Trailing 4-2 and 5-4 in the deciding set of the women's singles final at Wimbledon in 1978, Martina Navratilova courted another gallant defeat, set once again to be thwarted by the game's golden girl, Chris Evert.
Navratilova's victory over her American rival at the traditional warm-up tournament, Eastbourne, seemed an aberration, a blip in a trend that had seen Evert dominate their rivalry from the time her Czech-born opponent defected to America - ironically sent there to compete by the Czech Federation - at the US Open in 1975, three years earlier.
This time it would be different; no one would have envisaged they were witnessing the blooding of a Wimbledon icon. Navratilova would go on to claim nine singles titles at the All England club, breaking the record set by Helen Wills Moody (eight).
In winning three games in succession to close out a 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory, Navratilova embarked on a career that would redefine women's tennis.
She grew up in troubled times in Czechoslovakia and suffered early emotional traumas. Her parents divorced when she was three - she changed her name from Subertova to Navratilova after her mother remarried - her father committed suicide when she was nine and at 11 she watched the Soviet tanks roll into Prague.
Television offered a link to Wimbledon, but the grass courts of the All England club seemed a distant dream, particularly as the grass court in Czechoslovakia was at the home of the 1973 Wimbledon champion Jan Kodes.
Feeling trapped, and constrained by the Czech Federation, she sought asylum at the 1975 US Open. In her words, she "Big Mac-ed" her way around America, "comfort eating" to counter her loneliness: her weight ballooned. A tearful, first-round loss to Janet Newberry at the 1976 US Open prompted a little introspection and a decision that would have a seminal influence on women's tennis.
Navratilova subjected herself to a punishing training regime, attaining unprecedented fitness levels in the women's code. Advertising executives may have blanched at her sexual preference - to her credit she never tried to hide her lesbianism - and her muscular physique could not have offered a greater contrast to the American sweetie pie generation of Tracy Austin and Andrea Jaeger and, later, Argentina's Gabriela Sabatini.
The sponsors were not alone in failing to endorse the premier woman tennis athlete. For much of her career, Navratilova was cast in the role of the anti-hero by spectators. Evert did not require her marriage to England's John Lloyd to curry favour at Wimbledon: she along with every opponent Navratilova faced throughout the late '70s would be guaranteed the groundswell of affection.
It was perhaps a grudging respect for the naturalised American's excellence that the crowd championed the underdog, but one could not help suspecting that Navratilova was considered less wholesome as a champion. It was only in later years, when the emergence of Steffi Graf and Monica Seles removed her from her pre-eminent position, that she found herself adopted by crowds: the fading champion with the feet of clay.
Navratilova won nine Wimbledon titles, four US Opens, three Australian and two French Open titles. She won a staggering 31 Grand Slam doubles titles and seven mixed. She holds 167 singles titles and 165 - doubles more than any man or woman in the history of the game. She won one tour event a year for 21 years. The left-hander won $20,337,902 in career prize money and won more singles matches 1,438 than any other woman.
She revolutionised the women's game with her athletic prowess, redefined fitness levels and at the same time acted as a beacon for a serve and volley game in a sea of baseline sluggers.
A great player and an exceptional woman.
