As the party games turn nasty, Sharapova shows bankers the elegant way to lose

When I bumped into Barclays chief executive John Varley at Wimbledon one mid-week afternoon in July, I thought he looked remarkably relaxed for a man locked in a potentially career-breaking takeover battle with his deadliest rival. We had just watched Venus Williams make mincemeat of Maria Sharapova, and perhaps Varley was cheered by the thought that it was possible to lose elegantly and still be loved by the crowd. Certainly I think he must have decided early in the ABN Amro game that he could do no more than play his best shots and pray for his formidable opponent, Sir Fred Goodwin of Royal Bank of Scotland, to be stricken by the market equivalent of agonising groin strain.

That didn’t happen, and Goodwin should clinch the deciding set this week. In late July Varley raised his bid, though not to a level that trumped the cash-rich alternative offered by RBS in partnership with Fortis of Belgium and Santander of Spain.