Isner Over Mahut 70-68 in Fifth

Eleven hours and five minutes after the battle began, it ended. At 68-69, 30/15, a depleted Nicolay Mahut missed a relatively easy volley. At 30-30, American John Isner struck a rare baseline forehand with a smooth inside-out swing and landed the serve on the right sideline to gain match point.

The crowd stirred with excitement until the chair umpire called for quiet. Isner made a defensive return that caught Mahut halfway to the net. The Frenchman volleyed short to Isner’s weak backhand but there was just too much open space down the line.

Isner landed the knockout punch and sprawled to the ground. The crowd leaped to their feet and thunderous rounds of applause began. The moment was the moment, forever frozen in time. Not even the awkward gestures by the All England Club’s pontiff could override what had been witnessed by millions around the world.

The longest, greatest tennis match of all time will overshadow this Wimbledon no matter who champions the event. John Isner and Nicolay Mahut will be linked in a trivia tennis pairing for all time. They deserve it.

At times, as you would expect in an eleven-hour marathon, there were moments of great tennis and moments of not so great tennis. What was always present and what people will never forget is that two players with tremendous wills to win went head-to-head for more than 11 hours and played a remarkable fifth set that took 431 minutes. That’s right, 431 minutes!

The edge-of-the-chair excitement was so intense, that I turned the sound off my television. It was so tiring listening to the commentators trying to add more thrills to a thrilling match. There are no words to make a great match greater. This was one of those moments in sport like the 1980 US-Soviet hockey game. Let the players perform; that’s all we need or want.

The official scorecard reads 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7), 6-7 (3), 70-68, Isner.

Mahut landed 328 of 489 first serves.
Isner landed 361 of 491 first serves.
Mahut had 21 double faults, Isner just 10.
Mahut committed 60 unforced errors, Isner 62.
Both players won 63% of their second serves.
Mahut won 87% of his firs serves, Isner 81%.
Mahut hit 244 outright winners, Isner 246.
Mahut won 23 percent of receiving points while Isner won 20 percent.
Mahut converted 1 of 3 break opportunities Isner converted 3 of 14.
Mahut won 111 of 155 net approaches. Isner was 97 fro 144.
Mahut won 50-2 points. Isner won 478.
Mahut’s fastest serve was 128 mph. Isner’s was 143 mph.
Mahut had 103 aces. Isner had 112.

Below are records that were broken:

Longest match in terms of games – 112, Pancho Gonzales against Charlie Passarelli.

Longest fifth set. Previous was 21-19 Andy Roddick vs. Younes El Aynaoul in the Australian Open.

Longest fifth set in Wimbledon. Previous was 20-18, Mark Philippoussis vs. Sjeng Schalken.

Longest Men’s Singles at a Grand Slam. Previous John Newcombe vs Marty Ressen, 1969 US Open.

Most aces served by one player in a match – Isner112.
Most aces by two players in a match – 215.

There are no adjectives, adverbs or words than can describe the courage and fortitude these two spectacularly conditioned athletes put forth. It will never happen again. Imagine Mahut held serve with the match on the line 67 consecutive times. Talk about courage!

Congratulations to both competitors. You did your sport proud!

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