Everybody had a reason to be nervous about Sunday's Wimbledon Gentlemen's singles final. The long-suffering British were nervous they'd have to go yet another year without a local champion. Andy Murray, the unenviable object of their stress, had to be nervous that his opponent, Roger Federer, would find a way to vanquish him in a third major championship match and make more history. And Federer was worried that his back would act up as it had begun to do during his quarterfinal match against Xavier Malisse.

To that end, Federer had taken to wearing a black V-neck shirt beneath his white tennis polo. Which, in turn, had begun to worry me. Obviously, the undershirt was there for support, to keep him loose and warm and confident enough to go for his shots. It seemed to work. Down went Mikhail Youzhny in the quarterfinals, then the defending champion, Novak Djokovic, in the semis, then Murray and, with him, all of Great Britain.