The Centre Court had never seen anything like it – a beaten finalist weeping on the shoulder of a Royal Family member, who threw stiff etiquette to the wind by comforting the vanquished player.

Thus did the nation take Jana Novotna and the Duchess of Kent to its heart in 1993, the aftermath of her late collapse against Steffi Graf providing one of Wimbledon’s most iconic images.

Novotna, who died yesterday at 49 after battling cancer, became synonymous with the dreaded ‘choke’ across all sports, let alone tennis, although her career was to have a happy ending.

The Duchess’s words on that emotional afternoon – ‘One day you will do it, I know you will’ – turned out to be prophetic, for five years later she became champion by winning her third final at what was then considered the advanced age of 29.

Tributes poured in yesterday from around the tennis world, many along the lines of that from Chris Evert, who described Novotna’s passing as ‘a devastating loss to those of us who shared a deep friendship with her, a woman with integrity and honour.’

A generally private person, blessed with a smile that was warm and mischievous at the same time, the extent of Novotna’s illness was not common knowledge within the game.