One for the ages

Stick this one in a time capsule, and seal that puppy up. Bury it deep beneath the threadbare grass of Centre Court. Seed these ancient grounds with it, along with Borg-McEnroe '80 and Ashe-Connors '75 and Federer-Nadal, '07 and '08, all the magnificent ghosts of finals past that hover so close here.

Djokovic-Federer '19 stands above them all, and that is not just prisoner-of-the-moment tunnel vision. That is fact.

In the end it was Joker winning his fifth Wimbledon over the indefatigable Fed, in five sets, the last going to 13-12. It lasted just shy of five hours, the longest Wimbledon final in history. Three of the five sets went to a tiebreaker. There were 68 games, 422 points, 35 aces.

And if it was Novak Djokovic lifting the trophy at the end, it was Roger Federer who made it heavy lifting. Less than a month shy of turning 38, he matched Joker stroke-for-stroke for five hours, scored more points overall, did things no almost-38-year-old has ever done. He was not the old dominant Federer, to be sure. He was only magnificent.

And he forced Djokovic to be magnificent, too. Together they achieved immortality, at least in such small matters as Wimbledon finals go.

Joker established himself as one of the greatest Wimbledon champions ever. And Federer?

Like Serena Williams the day before, he emerged beaten but undefeated, in the sense that there has never been anyone quite like him with a racket in his hand. Everyone remembers Jimmy Connors' lion-in-winter moment at the U.S. Open in 1991, when he reached the semifinals at the age of 39. But Connors lost in straight sets to Jim Courier in the semis, winning just eight games.

That was not this. That was not Federer pushing Djokovic to the bitter end in a Wimby final, forcing him to play a 25-points tiebreaker before finally ending a match that was more gasping survival than unalloyed triumph.

There may be more epic displays in Sportsball World this summer. But the bar is now set, and you can barely see it for the clouds