Consider this – Roger Federer has won more grand-slam titles than Rod Laver or Bjorn Borg and if the world No 1 were to win the next two US Open singles titles, he would equal Bill Tilden’s record of six in succession here, and Tilden did not have too many bona fide challengers.

With every turn of the page, this amazing talent from Switzerland pushes the boundaries of expectation and brilliance a stage farther and others – from all sports, not only his own – look on in wonder.

By the time of Wimbledon 2008, Federer may enter the tournament with an opportunity to join Pete Sampras, who won 14 grand-slam titles, atop the tennis leaderboard – and who knows, if he has won the French Open and the whole design of the sport has changed, to take a sixth Wimbledon championship in succession would be the record clincher. With this man, you cannot tell.

It is all conjecture, of course. The two certainties to emerge from the 2007 men’s US Open final here were that Federer has developed such an aura on these occasions that he is near unbeatable – Roland Garros and Rafael Nadal apart – and Novak Djokovic has become a fabulous foe, one who can be mentioned in the breath of prospective grand-slam champions.

Remarkable to think that, at the start of the year, when pressed to suggest who he felt might trouble him as much as Nadal, Federer plumped for Andy Murray. The world No 1 had been beaten by the Scot in Cincinnati in August last year and he recognised the threat posed by a game of enormous variety, built on a virtuous belief, and was worried that, if he could sustain his development, Murray would pose a real threat.

That has been diminished by the British No 1’s terrible run with injury since March and Djokovic has moved into a position from where he can only improve. We shall see how the rest of the year pans out, but as the Serb drenched his family and friends with champagne on the new players’ patio, it was possible to imagine him becoming a threat on all surfaces. Murray has yet to earn that right.

Elsewhere at Flushing Meadows, as Federer made his way back to the locker-room, a guard of honour was formed. Tim Phillips, the All England Club chairman, and Ian Ritchie, the chief executive, were among those to shake the 26-year-old Swiss by the hand. Federer remains the club’s senior ambassador and because he cannot quite bring himself to measure winning here alongside his five successive victories in SW19, he is accorded hero’s status at the club.

Records and the march of time are on Federer’s mind. “I think about it a lot now,” he said. “In the beginning I felt pushed into a corner, put under pressure about the situation, because you don’t win slams just like that, it’s just too tough. These 2½ weeks here, they are so draining. I’m exhausted in the end. It’s a great relief just to finally maybe have a good night’s sleep without thinking about the upcoming five-setter I have to play. I know how tough it is.

“So to come so close [to the Sampras record] already at my age is fantastic and I really hope to break it. I get nervous quite often in big occasions, just because you wait around so long and you hope to be in the driver’s seat on the final day. It really works you. You are, like, ‘I hope I didn’t come all this way to lose.’ You start asking yourself questions. And the more I win the more I ask myself questions. In the end it’s relief to win. It’s the best feeling.”