There are some things that are so exquisite that they are almost impossible to bear and the increasingly fragile genius of Roger Federer is one of them. Just as everyone prepares to accept Federer as the greatest player who ever picked up a tennis racket so they get ready to say goodbye, for Rafael Nadal will soon be the world's No1.
Federer may remain for another year or even two, which should see him pass Pete Sampras's record of 14 grand slam titles. Then almost everyone will salute him as the best of the best. But Nadal is four years younger and the gap in this now epic rivalry is narrowing with surprising speed.
Each year the respective emperors of Paris and London come to demolish each other's citadels and each year they are repelled. But on the evidence of this summer Nadal will conquer this sacred turf before Federer beats the red clay of Roland Garros.
The old rock star sitting in the front row of the Royal Box was almost the first spectator to jump to his feet and applaud the champion yesterday. Bjorn Borg, Federer's idol whose five Wimbledon titles on the spin has now been equalled by the Swiss player, has a real affection and admiration for the modern phenomenon and they embraced beneath the club's roll of honour minutes after this contest.
Borg, though, was not as painful to watch as this. There was a physicality about his tennis that gave him an aura of invincibility. Borg, with a resting pulse rate of 35 and blood pressure of 70 over 30, walked on court in the certain knowledge that he would never tire - or at least, not before his opponent did.
Federer might argue that he takes some beating himself. After all, he is undefeated here in 34 matches and his winning run on grass now stretches to 54. But this was the first of his 13 grand slam finals (he has won 11) that has gone to five sets.
He is more naturally and variously gifted than Borg. There is so much more that can go wrong. And there were times yesterday when the chronometer-tested Swiss timing looked a little off.
Even Borg, when he won his fifth title in 1980, looked almost beatable in that terrific tie-break we now see so often, for the BBC is so obsessed with John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Borg that it is almost as if other great champions never existed.
Yesterday, especially when he was twice break points down in the final set, the crowd wondered whether they were witnessing a handover of the baton. Federer would have remained the No1 even if he had lost but the wider world would not have seen it that way. They have been shuffling towards each other like shy suitors in a crowded room all fortnight. And again they proved the greatness of their rivalry. It is to be hoped that others - Novak Djokovic, most likely - will join them.
Federer swept to a 3-0 lead in the first set and then Nadal won the next two games. Borg took his jacket off. He knew it would be a long one. The heat might have reminded him of his first win here, in the drought summer of 1976.
But while he watched Federer intently he may have felt there was more common ground between himself and Nadal, two natural baseliners and clay-court specialists who expanded their game.
Just a short time ago Nadal viewed a net in the wary way that a tuna would. But here he played more aggressive tennis, regularly coming forward to volley even though the slow court and the heavy balls frowned upon such adventure.
When the Spaniard won the fourth set 6-2 and looked the stronger player at the start of the fifth the sacrilegious thought that the champion's gold-piped jacket and elegant trousers might be nothing more than the emperor's new clothes invaded the mind.
He even took a bathroom break - Federer hardly ever does that. He is so perfect that some suspected that he never went to the toilet at all. He had played six hours less tennis than Nadal in these championships and it looked as if the bull from Manacor was the stronger. But now Federer proved himself as, perhaps, he had never done before.
For all his sublime gifts there were some who wondered whether he was a true warrior of the court. Most of his victories are achieved with such insouciance that he has rarely had his character tested. Here it was and he passed, most tellingly when he broke to 4-2 in the fifth. A sliced backhand sent the ball almost underground and then he finished the game with a forehand drive down the line.
Federer remains, for now, not only champion of Wimbledon and champion of tennis but champion of all sport, for no one in any other arena can match his style, his panache, his aesthetic appeal.