36-year-old veteran Champion is back at the summit, after becoming the oldest man to make it since the ATP rankings came into being in 1973. One of the most stunning late-career runs witnessed in any sport has seen Federer put together a sustained spell of brilliance few believed was possible when he missed half of the 2016 season with knee and back problems. On Friday a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Dutchman Robin Haase in the quarter-finals of the ABN AMRO tournament in Rotterdam guaranteed that the Swiss would rise to number one for the fourth time in his career. Incredibly Roger Federer first became world number one in 2004 when he beat Juan Carlos Ferrero in the semi-final of the Australian Open before going on to take the title.

If someone had told Roger Federer 13 months back that recovering the world number one positioning would require three more terrific pummel titles and three Masters 1000s, even he might have declared it mission impossible.

On that occasion he stayed there for 237 weeks. I think it was great that I had to play for it this week,” he said. “I just didn’t just get it by Rafa losing somewhere or dropping points or me sitting on the sidelines like in 2012 when I was on holiday and got the ranking two weeks after Wimbledon.

“This way to play a match where you know that you are going to be world number one if you win it, in front of a crowd, is a great feeling.”