It took Jannik Sinner the best part of three hours to break Alexander Zverev's serve.
Almost another hour had passed before he had the German's heart to go with it, the final touch put on this bruising Wimbledon final.
Sinner is king of these grass courts once again, defending the SW19 title he won for the first time 12 months ago. This was a final more in keeping with those played on this court decades ago. Baked grass, big serving, break opportunities few and far between.
At three hours and 46 minutes, this 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory was just two minutes shy of the longest win of Sinner's career.
It might well be the most satisfying. Not just because it is a fifth Grand Slam title, or that it came in his first tournament since he melted so alarmingly in the French Open heat earlier this summer.
But because Sinner has not necessarily looked like a guaranteed champion over the past fortnight. He needed five sets in his first match and two tie-breaks in his second. He laboured past Jan-Lennard Struff in the quarter-finals before finding his best against Novak Djokovic in the semi-final.
That set him up for this final battle. Zverev threw the kitchen sink and anything else he could find at him. Sinner is the world’s best player and had to reach that level to triumph here.
Not until he laced one final flat forehand down the line did this contest feel entirely in his control. Sinner hit 58 winners to go with 25 unforced errors. He faced just one break point and was never broken. And yet still it was a grind.
This was quite the advert for what a Grand Slam win can do. Zverev came into this final on a run of nine straight defeats to Sinner. The last six had been in straight sets - the last two brought a combined eight games.
The sense, though, was that this was a different Zverev. A Zverev released from his fears and doubts by his Roland Garros title at the start of the summer and playing with a freedom born out of the belief he now belonged among tennis' elite.
So it proved, on his least favourite surface and at a tournament he had never previously made it beyond the fourth round at.
“At 29, this is first time I believe I could win this trophy,” Zverev said in his on-court interview.
Sinner responded: "Today you were so, so close. If you keep playing like this I’m sure you’re going to have this one at home as well.
“So amazing, keep going. I know another goal is for you to become number one in the world. You are very close. I have to be very careful now!”
He continued: "My mum, I see her. She left the stadium a couple of times!
”It has been an amazing final once again. It always takes two players. We try to give everything we have, I’m very happy about the win but mostly very happy also about the level we played.”
Zverev set his stall out early. His serve was big and the forehand even bigger, attempting to punch holes in Sinner's defence at every opportunity.
Of the 15 unforced errors he hit in the first set, ten were on the forehand wing. At 2-2, the German got to 0-30 on the Sinner serve and screamed out in frustration after spraying a forehand wide.
The tactic made sense. A chess match did not suit Zverev, but a slugging match gave him a chance.
Both looked rock solid on serve until Sinner threatened to make his move at 4-4. The Italian ran down a drop shot and flicked it brilliantly crosscourt, earning a nod of approval from the German. When Zverev then produced his first double fault, Sinner had a break point.
Zverev threw his head back in frustration but Sinner then framed two forehands in a row, the second of them threatening the front row of the Royal Box.
No further chances came and the set went to a tie-break. Zverev thundered down a 139mph ace. Sinner saved one set point with a crosscourt pass, before Zverev denied Sinner with an ace.
A second set point came for Zverev and he took it with a thunderous forehand winner. He crouched down and roared at his box.
Sinner looked almost bemused at times, Zverev picking his spots on serve at will. The Italian put one volley away at the net as much in self-defence as anything else, so hard was it coming at him.
The highlight reel of forehands continued for Zverev, including one stunning winner down the line off a Sinner overhead.
After more than two hours, Sinner had not faced a single break point and yet was scrapping away desperately for a route back into the match.
It came in the second-set tie-break, as he stepped up significantly and Zverev's level dropped for the first time. The German netted a routine forehand to immediately gift a mini-break, Sinner's box rising in acknowledgement of the significance.
Sinner threw everything at the tie-break and it worked, stepping up in the court and hitting through Zverev. The first of three set points was taken. After two hours and eight minutes of a warm-up, it was a best-of-three match for the Wimbledon title.
The momentum was with Sinner and he looked more comfortable in the baseline exchanges. The tie-break had lifted him.
At 3-3, Zverev had made 88% of his serves in the third set. That had been a weapon setting him up for victory, now it felt like a necessity for staying in the match.
The first chance of the set, though, came for Zverev. He got to 0-30 and then netted a return, bending over in frustration so violently he almost head-butted the court.
However, when Sinner then netted a forehand, Zverev had his first break point of the match, two hours and 42 minutes in. It was saved with a drop shot, one that left Zverev in a heap behind the baseline after an awkward fall. Sinner jogged over to help him up.
Zverev held his knee but avoided injury. The pain was all mental in the following game. The German became increasingly tight, bouncing the ball 15 times before serving. Backhand errors were followed by a double fault.
Sinner earned a break point and Zverev fired well beyond the baseline as it was converted for the final's first break. Zverev sent his racket skidding across the court.
The defending champion held to love with an ace to wrap up the set and take another significant step towards victory.
It was Zverev, though, that started the fourth set on top. He pegged Sinner back from 40-0 to deuce before the Italian battled to a hold. Sinner then had to drag himself to safety from 0-30 in his following service game.
That came after Zverev demanded a replay of Sinner's serve, adamant it should have been called out. To no great surprise, the technology confirmed that technology had been correct. Zverev's mood did not improve in the following game when a backhand down the line was shown to be a millimetre out as he waved his arms outstretched.
Sinner made his move at 3-3. Two break points came and went in a flurry of Zverev first serves but a third one was earned and this one converted, Sinner hammering a forehand winner to finally break Zverev's resistance.
Or not quite. Sinner stepped up to serve for the match and still Zverev did not go away. The Italian launched himself full stretch at a volley after a remarkable point and it landed long, Zverev conducting the huge cheers and sensing one last opportunity.
He should have had break points. There were three, four, maybe five chances to win the point at 30-30, only for Sinner to run down the drop shot and somehow flick it crosscourt.
Match point was his. A forehand winner later, so was the title.
