history made in 11hours 05 minutes

[olddutch]

John Isner's 70-68 win over Nicolas Mahut in the fifth set at Wimbledon today ended the longest match in tennis history.

Some of the records it set are :-

longest match in tennis history………………………….....11 hours 05 minutes
longest match (games played)………………………….... 183 games
highest number of aces in a match combined total……..Isner 112 + Mahut 103 = 215 .
highest number of aces in a match individual total……...Isner 112
longer than any doubles match in tennis history
longest fifth set in tennis history
the fifth set alone lasted longer than the previous longest match.
play stretched over three days

The game began at 6:18 pm on Tuesday 22 June 2010 before being suspended at two sets each at 9.07 pm due to fading light. After resuming on Wednesday at 2.05 pm, the record for longest match was broken at 5.45 pm, before again being suspended at 9.13 pm due to fading light, with the score in the final set tied at 59 games. Play resumed at 3.40 pm on Thursday, and finished at 4.49 pm, the final set having lasted 8 hours, 11 minutes.


This match had a winner but no loser !

Amazing !

[askyourgran]

What stamina those two players had.

[lardhelmet]

Hi gran. Staying power - I like that in a man

[olddutch]

hello gran - youre dead right as per usual !

[boxtops]

I wish I could have seen the closing games - I watched til 59-all last night, but had to go to work while they were making 70-68 to finish. I would have been disappointed to find that the finish was 59-61, that would have been an anticlimax!

[askyourgran]

I was a bit relieved when the light stopped play, I just wanted them to have a rest.

[olddutch]

you're a kind person gran !

Boxtops I guess it will emerge on You Tube if its not already there.

[BertiWooster]

highest number of aces in a match combined total……..Isner 112 + Mahut 103 = 215 .
highest number of aces in a match individual total……...Isner 112

That is the problem in tennis nowadays - the racket technology in terms of materials used are so advanced , that a lot of points are being won off the first serve , without getting a good rally going .

Get rid of the second serve and the big service hitters , would be forced to reduce the speed of the serve , in order to get the ball within the service area ; thus enabling more longer rallies , thus more entertaining to watch .

[olddutch]

bertie

I think up to a point that’s true - but if you watched Nadal vs Haase today - Robin Haase sent down around 30 aces and served very well. He took 2 sets but still Nadal broke his service 6 times and won the match. It was very entertaining with lots of good rallies and returns of serve. All the top players are capable of this - and its very much the case of not just relying on a good serve.

The vast majority of top tennis players these days are baseliners as opposed to serve and volleyers and there are lots of lengthy rallies but there are small amount of top 100 players who do over rely on a big serve and volley game but I think under the present conditions the likes of Federer Nadal Djokovic Murray, Soderling, Roddick, Del Potro, Verdasco, etc have no problem with rallies or return of serve.

But if big serve and volley with very few rallis were to become the general trend amongst the top players- then your suggestion might well be the way forward. With Isner and Mahut serve and volley obviously did prevail but had either played any of the top 10 I believe it would very probably have been a fairly standard 3 or 4 set match.

[johnny.5]

there were a lot of second serve aces too

[flip_flop]

Just confirms my opinion that I'd rather chew my own foot off than watch tennis. What a bore-a-thon.

Tennis, like bastkeball, squash, badminton and many other sports, are great to play but pretty boring to watch.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not belittling the feat - far from it - the physical and mental strength to endure such a game was breathtaking in its immensity, but the though of watching an 11 hour game.....sod that.

[mollykins]

I'd jsut turned it on at the 11 hour mark so saw the end, but because I hadn't been following it and don't really understand the scoring it was a few moments before I realised it had ended. The two players and umpire got gifts and as you say dutch, many world records.

Does this mean the french aren't going to be happy by the time we get there? knocked out of footie, a french man dramatically knocked out of wimbledon, what next?

[olddutch]

mollykins

the french are pretty cheesed off about their pensions too - just done a separate question on it !

[mollykins]

I know, they're going to be in a right mood when I get there. Have they got many more players in wimbledon? What about other things they might do badly in before next saturday?

[olddutch]

mollykins

the french still got a few more left in than us

but why dont you go to Bognor instead - good weather forecasted there for a while ?

[mollykins]

This is already booked and we're only going as we got a voucher for something like 75% off, and they only go to France.