“This is the match that never ends, yes it goes on and on, my friends…”
WIMBLEDON, England — The longest match in tennis history was suspended because of darkness at 59-59 in the fifth set at Wimbledon on Wednesday night.
The first-round match between 23rd-seeded John Isner of Tampa, Fla., and qualifier Nicolas Mahut of France had already been suspended because of fading light Tuesday night after the fourth set.
They have been playing each other for a total of exactly 10 hours — 7 hours, 6 minutes in the fifth set alone, enough to break the full-match record of 6:33, set at the 2004 French Open. …
All the numbers were truly astounding: They played 881 points, 612 in the fifth set. Isner hit 98 aces, Mahut 95 — both eclipsing the previous high for a match at any tournament, 78.
And this cannot be emphasized enough: They are not finished. No one won. The match will continue, stretching into a third day.
John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, the 2009 UConn and Syracuse men’s basketball teams salute you.
Is anyone watching the College World series?
The bottom of the 8th in the TCU-FSU game is awesome…what a day for sports fans
top of the 8th
GO TCU!!!
The match is oddly predictable.
Isner has an excellent serve, but can’t return worth a damn. So he wins on service, but can’t break to get ahead. So the tie that exists is a fairly stable equilibrium. If Isner’s pattern held deterministically, they could play forever.
Maybe they will…