Finir en beauté is a charming French phrase, much used in the pages of L’Equipe, which means to end your career in such a manner as to leave behind nothing but a memory of you at your best.

The embrace shared by Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi in the Arthur Ashe stadium at Flushing Meadows on Sunday night was about as fine and moving a sight as sport has to offer.

It was supposed to be a World Cup of superstars. But at this World Cup the superstars have gone missing. The roll-call of the disappeared includes Luis Figo, Thierry Henry, Francesco Totti, Michael Owen, Gabriel Batistuta, Raul and El Hadji Diouf.

Arsène Wenger didn’t vote, and he feels guilty about it. ”If you multiplied me by 180 000,” he said this week, ”it would have been enough to take Le Pen out of the race.”

Will the Tiger (and others) be tamed by the longer course for the United States Masters?