Tennis, it seems, is no longer a young man’s game. Players are taking longer to make their breakthrough and even longer to reach their peak. And in the case of Dan Evans and Feliciano Lopez, they seem to go on for ever.

The two, with a combined age of 70, were trying to find their way in to the second round out on No.2 Court in a match held over from Monday’s drizzle. It was, according to the form book, a contest to savour – two men who know all the tricks of the grass court trade, who have all the touch and finesse of a magician (is their such a thing as a sleight of racket?) and who both know how to entertain. 

In the end, it was Evans, at 31, the younger by eight years, who won the day 7-6, 6-2, 7-5 and gave the home crowd something to cheer about for a couple of hours, it was a match for any neutral to enjoy. Slice, counter slice; big serve, decent return; volley and dink – this was the sort of tennis so rarely seen in this modern, muscular world.

“It was great,” Evans said. “It was amazing to be playing at Wimbledon again, great to be back. I was delighted to win; I played some good tennis. He is a difficult match on the grass.

“For the last two sets, I was probably a bit too into myself but once I let go, I really got rolling – especially at the end. I had to be patient, I might get a chance – and I did. I scraped the last game and that was a good mental effort today.” 

For a set, there was not a gnat’s whisker between the pair as the world No.26 (Evans) and world No.89 headed towards a tie-break. 

It was the 594th tie-break of Lopez’s career (and Evan’s 93rd). This little factoid is not so much a reflection of the Spaniard’s longevity but rather of his work ethic. The man never stops playing. Tuesday’s match was the 968th of his career; this Wimbledon is his 77th consecutive Grand Slam event.

At a time in his life when most athletes would long since have swapped their trainers for carpet slippers (and possibly a job in a nice comfy commentary box), Lopez is still out there on the road, serving and volleying for all he is worth.

Lopez is built for grass: tall with a nasty (in the nicest possible sense) left-handed serve and an in-built satnav that steers him to the net at every available opportunity.  Unfortunately for him, his GPS was playing up on No.2 Court and as the error count rose, so did his blood pressure.

At one point, having been flummoxed by a bad bounce (or, rather, an unfortunate trajectory – Wimbledon’s courts are not allowed to have bad bounces), the tall man from Madrid looked ready to explode. Smashing his racket on the sacred turf was not an option (that particular crime carries a hefty fine) so, instead, he stamped his foot on the offending turf. He looked like a toddler having a strop when forced to eat his brussels sprouts.

Evans, meanwhile, was doing what he has been doing all year – playing to his strengths and backing himself on every point. He is playing the tennis of his life at the moment and his ranking shows it.

He beat Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo a couple of months ago and he began the year by winning the first tournament trophy of his career. But what he has yet to do is make a serious charge at Grand Slam – his best result is reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open in 2017. Here in SW19, he has never got beyond the third round.

Not that past history mattered a jot: no one can reach the final without winning the first round so for Evans, this first round was the most important match of the week. So far. The next one was England against Germany in Euro 2020 – and Evans had won in good time to be home to watch that. It could not have been a better day.