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Isner–Mahut match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships

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At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, in the Gentlemen's Singles tournament, the American 23rd seed John Isner beat the French qualifier Nicolas Mahut in the longest match in tennis history, measured both by time and number of games. After 11 hours, 5 minutes of play over three days, the match finished 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7), 7–6(3), 70–68.

The match began at 6:18 pm British Summer Time (17:18 UTC) on Tuesday 22 June 2010. With the score at two sets each, play was suspended at 9:07 pm because of fading light. After resuming on Wednesday at 2:05 pm, the record for longest match was broken at 5:45 pm. The light faded again, and so play was suspended at 9:13 pm, with the final set tied at 59 games each. Play resumed at 3:40 pm on Thursday, and Isner won at 4:49 pm, the final set having lasted 8 hours, 11 minutes.

Both players broke numerous Wimbledon and tennis records, including the Croatian Ivo Karlović's record of 78 aces in one match. Isner served 112 aces in the match, and Mahut 103.[1]

Background

The match took place on Court 18 at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, where the thirteen-day Wimbledon Championships are held every June and July. The match began on the tournament's second day, and ran on into the fourth, Thursday 24 June. The fourth day also saw Queen Elizabeth II's first visit to the finals in more than 30 years; she watched the match between Andy Murray and Jarkko Nieminen on Centre Court.[2]

The Frenchman Mahut was not ranked high enough to qualify for the tournament automatically, and so had to progress first through the qualifying pre-tournament. In this he was seeded 27th. He played three qualification rounds, beating Frank Dancevic 6–3, 6–0, in the first round, then Alex Bogdanovic 3–6, 6–3, 24–22, and finally Stefan Koubek in five sets, 6–7(8), 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, 6–4. He had thus already played an unusually large amount of tennis in the week before the main tournament.

Having negotiated the qualifying stage, Mahut was drawn against the 23rd-seed American Isner in the first round of Men's Singles.

Match details

John Isner holds the record for most aces in a match, set during this Wimbledon match.

The match started on the tournament's second day, Tuesday 22 June 2010. After four sets the match was halted due to darkness, with the score two sets each.[3] Resuming on 23 June, it became the longest match ever. The match was suspended for a second time because of darkness on the evening of 23 June at 59–59 in the fifth set despite chants of "We want more, we want more" from the onlooking spectators.[4] The match was resumed on 24 June. After a further hour of play, Isner won the final deciding set 70–68.

The umpire announced the score incorrectly, saying "6-4, 3-6, 7-6, 6-7, 70-68," as he accidentally switched the scores of the two tie-break sets.

Records

The match broke several tennis records, including: longest match (11 hours, 5 minutes); longest set (the fifth set required 8 hours, 11 minutes); most games in a set (138 in the fifth set); most games in a match (183); most aces in a match by one player (Isner, 112); and total aces in a match (Mahut's 103 aces, the second highest number by a player in a match, brought the total to 215).[5]

The match set the record for most games played in a match. The previous record for a match since the introduction of the tie-break was the 2003 Australian Open quarter-final match, in which Andy Roddick and Younes El Aynaoui played 83 games: Roddick won 4–6, 7–6(5), 4–6, 6–4, 21–19.[6] The previous all-time record was the 112-game 1969 match in which Pancho Gonzales defeated Charlie Pasarell 22–24, 1–6, 16–14, 6–3, 11–9, also in the first round at Wimbledon.[7]

The match was the longest in duration. The previous official record (6 hours, 33 minutes) was set at the 2004 French Open when Fabrice Santoro defeated Arnaud Clément 6–4, 6–3, 6–7(5), 3–6, 16–14.[8] It also passed the unofficial record of 6 hours and 40 minutes set on 25 February 2009, when Chris Eaton defeated James Ward 6–3, 6–2, 6–7(3), 2–6, 21–19 in a playoff match to represent the United Kingdom in the Davis Cup.[9] The fifth set alone lasted longer than the previous longest match.

John Isner served his 79th ace to take the final set score to 39–38 with serve.[10] This passed Ivo Karlović's 78 aces that he served on 18 September 2009 in a Davis Cup match against Radek Štěpánek.[11] In all, Isner served 112 aces; Mahut also surpassed the previous record with 103 aces.

Aftermath

Immediately after the end of the match, both players and the umpire were presented with a special award (crystal bowl and memento) from the Wimbledon hosts the All England Club by Tim Henman and Ann Haydon-Jones, followed by a photo taken showing the result on one of the two Court 18 scoreboards.[12]

As the winner, John Isner will play Thiemo de Bakker, who also had a lengthy first round match against Santiago Giraldo. After 74 games overall, de Bakker won on Wednesday 23 June with a score of 16–14 in the fifth set.

Isner was also due to play a doubles game with his partner Sam Querrey later in the day on the Thursday (against Michał Przysiężny and Dudi Sela), but that match has been postponed to Friday, meaning Isner must play a singles match (at 12 pm) and a doubles match on the same day. As for Mahut, his doubles game with partner Arnaud Clément against Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski started late Thursday night (on Court 18 again). However, the match was suspended with Mahut/Clément down a set 6-7(4) to Fleming/Skupski.

