We curse sportsmen when they let us down, and understandably. As England capitulated to Pakistan in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, bowled out for 78 after batting like nervous spinsters crossing a minefield, I hurled expletives at the TV screen that I had forgotten were in my vocabulary. Of the ugly side of modern football, the less said the better. But when our sporting heroes repay our loyalty with interest, we should not hesitate to show our gratitude. In a world short of feel-good stories, the script being written by the top men’s tennis players is the stuff of heroism: heroic ambition; heroic endurance; heroic passions.