When the morning skies grow red
And o’er us their radiance shed,
Thou, O Lord, appearest in their light.
When the Alps glow bright with splendour,
Pray to God, to Him surrender,
For you feel and understand,
That He dwelleth in this land.

To the Swiss, Roger Federer is a living god. The evocative music and lyrics of his country’s national anthem — the Swiss Psalm — rang around Federer’s head when, only 13 days ago, he stood on a podium in Paris, a single tear running down each cheek, at one moment alone in his own world and yet knowing that he was in the whole world’s embrace.

That sense of abiding warmth has not left him in the intervening days, even when he has been alone at home with his thoughts, family and friends for occasional succour before he prepared to set out again, the conquest not nearly done, another Alp to scale, eager for the next challenge at the place where this sport — his sport — takes on an entirely new definition.

But, for a few moments, though the setting is a glorious afternoon at the All England Club, Federer’s mind instinctively goes back to Roland Garros and the presentation ceremony for his fourteenth grand-slam singles title, equalling Pete Sampras’s record, which many believed would stand for all time, until this phenomenal man from Basle came along. “It is the heaviest trophy,” he says. “And a few times during the tournament I had been thinking, ‘I wonder how it will feel.’ It’s quite a thought because you don’t want to get carried away, but you want to start dreaming a bit because dreaming, well, it’s inspirational. It can help by getting even more from you than you think it is possible to give.

“There were three defining moments that day. The first was when I walked out, the second when I started the third set [against Robin Soderling], having won the first two, and then when I collected the balls to serve for the match. I was thinking, ‘What an unbelievable feeling it would be to win this tournament.’ I was so close. I hoped I wasn’t going to mess it up.

“The elation was amazing. Then I walked up to the podium and Andre [Agassi] was standing there smiling, the last man to win all four [grand-slam tournaments]. That was a very strong moment for me. Then I was lifting the cup, letting it all out, I was the happiest person in the world, I was totally free, happy and proud all at the same time and I was sharing it with all the people in the stadium because they were so happy for me as well.”

Then the Swiss Psalm began. Federer looked down, into the base of the cup, he tried to look up but the resonance of the music made him look down again. One tear slid down each of his cheeks. I told him that I get choked up at anthems. “It’s hard, isn’t it?” he says. “I love music in general, but I especially like the classics, opera and musicals.

“Actually I like lots of different stuff when the mood takes me. But the anthem, few tennis players ever get to hear theirs. They play them in Monte Carlo and in Paris and, of course, in the Davis Cup before the Saturday doubles and at the Olympics.

“When Stan [Stanislas Wawrinka] and I won the gold medal in doubles for Switzerland in Beijing, it was played. But we aren’t footballers who hear it perhaps 50 times a year. For us it has a very special meaning.

“You know when you hear it that a great thing is either about to happen or has just happened. It was very emotional sharing it not only with the Swiss people, but so many around the world who knew how much winning this tournament meant to me.”

There was a seminal moment at the All England Club this week when Federer walked down the hill from the Aorangi Park practice courts as if there was a foot of air between his feet and the pavement. Going in the opposite direction, uphill, eyes firmly set, jaw jutting and feet killing him was Rafael Nadal. Three weeks ago, the conjecture was whether Nadal could complete the first calendar grand slam in 40 years; the next thing you knew, he had become a physical wreck and people were beginning to debate Federer’s prospects of collecting 20 grand-slam titles before he turns 30.

“This is a quick-living sport,” Federer said. “We went into Paris with Rafa as the overwhelming favourite; nobody could beat him, he was No 1 in the world, possibly for life and the next thing, he doesn’t defend Paris and he cannot defend Wimbledon, the No 1 ranking is in the air. It’s funny how it can change.” Though with Nadal’s melancholy withdrawal last night, amusement was in short supply.