John Isner’s encounter with Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon yesterday was a match and a half. Indeed, it was considerably more than that. When fading light brought a temporary close to their battle at 9.10pm, they had been on court for ten hours, the previous Wimbledon record being a mere six hours or so.
The sun beat down on Court 18 as Isner, from the US, and Mahut, from France, slugged it out for 163 games, 118 of them in the fifth set alone. With a tie-breaker not allowed in the final set of a grand-slam match, the two players had to keep on hitting until one of them collapsed or led by two games.
Both players held their serve for an incredible 118 games in the deciding set before fading light brought the match to a halt at 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9 in the tiebreaker), 7-6 (7-3), 59-59. They resume today. The previous record for a final set at Wimbledon was 28-26.
When 50 games-all was reached, the crowd stood as one. The commentators called it an ovation, but it was probably simply a way to get the blood pumping.
Coalitions have been formed in less time than it took these two to conclude matters. Had you been watching the match while listening to Wagner’s Ring cycle, you would have polished off Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and much of Siegfried before they finished. There was not time for Götterdämmerung, although these gods were playing on well past twilight.
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The match had begun on Tuesday evening. The ball boys and line judges get changed every 75 minutes but the poor umpire had to sit there. Several times he looked at his watch, presumably to check it was still June.
As Isner returned to his chair for the umpteenth time, did he wonder how the US had got on in the World Cup? Someone in the crowd suggested that by the time he finished, the US could be in the quarter-finals. That was funny at 7pm. Later it was not. Mahut knew that France were out of the football; perhaps he was rescuing national honour.
A lot had changed since the pair walked on court. General Stanley McChrystal was no longer commanding in Afghanistan, London Underground workers had gone on strike, England football fans had sobered up.
Whoever wins will play his second-round match today third on court, against a man who won his first-round match 16-14 in the final set. They both could probably do with rain setting in.