594A69DD-2079-41A1-8EAE-2DD9D8EB4AAD
By Richard Pagliaro
© Fred Mullane and Susan Mullane/Camerawork USA
(June 24, 2010) In a match for the ages where time meant nothing, timing was everything.
John Isner squeezed successive stirring winners down the line to finally find the finish line and conclude the longest match in tennis history.
Isner danced to his left and whipped a forehand winner down the line to earn his fifth match point after 11 hours of play and 183 games.
The big man who played with immense desire during this three-day surreal saga cracked a backhand pass down the line and crumpled to the court in exhilaration and exhaustion in ending a 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 70-68 epic encounter over French qualifier Nicolas Mahut.
Finally, finality.
Isner's first career Wimbledon win was one for the ages.
The match spanned three days and lasted a record 11 hours, 5 minutes to break the prior record of 6 hours, 33 minutes set when Fabrice Santoro beat Arnaud Clement at the 2004 French Open.
Returning the 6'9" Isner's serve on grass can be as easy as catching a marble tossed from the top of Big Ben Isner pounded a pupil-popping 112 aces, to shatter the prior record of 78 aces set by Ivo Karlovic in Davis Cup. Mahut, who endured immense pressure serving second throughout the two-day fifth set, hit 103 aces. It was the longest match in both games played and times played with the fifth set alone lasting longer than any other match in tennis history.
A match of absurdly epic extremes obliterated tennis records, setting statistical marks that are memorable. But it was the unbreakable spirit with which both men competed that was truly unforgettable.
Facing his fifth match point, Mahut confronted the challenge the way he had played the entire match: with fearless fortitude. Racing forward to net, he scooped up a low half volley, but was stranded in the middle of the court like a man stuck in solitary confinement with a split-second to try to read Isner's pass.
Isner wasted no time in pulling the trigger and blasting clean backhand pass up the line.
Screaming "yeah!" as he tumbled to his back and stared straight up at the sky for a few seconds as if soaking in the finality to a match that once offered a limitless horizon that seemed to stretch into forever.
The match for the ages was over in a moment as the ball blurred past Mahut like a splotch of yellow paint dabbed on the green canvas. The yellow blare of the numbers on the green scoreboard — 70-68 — marked the end of what felt like an eternal exchange and the crowd's extended standing ovation was the audible appreciation for a shared march into history.
When it was over, the players engaged in an emotional embrace at the net in a mutal show of respect for the effort each exerted. It was a gutty, gritty display by both men who eliminated aside the artifice and pre-point primping that has dragged tennis down to pompous depths and just fought with a ferocity throughout a gripping three-day affair that was short on rallies and long on resilience.
"I got a little bit tired. But when you come out and play a match like this and the atmosphere
like this you don't feel tired even though that's exactly what we were," Isner told the fans packed into every crack and crevice on the 782-seat Court 18. "This crowd was fantastic. The guy is an absolute warrior. It stinks someone had to lose, but to share this day with him is an absolute honor. And I wish nothing but the absolute best. Maybe I will see him somewhere down the road and it won't go 70-68."
It is an agonizing defeat for Mahut, who outlasted Briton Alex Bogdanovic, 24-22, in the final set of a second-round qualifying match then fought off veteran Stefan Koubek in five sets to reach the main draw.
When it was over, Mahut sat in his court side seat and covered his face with a towel as if trying to pinch back tears of emotion that can come after pouring every piece of your self into a fight only to see all your hopes and dreams dashed by a single swing.
"At this moment, it's just really painful," Mahut told the crowd. "Like John said, 'It was amazing to play this match. The crowd was amazing and completely fanastic and John deserved the win. He served unbelievable. He's a champion. It was an honor to play the greatest match ever in the greatest place to play at the greatest tournament."
The emotional wounds that come from suffering a gut-wrenching loss won't heal anytime soon, but Mahut, in defeat, played with remarkable resolve in serving to extend the match an astounding 65 times.