If you didn’t already know, everyone agrees, football is more important than tennis. Yes, even Wimbledon.

The public have spoken and here’s the proof. New balls, please! Well, just footballs, thanks.

According to official figures, million of viewers witnessing the early stages of Andy Murray’s victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga switched channel midway through to see Wales’ valiant Euro 2016 defeat to Portugal instead.

Statistics obtained by The Daily Telegraph show that seven million people were watching the British Number One’s match against the Frenchman on BBC One in the minutes leading up to the 8PM GMT.

However, 10 minutes after Chris Coleman’s side had kicked off agaisnt Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. over on rival commercial channel ITV, Wimbledon’s audience plummeted by half, to 3.5 million viewers.

The BBC were left counting the cost of such a tie-break defeat but can be consoled by the fact that although just under 12 million viewers tuned in live to the first 45 minutes of the Euro 2016 semi-final, 14.5 million watched the second.

In the minutes after Murray won the Wimbledon quarter-final around 1.4 million left the Beeb to watch the football, meaning the broadcaster, like the Scottish tennis star, had held their serve between a torn audience by at least that much for the fifth and final set.

The London Olympics opening ceremony, in 2012, is the only programme to have attracted more viewers in Wales, since records began, with a peak audience of 1.4 million.

The BBC One coverage of Murray’s match, and the post-match analysis, was seen by an average audience of 5.4 million.