Longest tennis match? and got the best answer
Answer from Oriy Teterin[newbie]
In the first round of Wimbledon, the 19th racket of the world, American John Isner, played against the 148th racket of the world, Frenchman Nicolas Maillot.
The match began on Tuesday, June 22. The players played 4 sets, but then it went dark and the continuation was postponed to Wednesday.
On Wednesday, June 23, the opponents played to 59:59 in the fifth game and again the match was postponed due to darkness.
And yesterday, Thursday, John Isner still won 70:68.
The total score in sets was: 6:4, 3:6, 6:7 (7:9), 7:6 (7:3), 70:68.
The guys broke almost all existing tennis records.
For example, in terms of the number of games in one set and match or the number of innings, Isner completed 112.
But one record still stood. Record for the longest continuous game.
In 1984, the opponents exchanged 643 blows in a row for 29 minutes until one of them was able to hit the ball.
Answer from Yomario[guru]
The first round match of the men's singles main event at Wimbledon 2010 between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, which lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes, became the longest match in the history of world tennis. Along the way, the game broke several more records, including records for the number of games played and aces.
Answer from GlyanaIskenderova[newbie]
11 hours 5 minutes... cool!)
Answer from unknown[guru]
The amateur match between Brian and Steve Seibel lasted 8 hours 15 minutes 1s in Phoenix (USA) on August 14, 2004. The record in the official championships was set by the Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco at the Australian Open in 2009. In the semi-finals of the tournament they fought for 5 hours 14 minutes. Nadal won the match.
Answer from Timur Sultangaliyev[guru]
11 hours 5 minutes
Answer from Maria Erusheva[guru]
Last year's Wimbledon, Isner - Mayu.
Grand Slam tournaments and Davis Cup matches are an ideal place to add to the list of record-breaking matches in the history of tennis, because currently only here the format of five-set matches has been preserved.
It is interesting that it was the Davis Cup, the importance of which is considered by many leading tennis players to be much lower than the “majors,” which produced the most long matches, most often indicating the incredible intensity of the struggle.
Of the ten longest matches in men's tennis in the history of the Open era, six represent the Davis Cup, and most of them featured outstanding athletes who enriched the history of the game with more than just these results.
5 hours 41 minutes. Paul-Henri Mathieu - John Isner. Roland Garros 2012, second round - 6/7(2), 6/4, 6/4, 3/6, 18/16
John Isner regularly becomes the subject of the “longest matches” column. Taking the American giant's serve is problematic even for the Big Four players, let alone other tennis players. However, when John comes across an opponent who also categorically does not want to give up his games, a stalemate is created.
In the match with Paul-Henri Mathieu at last year's Roland Garros, the American looked like the favorite, but in the fifth game the Frenchman literally stood up to the applause of his home crowd. The war of nerves ultimately ended with Isner faltering. The match is currently the second longest in French Open history.
5 hours 45 minutes. Mehdi Tahiri - Gilles Muller. Davis Cup 2005, First Group - 6/7(4), 6/4, 7/6(3), 6/7(5), 6/4
The national teams of Morocco and Luxembourg lost their opening matches, so no one wanted to leave the First Group. The fierce battle between the Moroccans, who had lost their former splendor, and the Luxembourgers, who had never shone, was marked by a stubborn and tough confrontation between Mehdi Tahiri and Gilles Muller.
The Moroccan veteran, who has defended the colors of the national team since 1993, resisted desperately and was able to achieve victory. This, however, did not help his team - Luxembourg won and retained their place in the First Group of the Davis Cup.
5 hours 46 minutes. Arnaud Clément - Marc Rosset. Davis Cup 2001, quarterfinals - 6/3, 3/6, 7/6(5), 6/7(6), 15/13
Arnaud Clement is another regular at such matches. In 2001, the French team was heading for its ninth victory in the Davis Cup, but the Swiss - young Roger Federer and the most experienced Marc Rosset - turned out to be an unexpectedly serious obstacle on its way.
