Facing break point for the first time in the match, Djokovic double-faulted, prompting a huge cheer among the 17,000 spectators keen to see an extended contest.
Oborne, political editor of the Spectator, has a keen eye for the machinations of the cricket establishment, backed by indefatigable research and a crisp style.
And yet, barely have we had time to take in the remark before Simon Phillips's production is off once more, lurching from outrageousness to camp and back again, a bit of audience participation thrown in for those spectators who are keen to, as they say, get down.
World Snooker chief Barry Hearn is keen to improve snooker's reputation as a spectator sport and has hinted that officials could urge players to quicken the pace when the play becomes turgid.
Anticipation will mix with keen expectation in a crowd of around 30,000 spectators here on Saturday as Dartmouth carries the royal colours to post before the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, a race named after his owner's parents.
Although dollars have been poured in by individuals and corporations keen to boost the game, it remains a peripheral spectator sport.
Sometimes this interest is entirely that of a spectator (Oates), sometimes it is that of a keen if limited practitioner (Updike); always it engenders quasi-philosophical musings.
David Greenberg, International Paralympic Committee director of sport, has called Manchester's achievements "ground-breaking" and Grey-Thompson, a world-class competitor for 14 years, agrees that M2002 has been keen to show more than lip service to disabled participants and spectators.
"In addition though, we're keen to innovate in the presentation of hockey to ensure, among other things, that spectators either in the stadium or on television get a good view of the exciting field action".
So keen is the modern sense of the need for respectful silence, so swift is the modern spectator to condemn those who contravene established theatre etiquette, that one might quickly forget that the concept of the quiet or invisible audience is both a recent and a historically atypical one.
