Beneath Centre Court they hugged, the ice-cool icon of the 1970s and the similarly high-class champion who has lifted the sport to a new, exalted plain three decades later. Roger Federer’s fifth successive triumph at the high altar of tennis matched Björn Borg’s record, set in 1980, and it was right that they should share a moment together, the two living embodiments of Wimbledon rule.

With his 7-6, 4-6, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2 victory over Rafael Nadal, the gallant Spaniard, Federer collected his eleventh grand-slam tournament title from his record ninth consecutive final. Whichever way it turned out, something had to give for Borg — either Federer replicated his grass-court sequence in SW19, or Nadal became the first person to win the French Open and Wimbledon within a month as was the Swede’s norm when he ruled the sport with glacial beauty.

Borg never played a tournament between Paris and London, preferring to practise. Federer had always appeared in — and won — a tournament in Germany the week immediately after Roland Garros, but this year he declined, saying that he was tired, and one wondered how that decision would affect his preparation. As he set out on his fifth lap of honour at the All England Club yesterday, the answer was apparent.

“I have to win these titles while I can,” Federer, who had practised with Goran Ivanisevic, the 2001 champion before the final, said. “Rafa came so close today; he is playing phenomenal tennis and has definitely improved yet again. He had more of a game plan this year than last year. He knows the game of grass much better.

“That is what will happen in the future, everyone is going to play on all sorts of different surfaces. There was huge pressure for me, Borg sitting there, McEnroe, Connors, Becker all there. There are special memories for all my life. I like Borg very much, it was very fitting in my point of view. I was already crying when I was up 5-2 and then it was a hard game. So many things happen in my mind.”

It took three hours and 46 minutes of classic cut-and-thrust tennis, of stroke-making and emotion that roused a full house on Centre Court, before Federer prevailed. It has been a long time since a British audience bore witness to a men’s final of such potency, stoking a rivalry that has the basis of mutual respect — rather than the enmity that has characterized previous rivalries. Seeing John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors strutting the court before the match all but arm in arm, was the most perverse way to introduce this tumultuous afternoon.

Had Nadal triumphed, the Spaniard could espy the world No 1 ranking by the end of the year. That is an improbability now. Nadal did all he could, recovering twice from a set down and, in the fifth set, standing twice within two points of pilfering Federer’s serve.

What made the difference, he was asked? “Some points,” Nadal replied. “He served better than me and on this surface, the serve is more important. I played against the best of history and had good chances to win, playing at a similar level. I cannot say anything bad about my tournament or my game. Just congratulate him.”

Jamie Murray, older brother of Andy Murray, became the first British player in 20 years to claim a Wimbledon title when he partnered Jelena Jankovic to the mixed doubles crown on Centre Court yesterday.