It made for a rather odd little scene as Jamie Murray, accompanied by Martina Hingis, entered a press interview room at Wimbledon accompanied by what was probably just desperately needed sustenance but might have been interpreted as props in the form of two trays of sushi.

We all know the emphasis placed these days on refuelling. However it was sufficiently unusual for his media veteran partner - a 22 time Grand Slam champion who was, as he was to rather ungallantly point out, winning their sport’s greatest titles when he was only 12 - to feel the need to explain, whispering theatrically: “He’s hungry,” as the older Murray brother set fastidiously about the process of squeezing soy sauce onto his fish.

Given that a fair bit of time had elapsed since the pair had won their mixed doubles tie, it seemed a bit unnecessary, however who are we to wonder about the nutritional regimes of the modern athlete?

Except that we journalists are the very people who do tend to be a bit curious about such things and, setting aside the horror past generations might have experienced at the sight of a Wimbledon champion answering questions with his mouth full, the more cynical might have been tempted to see it as a device to hurry things along.

If so it failed because the chat was about three times as long as Jamie’s previous audiences have lasted at Wimbledon this year, but I am sure no disrespect was intended.

We do, however, live in a world where there is growing contempt for what is referred to as ‘the mainstream media’, not least among sportspeople who seem to have a disregard for the correlation between the status they have in society and the importance placed on what are often, seen through the eyes of those who are not sports inclined, considered rather silly pastimes.

Trying to manoeuvre synthetic versions of pig’s bladders towards posts at either end of a marked area, using sticks to a send tiny white balls through the countryside towards only slightly larger holes in the ground, or using carbon fibre and cat gut to send balls over nets and into boxes… Taken in isolation there is little in the way of real purpose to these activities unless enough fuss is made of the athleticism and agility required to excel in them.

That may not be quite so clearcut when it comes to the original Olympic pursuits of running, jumping and throwing, all obviously useful attributes in human evolution, but even in those cases it requires someone to aggrandise those who do it best.

Which takes us to Mo Farah and his rather precious responses when, inevitably, asked questions about the latest ‘Fancy Bears’ leaks in which it was claimed that he had provided a dope test that had required additional testing before he was cleared.

As he has done many times before the double double Olympic champion sought to suggest that the vast majority of the public are on his side and that it is only a spiteful media that continues to ask questions.

This in spite of the fact that the lengthy investigation into the behaviour of his coach Alberto Salazar remains on-going, making even the slightest suggestion of anything amiss in Farah’s own track record something that is worthy of interrogation.

As always Farah worked hard to maintain a cheerful demeanour throughout his latest brief interrogation before he allowed his media minders to drag him away, even to the extent of pointing that out to us, when asserting: “I believe in clean sports and I just have to enjoy what I do, keep smiling and let you guys do what you do,” before, again wearing a broad smile, delivering a rather disingenuous parting shot of “I love you all.”

The truth is that if sport is as important as we treat it as being in making multi-millionaires of its leading figures and if Farah is genuinely as clean as he insists he is, then he should most certainly love those in the media who are prepared to keep asking the right questions and be very keen to encourage them to do what they do.

Either sport is a big deal or it is not and if so sportspeople ought to welcome the questions they are asked, even if it occasionally interrupts their lunch.