Unbelievable. Mind-boggling.

[Andrew D]

On Tuesday, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut walked onto court 18 at Wimbledon to play their first-round match. Isner won the first set six games to four, and Mahut came back to win the second set six games to three. The next two sets were decided by tiebreaks: Isner took the first, nine points to seven, and Mahut took the second, seven points to three. At that point, with the match even at two sets all, the match was suspended due to darkness.

So shortly after 2:00 on Wednesday, they came out to play the final set. Wimbledon does not use the tiebreak mechanism in the fifth set (or, on the women's side, in the third set). To win the fifth set, a player must win at least six games and win by at least two games. (6-4 is a winning score, but 6-5 is not. The fundamental purpose of that is to make it so that in order to win the set, one must win at least one game when one's opponent is serving.)

So they got to six games all. And then seven games to six. And then seven games all. And then eight games to seven. And then, and then, and then ....

The previous record (in the "Open Era"; figures from before the Open Era are largely meaningless) for the most games in a set was 48: the final score in that set was twenty-five games to twenty-three. That record was about to be not merely broken but obliterated. As would be numerous others.

When the score reached forty-seven games all, the scoreboard gave up. It simply could not record any score higher than that.

More than seven hours after Isner and Mahut started their fifth set, darkness descended again, and play was suspended again. To put that in perspective, the previous record for an entire five-set match was under six hours. Isner's and Mahut's fifth set alone was longer than any entire match ever.

And they weren't done yet. When they left the court, the score was fifty-nine games all.

So on Thursday afternoon, they came out again to finish (or, at least, try to finish) their fifth set. (The scoreboard had been reprogrammed and was now functioning normally.)

The score went from fifty-nine games all to sixty games to fifty-nine. And then sixty games all. And then sixty-one games to sixty. And then sixty-one games all. And then, and then, and then ....

Records were dropping like flies. Most games in a single set, most games in an entire match, most consecutive games without a break of serve (when a player wins a game when the other player is serving), most points in a single set, most points in an entire match -- not just surpassed but barely perceptible in the dustcloud that Isner and Mahut were leaving all over the record books.

The previous record for the most aces -- serves which the opponent not only fails to return but doesn't even get her or his racket on the ball -- served by one player in a match was seventy-eight. The previous record for the most aces served by both players combined in a match was eighty-four. By the time they were done, Isner and Mahut each served more than one-hundred aces.

The score reached sixty-nine games to sixty eight, Isner leading and Mahut to serve the one-hundred thirty-eighth game of the set (and the one-hundred eighty-third of the match). A brilliant cross-court forehand set up match point for Isner -- his fifth, Mahut having fought off four previous match points. And on the nine-hundred eightieth point the two had played, another brilliant shot, a backhand down the line, gave Isner the match.

The final score was Isner, three sets to two, seventy games to sixty-eight in the fifth set. One-hundred thirty-eight games in the fifth set.

That match is the most stupendous thing ever to happen in tennis. It is certainly among the most stupendous things -- and is arguably the most stupendous thing -- to happen in professional sports. I pity those whose attention was elsewhere (I gather that something involving kicking a ball around was happening at the same time) rather than watching live coverage of history in the making.

Unbelievable. Mind-boggling.

[Rick]

They sprinted something like 24 miles...

Unbelievable. Mind-boggling.

[The Hen]

It was an unbeleivable match.

Unfortunately I wasn't watching it, I just heard about it on the news. I also haven't been watching the black and white ball being kicked either.

[Guinevere]

I "sneaked" into ESPN3 coverage on Thursday afternoon and caught the last few games and then the post-match ceremony. They both looked so incrediby bleary, and after he lost, Mahut like he needed to go into the locker room and cry (and who could blame him). What incredible perseverence and determination. Every time I think something cannot be done, some human (or group of humans) thankfully proves me wrong!

In a postscript, Isner got pretty well blown off the courts in his second-round match this morning. I'm surprised he could even lift a racket, much less play.

He's part of the Boston Lobsters professional tennis team which plays in the short team season between Wimbledon and the Open. Perhaps he'll draw even more attention to the sport.


(BTW, ESPN3 makes some coverage available streamed through ESPN.com. They have cooperative agreements with many ISPs, so just require you to sign in via your ISP sign in. A bad habit to get into at work, but nice to know about for things like that match)

[Gob]

Unbelievable. Mind-boggling.

Fucking knackering....