• Wimbledon, Day Three

Isner and Mahut grind their way into tennis history

Martin Williamson June 23, 2010

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John Isner and Nicolas Mahut broke most of tennis' longevity records on Court 18 at Wimbledon during an attritional first-round tie that is still not over. When the pair wearily headed off Court 18 after bad light ended play at 9.09pm, they were tied at 59-59 in the final set. They will be back on Thursday for what is bound to be the centre of attention for however much longer it lasts.

They had resumed shortly after 2.00pm at two sets all after bad light had interrupted their match on Tuesday evening, at which time they had been on court three hours. Another seven hours and six minutes later - itself longer than the previous longest match at the All England Club, and ten hours in all - they were still slugging it out.

The American Isner, the taller of the two, looked to be out on his feet in the last two hours but somehow produced sublime shots when it mattered. He had the demeanour of a man walking in his sleep but his booming serve never deserted him. Frenchman Mahut, physically more resilient used his touch to wear down his opponent and dig himself out of trouble on key points.

As the battle went on and on the records tumbled. The previous longest contest match of six hours 33 minutes (Arnaud Clement v Fabrice Santoro at the 2004 French Open) came and went, and Isner and Mahut then set new records for the longest set and most games in a set. Isner's 98 aces in the set almost doubled the previous high of 51, and Mahut also managed 95, his own tally rising near the close as the shattered Isner opted to leave anything which was marginally out of reach. Unsurprisingly, both also dwarfed the record for most aces in a match (71).

Even the scoreboard on Court 18 gave up at 47-all, briefly flickering before deciding it had had enough. The umpire, who remained chirpy to the bitter end, began to lose his voice and occasionally sounded disbelieving as he read out the score at the end of the games. The packed crowd giggled at the absurdity of it all as he did so.

Word spread. Top seeds took time out in their own press conferences to comment. "Everybody's watching it in the locker rooms, everywhere," Novak Djokovic said, while Roger Federer said he did not know whether to laugh or cry. Andy Roddick gave an insight into what might have been going through the players' minds "You always kind of try to convince yourself it's only going to be another 10 or 15 minutes, even if you might not believe it at the time."

All around them the outside courts were put to bed and the strawberry sellers had long since gone, but Isner, his shirt and short sodden with sweat, and Mahut kept going. The shadows lengthened and eventually with the light fading fast, the Frenchman appealed to the umpire that he could not see his opponent's serve. Isner almost masochistically indicated he was prepared to continue, but the referee mercifully called time. Some former pros were by then expressing genuine concern for Isner's health and the tournament doctor hovered nervously in the wings.

The crowd briefly booed and somewhat sadistically chanted "we want more" before rising to their feet to give the pair a tremendous ovation which they were almost too tired to acknowledge.

There were no breaks of serve and only four match points, all to Isner. The first came early on at 10-9, with two more at 33-32 and the last in the gathering gloom at 59-58 when Mahut double faulted. As a possible conclusion tantalisingly seemed possible, Mahut fired in an ace and everyone settled back in their seats.

Mahut had to wait until the 101st game before he got his one and only break point. At least he had some idea of what was happening - he had to go to 24-22 to beat Alex Bogdanovic in the second round of the qualifying tournament at Roehampton last week.

"He's just a champion and we were just fighting like we never fought before," Mahut said. "It's just amazing. Everyone wanted to see the end of the match but we have to come back tomorrow."

"This will never ever happen again," Isner added. "He was serving fantastically and I was serving fantastically, that was about it."

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