It was he, the Olympic champion of Barcelona, who twice equalized the score in the opening match of the match against Clement, and in the fifth game he resisted for twenty-eight games. Clement snatched victory, but the outcome of the match was decided only in the fifth match, which the physically exhausted Rosset was no longer able to enter. Georg Bastl lost to Nicolas Escude in five sets, and the French team advanced to the semifinals.
5 hours 53 minutes. Novak Djokovic - Rafael Nadal. Australian Open-2012, final - 5/7, 6/4, 6/2, 6/7(5), 7/5
But all the fans remember this match very well. And not only because it took place a little over a year ago. “Hot on the heels,” some experts suggested recognizing the match as the best in the history of tennis, but even the most notorious skeptics will agree that it is included in the top ten without any questions.
Both great tennis players showed their best here, giving their all throughout every rally. Rafael Nadal failed to free himself from the “Djokovic complex” in Melbourne, but it was here that he took the first step towards this.
5 hours 59 minutes. Radek Stepanek - Ivo Karlovich. Davis Cup 2009, semi-final - 6/7(5), 7/6(5), 7/6(6), 6/7(2), 16/14
When Ivo Karlovic is serving and the opponents are a strong tennis player, this means that each set is likely to end in a tiebreaker. This is exactly what happened in the opening match of the 2009 Davis Cup semi-final. The problem for Ivo was that Radek Stepanek’s serve also went wrong...
As a result, four games invariably ended in tiebreaks, and according to the results of the marathon fifth set, the more experienced and seasoned Stepanek was stronger. When, in the second match, Tomas Berdych also defeated Marin Cilic in five games, almost everything in this semi-final became clear.
6 hours 4 minutes. Horst Skoff - Mats Wilander. Davis Cup 1989, quarterfinals - 6/7(5), 7/6(7), 1/6, 6/4, 9/7
The Swedish national team, along with the German team, was one of the main favorites of the Davis Cup in the eighties. However, the Swedes faced a very tough opponent in the quarterfinals. The Austrian team, led by the young Thomas Muster, defeated the Australians in the first round, and had to seriously compete with the favorites on the Viennese soil.
However, a few days before the match with the Swedes, Muster was hit by a car in Key Biscayne, as a result of which he tore two knee ligaments at once. But even without their leader, the Austrians fought desperately. 21-year-old Horst Skoff came back twice in the match with the former first racket of the world, and in the decisive set he was able to make such an important break. However, the victory in the match still went to the Swedes, who lost to the German national team in the final of the tournament.
The life of one of the heroes of this match did not really work out. Horst won four ATP tournaments, but was forced to retire in 1995. In 2008, at the age of thirty-nine, Horst Skoff died of a heart attack.
6 hours 21 minutes. Boris Becker - John McEnroe. Davis Cup 1987, World Group playoffs - 4/6, 15/13, 8/10, 6/2, 6/2
It’s hard to imagine, but in 1987 the national teams of Germany and the USA met in a World Group playoff match, having suffered defeats already in the first round of the draw. Not wanting to leave the elite, the team captains brought their best forces to the decisive battle - young Boris Becker and the aging, but still formidable John McEnroe.
At that time, there were no tiebreakers in the Davis Cup, so the main events unfolded in the second and third sets, one of which went to Boris and the other to John. However, two marathon games exhausted the great American so much that after that he only occasionally offered decent resistance. Becker won, and with him the German team, sending the US team into a difficult knockout.
6 hours 22 minutes. John McEnroe - Mats Wilander. Davis Cup 1982, quarterfinals - 9/7, 6/2, 15/17, 3/6, 8/6
Well, five years before, McEnroe was in his prime and at the zenith of his fame. “Junior” did everything he could in the quarterfinal match against the Swedish team, but his partners, Eliot Teltscher and Brian Gottfried, let him down. As a result, McEnroe's second singles match, against Mats Wilander, proved decisive.
McEnroe took the first two sets in the fight, but in the third game the young Swede flatly refused to lose. Mats took literally all the balls, and after a titanic struggle he celebrated victory in the game - 17/15. An inspired Wilander equalized the match - 2:2, and resisted for a long time in the fifth set, until McEnroe remembered that he, after all, was the first racket of the world.
