By the time Linda Noskova sat down with a towel draped over her head after blocking the crowd noise with fingers in her ears, Centre Court had already started travelling backwards through time.
Five championship points had come and gone. The crowd that had spent an hour watching a one-sided final was suddenly roaring for Karolina Muchova’s escape act. A young Czech who had been serving for the Wimbledon title at 5-2 in the second set was trying to block out the weight of what might be happening.
