My most memorable match would have to be the three day epic that John Isner played against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in 2010.
Any tennis fan knows about this match! But for those who don't, this match started like any other in the history of tennis, but it quickly (or not so quickly ;)!! ) became a match that will be remembered forever!
A single break to Isner in the first set was all he required to wrap up the first set. The second set went to Mahut with a single break of serve. This break of serve would be the last break of serve in the match until Isner broke in the final set to win! The 3rd set was won by Mahut in a tie breaker. Similarly the 4th was decided by a tie-breaker, this time in Isner's favour. At the end of the 4th set, umpire Mohamed Lahyani suspended the match due to darkness.
The next day on June 23, the players resumed play on Court 18. What was to come, no one could have predicted!
At Wimbledon they play final set advantage, ie first to six and up by two. So it could be 6-4, 7-5, 10-8 16-14 etc. Once both players get to 5 games each, the pressure is really on! Any slip on your service game and the match is all but over, particularly if you're serving second!
John Isner kicked off the set and everything progressed as you would expect with each player holding serve. The first break point opportunity came for Isner when Mahut was serving with Isner up 10-9. The players both then held serve convincingly until Isner had a further break point when he was up 33-32. Play continued to progress with no break point opportunities until Mahut was serving to tie it up at 59-all. Isner had a further break point at 59-58. Mahut aced him and the match was tied again 59-all.
Lahyani then had to suspend the match for darkness again.
The players returned to the court on June 24 and played for more than another hour before Isner finally broke Mahut to win the match. The final score in the fifth set was 70-68 and over the three days the players played for 11 hours and 5 minutes.
In the process, both players broke every record known to man kind.
I managed to watch the majority of the match, despite the absurd hour of the mornings it was played! It will definitely be a match that stays with me for a long, long time to come!
xx love Breanna
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