If seeing someone being thrown to the lions in a colosseum was the Romans’ idea of sport, then is the 21st century equivalent taking some poor luckless sacrifice and chucking her into the Centre Court den of the roaring lioness that is Serena Williams?
In the 122nd ladies' singles final at The Championships, Garbine Muguruza is charged with just about the most formidable examination in modern sport - to try to derail one of the greatest sports champions of this or any other age who, at 33, just happens to look more ruthless, more predatory and hungrier than ever.
It is a task which demands a proper gladiator. So now we will find what Muguruza, born in Venezuela and honed in Spain, is really made of. This is no time for the hugely exciting 21-year-old with the big game and the fearless, aggressive approach to become cowed when faced with her childhood idol. She promises she won’t.
Off court, the delightful Muguruza cannot hold back the infectious smile which tells of someone enjoying the time of her young life; on it, though, she has managed to keep the “poker face” of the Barcelona Kid, a dead-eyed, high-stakes gambler who is learning fast how best to deploy her powerful hands.
The imposing 6ft, world No.20, who has blasted past Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska en route to this date, looks and sounds as if she will not be daunted and Williams senses it.
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Indeed, if you want an inkling of why Williams is now playing some of the best tennis of her garlanded career and of why she could be holding all four major titles - the so-called Serena Slam - by Saturday night, then blame it on the girl from Caracas.
For even Williams concedes that it was being blown off Court Suzanne Lenglen by the then 20-year-old at the French Open championships last year, a result that properly announced Muguruza’s star quality, which kick-started the latest and perhaps most brilliant phase of her career.
“It was an eye‑opening loss for me,” reflects Williams. “I got so much better after. It helped me say, ‘OK, Serena, you want to be the best, you're going to have to improve certain things’.”
Muguruza prodded a slumbering giant. Williams' improvement since then has been staggering, having lost just four completed matches while winning 66, including a revenge victory over Muguruza in the Australian Open, and now moving to within one match of holding all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously.
But, shush, we are not allowed to talk about this ‘Serena Slam’. Williams has banned all mentions because she is “fed up” with it. The only problem, though, is that her serve, one of the signature shots in tennis history which has been sounding here more like a pistol crack than ever, keeps shouting eloquently for her.
Maybe Williams does not want to tempt fate, seeing perhaps just a hint of a reflection of herself in the young Muguruza. “I don’t think she’s intimidated at all. She’s not that kind of person. She’ll be fine,” shrugs the five-time champion.
But then good judges in Spanish tennis, including their last Ladies’ champion, Conchita Martinez, have long thought Muguruza something special. “I think she can make us dream,” the 1994 champion said earlier this year.
Muguruza has been doing her own dreaming for long enough. At eight, she says with a laugh, she remembers in her sleep playing the 20-year-old Serena. It was weird, she reckoned, but the only thing she couldn’t recall was who won. Now we are about to find out.
We had also rather been hoping to discover on Saturday whether older brother Jamie Murray could claim the first half of a dream family double.
Alas, young Andrew’s departure in the semi-finals of the gentlemen’s singles semi-finals put a halt to that particular fantasy but nobody would begrudge Jamie an exhilarating moment of escape from a very large shadow if he could win the gentlemen’s doubles final with Australia’s John Peers against Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau.
And after that? Another return for Martina Hingis, who alongside doubles partner Sania Mirza will battle the Russian duo of Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova for the chance to lift her fourth Wimbledon trophy, 17 years after her third. Wouldn't that be something?