Subsequently, the Americans had no problems winning the Davis Cup - 5:0 with the Australians and 4:1 with the French in the final. But the duel between McEnroe and Wilander became the longest in the history of the Davis Cup.
6 hours 33 minutes. Fabrice Santoro - Arnaud Clément. Roland Garros 2004, first round - 6/4, 6/3, 6/7(5), 3/6, 16/14
The last Roland Garros of the Donadalev era turned out to be extremely interesting. In particular, two outstanding Frenchmen pleased the fans. Santoro and Clement held out their match until darkness, as a result of which the fight had to be postponed to the second day.
But even after the resumption of play, the two brave Frenchmen fought so famously that they eventually set a record for the longest matches in the history of Roland Garros, as well as an absolute record for the Open era. Who could have known that this achievement was destined to last only six years?
11 hours 5 minutes. John Isner - Nicolas Mahut. Wimbledon 2010, first round. 6/4, 3/6, 6/7(7), 7/6(3), 70/68
This match will forever remain in the history of tennis. Three days, one hundred eighty-three games, two hundred and sixteen aces, nine absolute game records. It is unlikely that a fight like this will ever take place. Although, you shouldn’t promise. After the match between Santoro and Clement in 2004, something similar sounded.
By the way, an interesting fact - it took Serena Williams a total of just under ten hours to win the title at Wimbledon 2010 in seven matches - that is, less than this titanic first-round match lasted.
However, do not underestimate women's tennis, because the longest match here lasted 6 hours 31 minutes - and this was in two sets! In 1984, at the WTA tournament in Richmond, American Vikki Nelson defeated her compatriot Jean Hepner with a score of 6/4, 7/6 (9).
This match also set two absolute tennis records. Firstly, the longest rally in the history of tennis was recorded here - 643 strokes in twenty-nine minutes. Secondly, this is the longest meeting in history - one that was played over one day. After all, Clement and Santoro, and especially Mayu and Isner, didn’t get it done in one day.
So women tennis players also have something to brag about. However, in the general mass of five-set matches, men have a much greater chance of setting an outstanding record. I wonder what the 2013 season will please fans in this area?
Unlike most sports, tennis has no time limit. Instead, the match ends when one of the athletes wins in a certain number of sets. Given this rule, sports provided the opportunity for certain strange things to happen. Most matches are over in about two hours. Some even stretch out to three hours. However, whether it is a doubles or singles match, sometimes the final score cannot be determined within a reasonable time frame. It doesn't matter whether the match is between men or women. The matches on this list are the 10 longest tennis battles in history. The athletes on this list must have inhuman levels of endurance. Simply put, no ordinary person could handle either of these matches. These matches are actually very unusual.
10. Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in 2012 (match lasted 5 hours 53 minutes)
In modern tennis, two men have risen to the very top of the rankings. One is a fierce lefty who is the King of the Clay, and the other is a man who competed with himself as often as he competed with his opponents on the court. In 2012, these wars fought in an epic match that will forever remain in the memory of tennis fans. In the 2012 Australian Open Final, Djokovic faced seasoned opponent Rafael Nadal. The duel reached a tiebreaker in the fourth set (Nadal was leading 2-1 at the time), and many wondered if Novak could do anything against his opponent. Oh, how he finally returned to the game. He won the fourth set tiebreaker before winning the fifth set 7-5. The match lasted 5 hours and 53 minutes, and an exhausted Djokovic fell to the court with joy when it was over.
9. Radek Stepanek defeated Ivo Karlovic in 2009 (match lasted 5 hours 59 minutes) 
Most of the matches on this list took place in the Davis Cup. This is the first of many of these matches in which the feisty Czech Stepanek outlasted the Croatian Ivo Karlovic in a fight that fell just shy of 6 hours. Radek and Ivo were both in contention for a place in the Davis Cup final in 2009 and neither wanted to back down. What makes this match unique is the number of tiebreakers that the athletes played (all four sets ended in a tiebreaker). The fifth and final set ended with the score moving into double digits. As a result, Stepanek fought off Karlovich's strong serve and won the fifth set with a score of 16-14.
