On June 22, 2010, the Wimbledon tournament began the 1/64 final match between American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.
The game was considered routine. At the time it started, hardly anyone expected anything serious.
But a miracle happened. The match turned out to be the longest in the history of world tennis.
The winner was not revealed until June 24.
Progress of the record match
On the first day of play, Isner and Mahut managed to complete four sets. The score was 6:4, 3:6, 6:7, 7:6.
It was getting dark, so it was decided to play the decisive fifth set the next day.
However, on June 23, this could not be done. The following rule was in effect: in the event of a draw (6:6), the winner of the decisive set is the one who breaks away from his opponent by two games. There was no provision for a tiebreak.
Isner and Mahut were playing evenly. On the second day of the match, neither managed to gain the necessary advantage. The game was interrupted at 59:59.
On June 24, the winner was finally revealed. It was John Isner.
The final score was 6:4, 3:6, 6:7, 7:6, 70:68.
The total duration of the match (excluding breaks) was 11 hours and 5 minutes.
In the 1/32 finals match, Isner, who had clearly spent a lot of energy on the previous game, suffered a crushing defeat: he lost to the Dutchman Timo De Bakker. The score was 6:0, 6:3, 6:2.
However, both Isner and Mahut still went down in tennis history as participants in the longest match.
Earlier we told you about a football match that ended with a score of 136:0.
