A TENNIS parallel to begin this week: in the late 1970s, the big-serving American/Lithuanian Vitas Gerulaitas kept coming up against the petulant Jimmy Connors, who had a more complete game.

In fact, Connors beat Gerulaitas 16 times until the underdog beat him in straight sets in the Masters Cup of 1980. Gerulaitis gave the press one of the all-time great sporting quotes, when he said: “And let that be a lesson to you all: no-one beats Vitas Gerulaitus 17 times”.