8. Horst Skoff defeated Mats Wilander in 1989 (match lasted 6 hours 4 minutes) 
The first match on this list, which lasted over six hours, pitted Skoff against Wilander in the 1989 Davis Cup quarterfinals. After the first two sets ended in tiebreakers (each player winning one set), the third set was simply shocking. Skoff lost the set 6-1. It seemed that Wilander was about to defeat Horst. However, Skoff managed to come back and win the fourth set with a score of 6-4. As the match time approached 6 o'clock, the tennis players fought until Skoff beat Wilander twice in a row, allowing him to win 9-7 in the fifth set. Despite the fact that Mats lost in a long and difficult match that lasted just over 6 hours, his team (Sweden) made it to the Davis Cup final. In the final they lost to the Federal Republic of Germany with a score of 3-2.
7. Lucas Arnold Ker, David Nalbandian defeated Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin in 2002 (match lasted 6 hours 20 minutes) 
In the first doubles match of this list, Argentine partners Ker and Nalbandian defeated Russians Kafelnikov and Safin in a match that lasted much longer than anyone expected. In the 2002 Davis Cup semi-finals, both of these teams competed for a place in the final. Ker and Nalbandian won the first two sets, and it seemed that the Russians would not win even one set. However, they were able to squeeze out a victory in the third set (7-5) and even beat the Argentines quite solidly in the fourth set (6-4). Given the match's length of 6 hours and 20 minutes, you would think that the fifth set would have consisted of an incredible number of games. And so it was. It took a total of 36 games in the fifth set for the Argentines to win the match.
6. Boris Becker defeated John McEnroe in 1987 (match lasted 6 hours 21 minutes)
Although the match lasted only a minute longer than the previous doubles match, the 1987 Davis Cup meeting between Becker and McEnroe will never be forgotten. For any match between these two tennis players, fans could expect a fierce fight and some of the best tennis they would ever see. In this particular case, with the reputations of their countries on the line, Boris and John engaged in a tense, bitter battle for victory. After McEnroe won the first set 6-4, no one expected a long second set. Boris won the second set, winning with a score of 15 games to 13 games. Each athlete won one set before the final set began, with Becker winning a convincing 6-2 victory.
5. John McEnroe defeated Mats Wilander in 1982 (match lasted 6 hours 22 minutes) 
Although both athletes have met in previous entries on this list, this was the first match for either competitor that lasted more than six hours. Beating the previous match by just one minute, John McEnroe defeated Wilander in five grueling sets in this match. The third set of this match, again in the Davis Cup (this time in 1982), was a precursor to absurdly long tennis matches. Wilander defeated John in the third set with a score of 17-15. However, the incredibly resilient McEnroe did not remain defeated and eventually even won the match, taking the fifth set with a score of 8-6.
4. Vicki Nelson defeated Jean Hepner in 1984 (match lasted 6 hours 31 minutes) 
This is the only match on this list between two women, and it's a very impressive achievement. Why? If you are familiar with the rules of tennis, you will know that matches between men are played in a best-of-five set scenario (during Grand Slams and several others), while women's matches are played only in a best-of-three format. sets." Considering that this match only lasted three sets, you can guess how hard and determined these two athletes were playing at any point in the match. Both athletes were from America and one could say that the match for who would advance to the second round of the Central Fidelity Banks International tournament was very similar to a tug of war with alternating successes. Nelson eventually defeated Hepner in the third set with a score of 11-9.
3. Fabrice Santoro defeated Arnaud Clement in 2004 (match lasted 6 hours 33 minutes)
In one of the few matches on this list that did not take place in the Davis Cup, two representatives of France met. The prize was the 2004 French Cup, but only one would advance beyond the first round. After Santoro won the first two sets, the tournament's prospects looked very bleak for Clement, but he was able to avoid defeat by winning the third set in a tiebreaker. After he unexpectedly easily won the fourth set with a score of 6-3, the fate of the match was to be decided by just one set. In fact, the match went on for so long that the final set did not end until the next day. Santoro fought back and won the fifth set with a score of 16-14.
