‘What are you still doing here?’ joked Daniil Medvedev to Novak Djokovic after their US Open tennis final – a lung-busting baseline slugfest featuring jaw-dropping athleticism and brilliant shot-making – had ended in a straight sets win for the Serb. It was his 24th Grand Slam victory.

The Russian’s good-humoured question is one that many elite tennis players will be asking. But there’s no sign that Djoko wants to slow down. After all, he’s only 36. His coach Goran Ivanisevic said that Sunday’s win was one of the greatest feats in all sport – adding: ‘If he wins 25, he’s going to think, “Why not 26?” He’s taking care of his body, he’s taking care of everything.’ Andy Murray also thinks Djokovic can dominate for years to come: ‘It’s up to the young guys to be pushing Novak… but it doesn’t look like that’s close to happening.’ Too right there, Andy.

Novak’s achievement is a source of wonder – but is he the best there’s ever been, given his record number of Grand Slam titles? Most people would probably say they enjoyed watching Roger Federer more, a source of continual (and justified) annoyance to Djokovic.

It’s one of the most frequent – and frequently tedious – conversations in sport: ‘Who is the greatest of all time?’ Djoko’s triumph is breathtaking, but he’s not Roger, nor Rafa Nadal. Those who like statistics will plump for Djokovic – those who like elegance, grace and personality may not.

Uncle Toni Nadal recently suggested that the elite standard is not as high as when Roger and Rafa were in their prime around 2006-12. In that time, Federer won 11 Slams, Nadal ten and Djoko only five. (Though Uncle Toni is perhaps a bit biased.)

Djokovic, then, might not stir the soul like some. Yet we shouldn’t care whether he is the greatest of all time – just relish the fact that he is playing when we can enjoy him. Like we did with Borg and McEnroe.

Equally impressive at Flushing Meadows, but maybe even more pleasing, was the arrival of Coco Gauff as a fully fledged superstar, beating the world no. 1, Aryna Saba-lenka, to take the women’s title in a pulsating three-set tussle. Gauff is still only 19, but hasn’t made the mistakes of another teenage winner at the US Open, Emma Raducanu. She notched up a couple of WTA titles earlier this year, while her parents, who had been developing her career, pulled back to allow Pere Riba and Brad Gilbert to take over her coaching.

She’s not just a superb tennis player, she’s a most impressive young woman, funny, articulate and with a keen social conscience. She even gave her anonymous online enemies a good kicking in her winner’s speech. There’s no limit to what Coco could achieve: watch out White House.

Meanwhile, pardon the crazed optimism, but might England’s situation in the Rugby World Cup bear comparison with the football World Cup of 1966? That was when Jimmy Greaves (in today’s scenario, Owen Farrell) was suddenly unavailable, and Roger Hunt (in this version, George Ford) provided the final piece in Alf Ramsey’s painstaking jigsaw. Well, the answer is probably no. Mainly because England don’t seem able to score tries and winning the World Cup without tries is about as likely as escaping from Wandsworth strapped to the underside of a van: it’s possible, yet maybe only every 20 years or so.

But then one of the many things we like about sport is how necessity is the mother, father and great-uncle of invention, and coaches hit on winning formulas by accident. Personally, I’d keep Farrell as far away from the England team as I could. But will coach Steve Borthwick be able to resist playing him? I have my doubts.