personality-less automatons armed with racquets. The Williams’ sisters, in contrast, are, as ever, an inspirational joy.

As Roddick was yesterday.

“He’s holding on by his teeth,” said Boris when they were 14-14 in the last set.

By then Federer, too, had been holding on by the skin of his gnashers, but Andy bit the bullet in the end.

“He was already a legend, now he’s an icon,” said Sampras of Federer to the BBC, looking like a man who was more than content to pass on the torch, not least because he regards Federer as a positively fine human being.

Then he lined up for a photo with Federer, Borg and Laver, over 20 Wimbledon titles between them.

A snap to cherish. A Wimbledon to cherish too.