Jamie Murray had escaped his brother Andy's considerable shadow even before he partnered Jelena Jankovic to a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Jonas Bjorkman and Alicia Molik yesterday to become Britain's first mixed doubles champion for 20 years.
Contrary to all expectations the older Murray had reached a Wimbledon final before his brother, offering Jankovic the chance to stir up some sibling rivalry which may have contributed to the Scot's relatively nerve-free performance before an excited Centre Court crowd. "He [Andy] is going to be jealous big time," she said. "I hope so."
Murray answered at once. "I guess nobody thought I would get to a Wimbledon final before him. But it happens. He'll just have to work harder."
It reads worse than it was spoken. In fact Andy has sometimes said that he enjoys his elder brother's successes more than his own, and as the moment of fraternal triumph arrived the injured British No 1 could be seen jumping around with the rest of the crowd, clapping his hands above his head.
But the little bit of Serb-Scottish dialogue served its motivational purpose. And the partnership, which was almost an afterthought, became a happy and highly fortuitous one as Murray became the first senior British champion at Wimbledon since Jeremy Bates and Jo Durie won the mixed doubles title in 1987.
It began with jokes about who asked who to partner whom, and continued with a jest about how many times Jankovic had kissed Murray at the end of their victories. Two, she said, as he held up three fingers behind her.
All this was a little more calculated than it seemed. "I think it's probably one of the reasons we got through, to be honest," said Murray. "We have a lot more chemistry than any of the other teams that we play against."
It all offered plenty of material for humour from the Centre Court crowd. The first time Jankovic hit a good shot there was a call of "C'mon, Mrs Murray" followed by parodies of what Murray had been endlessly repeating to his partner from the start of the tournament: "Keep smiling!"
Jankovic willingly did, as always, but a bigger laugh came from a cry of "Come on Jamie, you wee Scot" as the 6ft 3in left-hander hurled down one of his swerving first serves, making Bjorkman plunge towards the tramlines to reach it.
The biggest laugh of all came when Murray and Jankovic had one of their many mid-court tete-a-tetes, deciding which tactics to use on the next point, and moved so close to each other that the crowd burst into a collective giggle. Murray also quickly showed why he has acquired the nickname "Stretch", using his long reach to intercept some formidable returns from Bjorkman as he helped Jankovic hold on to her service games.
When it was Murray's turn to serve he let the side down by netting a couple of volleys, although the damage was repaired immediately when Molik played a wobbly service game. The crucial break was to come in the penultimate game.
Jankovic set that up by clouting Bjorkman's serve forcefully down the tramlines to reach 30-40 and Murray converted the opportunity with a well judged lob volley which made the Swede scuttle back to attempt a between-the-legs "hot dog" which found the net.
In the second set Bjorkman's all-round doubles expertise came to the fore and, with Molik volleying better now, the Swedish-Aussie combo captured first a Jankovic and then a Murray service game to level at one set all with ominous rapidity.
But the final set was a different story again as Murray and Jankovic broke Bjorkman at once. The Serb-Scot duo then repeated it to reach 5-1, thanks to some superb returning from the tenacious Jankovic, who mixed brilliant forehand strokes with her resilient sense of humour.
In the next game Jankovic served out to love to win the match before taking the lead with Murray at the prize-giving, pointing to the spot on her cheek where he should now kiss her.
Even before their victory in the final Jamie had invited Jankovic to Scotland for Christmas, although she had not exactly accepted.
"OK, I'll think about it," she said. "She's playing hard to get," he retorted. "He's trying too hard, though," she answered.
She may not think so now.