The first chill of autumn invaded Britain’s heatwave summer on Friday night. Murray lost his Wimbledon semi-final to the American Andy Roddick in four sets, and on Sunday Roddick will make his third attempt to unhorse Roger Federer in a men’s singles final here – which is not quite so historic as having the first British finalist in 71 years.

Amid all the local over-excitement about Murray, it became all too easy to forget he was up against a man who has been among the world’s best for nearly a decade. There was never more than a cigarette paper between them: the score was 6-4, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 – with only four service breaks all match. But at the vital moments Roddick made fewer mistakes.