6:45 pm – Isner wins the first set by 6–4, 7:14 pm – Mahut wins the second set by 6–3, 8:03 pm – Mahut wins the third set by 7–6, after winning the tiebreak 9–7. "I wanted to keep on playing, but I don't know why, because he was the fresher one. [20], As the winner, Isner advanced to the second round where, on the day following the conclusion of his match with Mahut, he played Thiemo de Bakker on 25 June at 12 pm on Court 5. Total match time at this point was 2 hours, 54 minutes. Your hair hasn't moved an inch yet!" John Isner served his 79th ace to take the final set to 39–38 with serve. As in all men's Grand Slam matches, the match was played as best of five sets. "I don't think I've ever said five words to the guy prior to our match, not that he's a bad guy, it just is what it is. The match was resumed on 24 June, and both players continued to dominate their service games. • We will always be able to share this, says Isner, John Isner of the US and Nicolas Mahut of France (C) with Chair Umpire Mohamed Lahyani after the longest match in grand slam history. "But we played the greatest match here in the greatest place to play. It is now the longest match in Grand Slam history. John Isner finally managed to break down his opponent and win the longest match in history ... 28 Days Later was out before the Dawn of the Dead re … The third and fourth sets had no breaks of serve and were both decided by tiebreaks, with Mahut winning the third set tiebreak 9–7, and Isner winning the fourth set tiebreak 7–3, leaving the score at two sets each. [3] A rule change instituted for the 2019 Championships introducing a tie break in the fifth set [or 3rd set for women's singles/doubles (all genders)] means that the Isner–Mahut match will remain the longest match in Wimbledon tournament history in terms of games played, barring any future rule change. The entire match over the 3 days lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes. [41] In lieu of an in-person reunion, John Isner and Nicholas Mahut celebrated their anniversary via social networks. On 25 June, Mahut/Clément – Fleming/Skupski was scheduled as the fourth match on Court 18 because Clément had a third-round singles match on Centre Court against Roger Federer. Fellow American Andy Roddick brought take-out food for him and his coach, including "three boxes of pizza, all sorts of chicken and mashed potatoes"; Isner said later that he was so hungry he could have eaten "12 Big Macs",[8] but reported that drinking coconut water helped him rehydrate and avoid the cramping that he had experienced in the past. I didn't want to have to sleep on it. Neither John Isner nor Nicolas Mahut expected to be involved in the longest tennis match in history when they kicked off their 2010 Wimbledon Championships runs. #1 John Isner def. [15], Immediately after the match, both players and the umpire were presented with a crystal bowl and champagne flutes by Tim Henman and Ann Haydon-Jones on behalf of the All England Club, as special recognition of the match. The 2018 novel Chance to Break[46] by Owen Prell builds its narrative climax around the Isner–Mahut match. The longest tennis match became international news long before it ended. Never before in the history of Wimbledon, which was first contested in 1877, had any match -- singles or doubles, men or women -- lasted more than 112 games, a mark set in 1969. ", The US Open is the only one of the four grand-slam tournaments to employ the tie-break in the final set. [5] While in the first four sets of a match a tiebreaker is used to decide a tied set, this did not apply in the fifth set, in 2010, except at the US Open. Play resumed at 3:40 pm on Thursday, 24 June, and Isner won at 4:47 pm, the final set having lasted 8 hours, 11 minutes. The first four sets passed without significant incident. 5.50pm: Bizarrely there is also tennis taking place on the other courts. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 164.111.49.178 18:33, 23 June 2010 (UTC) Edit request from M337aw, 23 June 2010 "[42], The chorus of Dan Bern's song about the match concludes with the scores of the five sets: "six-four, three-six, six-seven, seven-six, seventy-sixtyeight". This match also has a mention in Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer's 2016 song "Open String" from the album There's a Rumpus Going On.[45]. For Isner his second match against Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands starts tomorrow. It was really an honour to play the greatest match ever at the greatest place for tennis. 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". [21] The match was originally scheduled for 24 June but was postponed due to the continuance of Isner's first-round match against Mahut. June 24, 2010 9:25PM (UTC) John Isner has won the longest match in tennis history, taking the fifth set against Nicolas Mahut 70-68. At 68–69, with Mahut serving at 15–15, Mahut netted a drop shot that would likely have won the point. Isner, far back in the court at the time, later said that he would not have had the energy to chase after that shot. On this day in 2010, we witnessed the end of the longest tennis match in history. The Isner–Mahut match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships is the longest tennis match in history. Nicolas Mahut, Wimbledon 1st Round, 2010 - 11 hours 5 minutes Eight years before John Isner took on Kevin Anderson, he took on Nicolas Mahut in what, till-date is … The match was four hours and 32 minutes longer than the previous longest-ever match which was played between Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement. That’s four hours and three minutes more than the second-longest match, a Davis Cup doubles rubber between the Czech Republic and Switzerland in 2013. The match was broadcast live in its entirety on the BBC Red Button. [12] At the end of the match, Lahyani announced the score incorrectly, accidentally switching the scores of the two tie-break sets. Wimbledon, the French Open and Australian Open still play sets to a finish and Isner said if it was not that way here, he would not have been a part of a match that will be referred to for years to come. [16] Mahut subsequently donated memorabilia from the match for display at the International Tennis Hall of Fame's Museum in Newport, Rhode Island. It was a first-round Men's Singles match, in which the American 23rd seed John Isner played French qualifier Nicolas Mahut. The 1970–1973 introduction of the tiebreak reduced the opportunity for such records to be broken.