Let’s be honest. Who didn’t want to see a rematch of the bedazzling final contested 12 months ago by Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic? No hands anywhere? Thought not.

And who believed that it would ever be possible just five Sundays ago that the pair of them would both be striding out on to Centre Court for what really could be an even more compelling showdown? No, me neither…

Alcaraz, yes. That felt like something of a given. A month ago he was beaming like a Cheshire Cat while lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaires aloft as Roland-Garros victor, a third Grand Slam title in his hands and, at 21, the tennis world once more at his quicksilver feet.

But Djokovic? Not a chance he’d be back for revenge. He’d undergone surgery to repair a torn medial meniscus in his right knee on June 5. It was simply inconceivable he could be at the start line at Wimbledon, let alone competitive.

Some of us clearly forgot who we were dealing with here. This was Djokovic, the wonder of our sporting age. If there was a Mount Rushmore of sport, his granite face, all bulging-eyed intensity, would be staring out first, daring us not to believe in him.

Yet still it feels faintly miraculous that not only has he made it to a 10th final, but he’s arrived here having made it look so preposterously routine. That grey knee support has been the only indicator of his injury issues during his pristine progression.

Yet he’s still not satisfied. Amid the sighing from his last victim, Lorenzo Musetti, that the 37-year-old is playing better than he’s ever seen him, Djokovic mutters only that he could have been better. And today, he doubtless will be.

Because history, as he says, is on the line again. It always is now really.

Five things to watch on Day 14

“I'm aware that Roger (Federer) holds eight Wimbledons. I hold seven. Also, the 25th potential Grand Slam (to surpass the mark he shares with Margaret Court). It's also a lot of pressure and expectation.

“Every time I step out on the court now, even though I'm 37 and competing with the 21-year-olds, I still expect myself to win most of the matches, and people expect me to win 99 per cent of the matches I play.”

As for Sunday’s showpiece, it feels like another 50/50. Alcaraz has been wonderful and wizardly and so many of his tournament-high 277 winners have been quite breathtaking.

But then there’s the bloopers too, the 189 unforced errors that represent the second-highest tally in the tournament (number one Arthur Fils, take a bow).

Yes, even they have been spectacular. Who can forget the fantastically barmy smash-drop shot that plopped into the net against Daniil Medvedev? “They relax me. I got a smile on my face doing disasters sometimes,” says Alcaraz. You really have to love him!

But it’s the sheer efficiency of Djokovic that continues to stupefy. Behind serve, he’s won 94 per cent of his games, while Alcaraz is down at 83 per cent after dropping his delivery 19 times. Djokovic has made a miserly 11 per cent of unforced errors, compared with Alcaraz’s 14 per cent.

Still, though, you would have to say, after all he’s been through of late, that if he could escape from Alcaraz this time and land the Grand Slam that confirms him, statistically at least, as the best tennis player there’s ever been, it may well represent Djokovic’s greatest monument.

There are other treats on final Sunday. It’s another big day for Britain’s Wheelchair tennis king Alfie Hewett, seeking the one Grand Slam singles title to elude him against Spain’s Martin de la Puente and also another doubles crown with his trusty partner Gordon Reid, against Japan’s Takuya Miki and Tokito Oda.

The Dutch are guaranteed at least one title as Sam Schroder and Niels Vink, victorious together in the doubles, will face each other in the Quad Wheelchair singles final.

Elsewhere, the seemingly unstoppable Diede de Groot and her compatriot Jiske Griffioen will contest the ladies’ Wheelchair doubles final against Yui Kamiji and Kgothatso Montjane.

And the uniquely splendid Su-Wei Hsieh teams up with Jan Zielinski against the Mexican duo of Santiago Gonzalez and Giuliana Olmos in what’s bound to be an entertaining mixed doubles final.

Hmm. It feels like we’ve forgotten something, though. Isn’t there some other sporting trifle happening later today? Alcaraz mentioned it. Apparently, something about a football match? And about it being a perfect Sunday to be Spanish?

Well, let’s just say we wish him the best in his bid to lift his trophy, but perhaps he might go out of his way to tell his mates to be generous enough to allow his nice English hosts to hoist the bauble in Berlin. Fair’s fair, Carlitos…