There is rarely room for sentiment in the harsh environment of the tennis court, even when two friends find themselves on opposite sides of the net, and there was no danger of Gordon Reid allowing compassion to cloud his vision when he collected his first Paralympic gold medal at the expense of Alfie Hewett, his doubles partner and ParalympicsGB team-mate.

To choose a life as a tennis player is to accept a largely lonely existence during the heat of battle and Reid, the owner of four grand slam titles across singles and doubles this year, was merciless in dispatching his young friend, beating him 6-2, 6-1 in under an hour in the wheelchair tennis final.

A day after they fell short against France’s Stéphane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer in the doubles final Reid and Hewett were back on Centre Court. There is an iron bond between a pair dubbed Heid by their supporters, forged in their victory over Houdet and Peifer in the Wimbledon final in July, and their mutual affection for each other always shines brightly when they are together off court.

They shared a tender embrace at the net when a return from Hewett sailed long to bring an end to 54 minutes of one-sided tennis. It is, after all, only a game, nothing to fall out over. They even bumped into each other in the physio room before the match.

“We kind of swiftly decided to move to a different room,” Reid said. “It’s hard because we’ve come through a lot together in the last two years; we’ve had a lot of highs together. It’s difficult to put all that to one side, especially after playing the final together last night. We work with the same coaches, having to fit our warm-ups around each other. Nobody had a clue what to do but you’re playing to win.”

And that was Reid’s plan. After Andy Murray’s victory in the Olympic final over Juan Martín del Potro last month, another Scot topped the podium on Centre Court.

Reid has had a wonderful year since ending his wait for a grand slam singles title at the Australian Open in January. The Glaswegian, who also won the French Open with Japan’s Shingo Kunieda, backed up his Melbourne breakthrough at SW19. Now he is a Paralympic champion, with the promise of more trophies and garlands to come.

“I hate losing,” Hewett said. But he was comprehensively beaten here. Still, Hewett deserves credit for providing more evidence of his vast potential in the past week. The 18-year-old has had time of his life in Rio and has two silver medals to show for his worthy efforts.

Ever so briefly, it seemed that a proper contest was on the cards when Hewett earned an early break in the first set. But such impertinence would not be tolerated by a player who is six years his senior. Reid was soon back on level terms, drawing a forehand error from Hewett, who would pocket only one more game in the entire match.

Reid was superior in every department, hitting the ball flatter and harder, moving better, showing greater variety and pushing Hewett around the court. Just as in the doubles, Hewett’s serve was vulnerable under pressure. Reid swatted a forehand return away to take the first set.

An increasingly sympathetic crowd tried to encourage Hewett who desperately wanted to prolong the fight. But it was a lost cause. Reid was too good. The consolation for Hewett is that he is not the first person to find that out.