TV View:That's the thing about BBC build-ups to big sporting events - you know yourself: those very lovely musical montage thingies and the like - more often than not they're so ludicrously brilliant it's a case of 'after the Lord Mayor's Show' when the event itself gets under way.

So, when you include in your build-up to the Wimbledon men's final a piece featuring John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg pottering about the old place, chatting about bygone days, then how do you top that?

The only way, surely, is down.

We, therefore, doff our entire collection of caps to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. They managed quite beautifully to follow the legends' chitchat in some style, and if we hear anyone say again that modern-day finals aren't a patch on the old ones - as, eh, we did before yesterday - we'll pour a bucket of ice-cold water all over them.

But still, that McEnroe, Connors and Borg piece had us purring. In fact, the only ones who outpurred us were McEnroe and Connors themselves. There was something splendidly sweet about the reverence they showed Borg; 20, 30 years on, they were still, evidently, in awe.

"It's good to see you - no, it's great to see you," said McEnroe, Connors echoing the thought, giving Borg a bearhug.

The Swede shifted shyly from foot to foot, Sue Barker seizing the moment to confess she was one of the young wans at Wimbledon all those years ago who screamed hysterically at the mere sight of the man.

Confronted by a cheesy grin from McEnroe, she regretted the confession as soon as she made it, but live television's a divil - there's no going back.

"All those girls chasing you - you seemed like the reluctant teen idol," she said.

"Was he reluctant?" asked McEnroe, who revealed in his autobiography that Borg left his bashfulness on the courts and was an entirely different animal when he hit the nightclubs of the world's tennis hotspots.

"Still water runs deep," grinned Connors, and you looked at Borg in a whole new 'well, ya ould bowsie ya' light.

Anyway, McEnroe asked Borg if, deep inside, he was spitting at the prospect of Federer equalling his Wimbledon five-in-a-row.

"You know, John, I feel very okay about that," he said.

McEnroe tried again. Surely Borg must have been boiling with seething, incandescent fury at the idea of that Swiss bloke equalling his record.

"John, you know, we are very different personalities," said Borg, which prompted cries of "noooooo!" from Sue and Jimmy. And a giggle from McEnroe.

"Why," asked McEnroe, "did they put us in that little room before finals and make us look at that Rudyard Kipling quote about dealing with triumph and disaster and how you have to treat them the same?

"Hey, maybe Bjorn did, but we sure as hell didn't," said the man who came more from the 'It's not the winning that matters, it's the taking apart' school of thought.

"Well, it was usually disaster for us," said Connors. McEnroe nodded. Borg smiled. Sue fainted. Almost.

One last time McEnroe tried to get Borg to admit that Federer equalling his record would be his worst nightmare.

"It could not happen to a nicer guy," he said, "he is a complete tennis player, no weaknesses. To see him play - he's like an artist. If he has the motivation he will be the greatest player ever."

McEnroe feigned exasperation at Borg's generosity, but actually, he has become a man of such lovely substance, unrecognisable from the often loathsome creature who inhabited our screens all those years ago, he's no less generous.

Match time. An epic. Federer rattled. Honest! He even asked for Hawkeye to be switched off. We're with him on this. Ever since a computer spellcheck resulted in an Aussie journalist referring to the Chilean dictator as Pinocchio we, too, have a deep mistrust of technology.

Federer won. Five-in-a-row. He met Borg after.

"It was a nice day for tennis," Roger had said to Bjorn, as they stood in front of the board showing the Wimbledon roll of honour, Federer's title haul already updated.

Lewis Hamilton's not quite in that sporting genius category, but he's getting there. That's if you regard Formula One as sport, which . . . okay, we'll behave.

It did, though, provide our highlight of yesterday's viewing, when ITV's Martin Brundle happened upon girly popsters Girls Aloud on the grid at Silverstone. One of them - sorry, we're too old to tell one from the other - gasped: "I can feel the buzz emulating all over the track, it's amazing!"

Amazing, indeed. But still, not as amazing as Roger emanating Bjorn at Wimbledon yesterday.