The Match That Would Not End

An ordinary first-round match

Nobody expected history. John Isner of the United States was the 23rd seed, and Nicolas Mahut of France had come through three rounds of qualifying just to reach the main draw. They were sent out to Court 18, one of Wimbledon's outer courts, on the evening of Tuesday 22 June 2010.

Four sets went by normally, two of them settled by tie-breaks, and darkness stopped play at two sets all. In 2010 there was no tie-break in the fifth set at Wimbledon, so the deciding set would go on until someone led by two games.

Neither man would break

Both players had huge serves, and neither could break the other. On Wednesday the fifth set passed the old record for the longest match in the afternoon, then kept going. The courtside scoreboard froze at 47-47 because it had never been programmed to count higher, and the official website asked fans to add 50 to the games score.

Darkness stopped play again at 59-59, with spectators chanting that they wanted more. Isner had already missed four match points.

Thursday afternoon

The players slept only a few hours. Isner took an ice bath and ate takeaway food brought by his friend Andy Roddick, and Mahut had a cold bath and a massage. They returned on Thursday 24 June and played another hour.

At 68-68 and 69-68 the tension was enormous. Finally Isner broke serve and won the set 70-68. The fifth set alone lasted 8 hours and 11 minutes, longer than any full match before it. