Longest tennis match ever: 59-59 IN 5th SET AND STILL NOT OVER, I KID YOU NOT

[Godot showed up]

http://msn.foxsports.com/tennis/story/wimbledon-longest-tennis-match-john-isner-nicolas-mahut-062310

Wimbledon match is longest ever
Fox Sports pdated Jun 23, 2010 4:33 PM ET
History has been made at Wimbledon ... and there's more to come.


American John Isner and France's Nicolas Mahut have played exactly 10 hours of tennis in their ongoing first-round match, with the match being called due to darkness Wednesday in the fifth set with the incredible score of 59-59, making it the longest match in Open era tennis history.

The players began the match Tuesday, splitting the first four sets before being stopped due to darkness that night. They will finish the match — hopefully — on Thursday. There are no fifth-set tiebreakers at Wimbledon.

At 7 hours, 6 minutes, the amazing fifth set is, by itself, longer than any match in recorded history. The previous record was 6 hours, 33 minutes set in a 2004 French Open match between Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement. Isner and Mahut's fifth set passed the 6 hour, 33 minute mark in the 111th game.

Even after 118 games, the fans weren't tired of the match. The crowd chanted, "We want more!" as the players and officials discussed calling the match.

It was supposed to be a quick completion, but Wednesday's fifth set has lasted over five hours with the match itself going over eight hours, smashing all sorts of records along the way — longest time, most games and most aces in a match to name a few.

Their dominant serves working to full effect, 23rd-seeded Isner and Mahut have rarely sniffed an opportunity on the other's racket. Isner came the closest, losing two match points on Mahut's serve at 32-33 and another at 58-59 to extend the drama. Mahut has had just one break point in the match, all the way back in the second set.

The match is wearing out more than just the players. The official scoreboard on the Wimbledon web site, apparently ill-equipped to handle such a marathon, reset the fifth-set score to 0-0 once the players hit 50-50.

Holy break point Batman!

[cavegal]

Been a long day so I will say wow they must of had sweaty balls!!!

[BlueStateSaint]

64-64 now . . .

[NHSparky]

Isner won, 70-68.  Total time of 11 hours, 5 minutes.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/24/549630/john-isner-wins-longest-tennis.html

[zeitgeist]

Isner won, 70-68.  Total time of 11 hours, 5 minutes.

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/06/24/549630/john-isner-wins-longest-tennis.html

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t30QY7onnHA&feature=related[/youtube]

Sports are meant to be played.

[GOP Congress]

While this may appear to be a great, great feat, and the superlatives that were given ad infinitum, the plain fact is that this match highlighted the sheer inability of either player to create any sort of a return game. 30 percent of all points were scored on aces, while most top-level professionals rarely win when allowing more than 10-15% of points to aces.

With the invention of rackets that are designed with sweet spots all the way to the rim, which are already oversized from the 70's, along with materials that increase the amount of speed they impact on a ball, the ability to return serves is vital. Hard serves are now routine across the skill level of all ranked players. The fact that no games were broken until the 138th game of the 5th set highlights this discrepancy.

This one fact has been the main reason that I've not been a fan of professional tennis since Boris Becker. Even the great Sampras-Agasi matches did not compare to some of the great serve and volley matches of the 70's and 80's. Again, not downplaying the athletic level shown by these two tennis players, but had one of them had a decent return game, it would have been over long before they played so many games.