2. Tomas Berdych, Lukas Rosol defeated Stanislas Wawrinka, Marco Chiudinelli in 2013 (match lasted 7 hours 2 minutes) 
The second doubles match on this list is also the first match to exceed the seven hour duration. The 2013 Davis Cup first round match featured two players who had recently ranked in the top ten tennis players (Berdych and Wawrinka). Both teams, vying for the championship to go to their country, showed amazing efforts on the court. All sets ended with very close scores (the only set in which there was a comparative advantage in one of the sides ended with a score of 6-4), and the fans had great fun watching the match. As the clock passed the seven o'clock mark, Berdych and Rosol converted match point. They won the fifth set 24-22 after an epic battle lasting seven hours.
1. John Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut in 2010 (match lasted 11 hours 5 minutes) 
This match will probably remain unsurpassed forever. The match during the first round of the Wimbledon tournament (Wimbledon) in 2010 even later received a plaque with information about the three-day battle. It was the perfect combination. Isner, with his heavy, sweeping serve, and Mayut's fast style made them diametrically opposed. The weakness of each of them turned out to be the advantage of the other. After the match had gone on for two days, it was no longer just tennis fans who were watching it. Everyone stopped what they were doing to see if the match would ever end. After three days of Grand Slam level tennis, Isner fell to the ground. All the energy in his body was spent. He won the longest tennis match of all time, 70-68 in the fifth set. This match will be written about in textbooks and will never be forgotten. What did you do when Isner defeated Mayu?
After Bernard Tomic from Australia and Finn Jarko Nieminen played the shortest match at the Miami tournament - a match in which the representative of Finland won with a score of 6:0, 6:1, lasted only 28 minutes and 20 seconds - the tennis community remembered the craziest records on the court. The German newspaper Bild cited 11 such unusual achievements.
1. The longest match in Grand Slam history took place at Wimbledon in 2010. Frenchman Nicolas Mahut and American John Isner, fighting in the first round, spent 11 hours and 5 minutes on the court. At the same time, the fight was interrupted twice due to darkness. In the end, Isner won - 6:4, 3:6, 6:7, 7:6, 70:68! For women, a similar record was set by Italian Francesca Schiavone and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the one-eighth final of the Australian Open in 2011, they played for 4 hours and 44 minutes. The Italian won with a score of 6:4, 1:6, 16:14.
2. German Steffi Graf on June 4, 1988, in the final of Roland Garros, won against 17-year-old Natalya Zvereva, representing the USSR, in just 32 minutes - 6:0, 6:0.
3. The longest final in a Grand Slam series was the final match in the men's singles at the 2012 Australian Open. The meeting lasted 5 hours 53 minutes and ended with the victory of Serbian Novak Djokovic over Spaniard Rafael Nadal - 5:7, 6:4, 6:2, 6:7, 7:5.
4. The largest number of straight serves was recorded in the longest match - between the American Isner and the Frenchman Mahut in the first round of Wimbledon 2010. John Isner made 112 aces, while Nicolas Mahut - 103. Both of them exceeded the achievement of Croatian Ivo Karlovic - he had 78 serves in one match.
5. Croatian Goran Ivanisevic has the most aces in a season: in 1996, he served 1,477 times. Similar statistics have been kept since 1991. In addition, another Croatian - Ivo Karlović (1318 in 2007) and the American Andy Roddick (1017 in 2004) have over a thousand aces.
6. The longest exchange of blows was recorded on March 12, 1988. Tennis players R. Kapp and V. Dyuggan in a match held in Santa Barbara kept the ball in play for 3 hours and 33 minutes. At the same time, the ball flew over the net 6202 times. Among women, the longest exchange of blows took place in a match between Vicki Nelson and Jean Hepner, held in October 1984 in Richmond. For 29 minutes, the tennis players threw the ball over the net - they exchanged blows 643 times. In total, the match lasted 6 hours 22 minutes, with only the tiebreak lasting 1 hour and 47 minutes.
