History was made at Wimbledon on Wednesday June 23rd, for the longest tennis match ever played. John Isner of the U.S., ranked 23rd in the world, and his opponent Nicolas Mahut of France had been playing a first round match for an unbelievable 10 hours, with no winner yet determined. Going into the fifth set, the match was tied at two sets apiece. However, little did the players know that this contest would be far from over.
As the fifth set was played, with neither competitor giving in to their opponent, the match ultimately became a mind-boggling 59-59 tie in games. Incredibly, the fifth set alone lasted for 7 hours and 6 minutes. The match had to be suspended at 9:00pm local time Wednesday night because of darkness, and was scheduled to resume Thursday morning.
“I had to get over the fact that this match was not ‘arranged’,” exclaimed our own Julian Krinsky. “I concluded that Wimbledon still rewards a big serve – even though they have slowed down the balls and the grass is slower than when I played there!”
On Thursday, when the match resumed, Isner and Mahut were both determined to be the winner of the marathon. But after playing 20 games on Thursday morning, a winner finally emerged. John Isner claimed the victory with a final score of 70-68 in the fifth set. The duration of the match was 11 hours and 5 minutes. What an epic match between these two competitors!
To read the full original story, visit espn.com.
Photo: Glyn Kirk-Pool/Getty