Match statistics

Score

1
32 mins		 2
29 mins		 3
49 mins		 4
64 mins		 5
491 mins
France Nicolas Mahut (Q) 4 6 79 63 68
United States John Isner (23) 6 3 67 77 70

Session times

Nicolas Mahut

All times in British Summer Time (UTC+1)

Tuesday 22 June 2010
  • 6:18 pm – Match begins
  • 9:07 pm – Match suspended at two sets all, with total 169 mins.
Wednesday 23 June 2010
  • 2:05 pm – Match resumes
  • 5:45 pm – Match sets record for longest in history
  • 9:13 pm – Match suspended a second time with the score tied at 59–59 in the fifth and deciding set, with total 598 mins.
Thursday 24 June 2010
  • 3:40 pm – Match continued on court 18.[13]
  • 4:48 pm – Match ended in favor of John Isner, who won the final set 70–68. The match lasted eleven hours and five minutes.

Other statistics

From Wimbledon's Official Website[14]
Isner Statistic Mahut
478 Points 502
246 Winners 244
62 Unforced Errors 60
112 Aces 103
5 Match points 2
92 Games won 91

Scoreboard failure

On the second day of play, the courtside scoreboard stood still at 47–47 and later went dark. IBM programmers said it was only programmed to go to 47–47 but would be fixed by the next day.[15] The on-line scoreboard at the official website lasted slightly longer: At 50–50 it was reset to 0–0. Users were asked to "please add 50 to the Isner/Mahut game score".[16] An IBM programmer worked on the computerized scoring system until 11:45 pm to accommodate the match's scores for the next day, although it would have again malfunctioned had the match gone beyond 25 more games.[17]

Match officials

The Chair Umpire throughout the match was the Swedish official Mohamed Lahyani.[18] Lahyani said after the match that he was so "gripped by the amazing match" that his concentration stayed solid and he didn't think about eating or going to the bathroom.[19]

On the second day of the match, two groups of 14 linespeople and four groups of 28 ballboys and ballgirls, had to be used in a rotation to support the game.[15]

Reaction

Former players and commentators have called the match historic and unlikely to happen again. John McEnroe said, “This is the greatest advertisement for our sport. It makes me proud to be a part of it. We often don’t get the respect we deserve in tennis for the athletic demands it places on players, but this should push that respect way up.” [20] A number of players, former players, officials, media commentators and fans all joined McEnroe in commenting on the way that both players conducted themselves. One commentator in the Guardian seemed to sum up most of the comments in saying that "this match in one fell swoop reminded people of what sport is supposed to be; intense and competitive, but also with fair play, respect, class and sportsmanship. Isner and Mahut reminded the world that winning might be important, but how one wins is even more so. Today Isner may have scored one more service break than Mahut, but they both, and sport in general, won a much grander victory. These two gentlemen returned class and respect to the field of competition with their sportsmanship, grit, determination and mutual regard for the abilities of their opponent. They were playing for the love of the game, something almost all professional athletes seem to have long ago forgot. In that sense, they won a far more tremendous victory today than simply a tennis match. In ten years, few will likely remember who won this year's Championships. However, people will be telling their great grand children, who will tell their great grand children, about the day that sport regained its soul." [21]

References

  1. ^ ESPN, Garber column
  2. ^ "http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/10399688.stm". BBC News. Retrieved 24 June 2010. {{cite news}}: External link in |title= (help); Unknown parameter |publishdate= ignored (help)
  3. ^ "The longest game: Men's singles match breaks Wimbledon record by lasting almost TEN hours (and it'll carry on tomorrow)". Daily Mail. 23 June 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Isner-Mahut epic leaves Wimbledon lost for words | Reuters". In.reuters.com. 2010-06-16. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
  5. ^ "2010 Wimbledon Championships Website – Official Site by IBM". www.wimbledon.org. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
  6. ^ "Australian Open". ATP. 2003. Retrieved 23 June 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  7. ^ Gray, David (26 June 1969). "Pancho wins the longest match". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  8. ^ Garber, Greg (25 May 2004). "ESPN – Santoro wins the longest match – Tennis". ESPN. Retrieved 23 June 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Eaton edges Ward in marathon tie". BBC Sport. 25 February 2009. Retrieved 23 June 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  10. ^ Newbery, Piers (23 June 2010). "Live – Wimbledon 2010". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 June 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)
  11. ^ Monte Carlo Masters. "Ferrer, Davydenko Advance in Straight Sets". Monte Carlo Masters. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
  12. ^ Wimbledon: Isner-Mahut Match Comemorated With Post-Match Ceremony, Ben Rothenberg, SBNation.com, 24 June 2010
  13. ^ "2010 Wimbledon Championships Website - Official Site by IBM". Wimbledon.org. 1998-09-21. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
  14. ^ Wimbledon Official Website Match Statistics
  15. ^ a b John Martin (June 23, 2010). "Logistics Are Put to the Test at Wimbledon". The New York Times.
  16. ^ Michael Hurley (June 23, 2010). "John Isner and Nicolas Mahut Marathon Match Suspended for Darkness at Wimbledon". NESN.com. New England Sports Network.
  17. ^ Martin, John. "Scoreboard tuneup" The New York Times, 24 June 2010.
  18. ^ Hodgkinson, Mark (4 July 2006). "Murray finds Greek too hot to handle". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 June 2010.
  19. ^ (AP) – 2 hours ago. "The Associated Press: Wimbledon umpire enters tennis history". Google.com. Retrieved 2010-06-24.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  20. ^ "John Isner, Nicolas Mahut make history at Wimbledon - News - FOX Sports on MSN". Msn.foxsports.com. Retrieved 2010-06-24.
  21. ^ The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/) comments on "The Longest Match At Wimbledon: And It Is Not Over Yet!", 25 June 2010. Sport Section, page 1, column 1
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