Remarkable. And a little bizarre.
Wimbledon today saw a match that began as a two-day affair, moved into a marathon and slowly became a theatre of the absurd as American John Isner and opponent Nicolas Mahut of France waged combat in the longest match in tennis history.
And they couldn’t even finish.
Tied 59-59 in the fifth set – there are no fifth set tiebreaks at Wimbledon – the match was suspended because of darkness at about 9:10 p.m. London time. By the point, exactly 10 hours of match time had elapsed, the two players had combined for 192 aces and a total of 651 winners.
At times it appeared that Isner, a 6-foot-9 righthander from Georgia and the 23rd seed, was actually staggering on court, but he still protested the decision to suspend the match, while Mahut wanted to quit.
Isner actually had match point at 59-58, but Mahut then hit his 94th ace of the match.
Isner was so exhausted at one point that he forgot to bring his racquet on court, while Mahut seemed to have more energy, diving all over the court even in the final few games, but couldn’t break Isner’s serve.
The battle of wills, which began Tuesday, has already shattered all existing records for length of match, number of games and number of aces.
The previous longest singles match in tennis history was between Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement at the 2004 French Open, a contest that lasted six hours and 33 minutes, shorter than the fifth set alone of the Isner-Mahut match.
Last year’s marathon Wimbledon men’s final between Roger Federer and Andy Roddick went to 16-14 in the fifth set before Federer won, and lasted less than five hours.
The two players will resume their match on Thursday, the day Queen Elizabeth II is expected to visit the All-England Club for the first time in three decades.
Players like Federer and Roddick, meanwhile, have already completed their second round match.
Canada’s Alexandra Wozniak, the country’s best hope in women’s singles, was eliminated today by Jelana Jankovic of Serbia.
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