7. Croatian Ivo Karlovic again served with the highest ball speed - 251 km per hour. The tennis player succeeded in this on March 5, 2011, in the 2011 Davis Cup doubles match in Zagreb, in which the Croats met the Germans. However, the unofficial record belongs to the Australian Samuel Groth - on May 9, 2012, the ball he sent at the Challenger series tournament in South Korea reached a speed of 263 km per hour. Among tennis ladies, the official record for serve speed belongs to an American, Williams’ older sister, Venus. She hit the ball at 207.6 km per hour, which was recorded at the 2007 US Open. The unofficial achievement of the same American woman is 209 km per hour (in Zurich 2008 and Tokyo 2013). Dutchwoman Brenda Schultz applied just as quickly in 2006 in Cincinnati. Among the “unrecognized” records is the serve performed by the German Sabine Lisicki in a competition in Bali. The German representative performed the “service” at a speed of 210 km per hour, but due to a technical error in the device measuring the feed speed, the record was not recorded.
8. The largest number of double faults in one match was made by Russian Anna Kournikova (Kournikova now has dual citizenship - Russian and American - author's note). Anna set the anti-record in the second round of the 1999 Australian Open, playing against Japanese Mio Saeki. Kournikova made 31 double faults, but still won - 1:6, 6:4, 10:8.
9. Swiss Roger Federer has won 24 consecutive finals at Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournaments. Having lost for the last time in the final in Gstaad in 2003 to the Czech Jiri Novak, Federer then did not suffer defeats in the final matches until the final ATP Championship in 2005. Then he lost to the Argentinean David Nalbandian.
10. The best balance - the ratio of victories and defeats - was established by an American of Czech origin, Martina Navratilova, in 1983 - 86:1. She lost only to Katie Horvath (USA), then the 33rd racket in the world, with a score of 4:6, 6:0, 3:6 in the fourth round of Roland Garros. For men, a similar achievement was achieved by American John McEnroe in 1984 - 82:3.
11. The highest number of spectators at a Grand Slam tournament was at Melbourne Park at the Australian Open - on January 22, 2005, 60 thousand 669 people attended the competition.
Treaty or fight?
On June 24, 2010, the longest match in the history of tennis took place at Wimbledon. The authors of the record were two unnoticed second-tier tennis players - John Eisner (USA) and Nicolas Mahut (France). The longest tennis match lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes. Thus, the previous record fell almost twice as high.
Evil tongues say that the match was fixed and its participants simply found a way to get into history. On the other hand, eyewitnesses of the confrontation instruct that everything took place in a stubborn and grueling struggle that cannot be played out.
Match results
The longest tennis match ended with a basketball score of 70:68 in favor of American John Eisner at the Wimbledon tennis tournament on Thursday, June 24, 2010. To the relief of the crowd, the fifth set of the longest match in the history of the sport ended.
Eisner's amazing fight with Frenchman Nicolas Mahut lasted a total of 11 hours and 5 minutes. The final score is 6:4, 3:6, 6:7 (7:9), 7:6 (7:3), 70:68 in favor of the American. From now on, he also holds the record for the number of aces in one match - 112.
Together, the tennis players served 215 times in this match. In the fifth set, where they needed to break away from their opponent by two points to win, they took turns taking their serves. According to Eisner, who eventually reached the second round of Wimbledon, “this will never happen again.”
Previous records
The title of the longest match in the history of professional tennis until today was held by the duel between the Frenchmen Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement, who butted heads in 2004 on the slowest clay surface of Roland Garros for 6 hours 33 minutes. The Wimbledon record was 6 hours 9 minutes.
The world record for the number of aces was previously held by Croatian Ivo Karlovic - 78 serves in the 2009 Davis Cup match Croatia - Czech Republic.
The meeting was suspended for the first time on Tuesday before the American served in the deciding game. However, on Wednesday the tennis players were unable to determine the strongest in their confrontation; the referees separated them with a score of 59:59 in the decisive game.
Perhaps the participants in this unusual marathon simply wanted to write their names in the history of tennis forever. How else can we explain the fact that during yesterday not one of them was able to break away from their opponent by two points. Although, according to eyewitnesses, immediately before the suspension of the match on Wednesday, the tennis players did everything possible to bring it to a victorious end. At the same time, the fans chanted non-stop: “We want more, we want more!”
The match took place on court 18 of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which is why the game was not broadcast on leading sports television channels. However, one of the most brilliant masters in the history of tennis, John McEnroe, called it "the most outstanding advertisement for this sport."
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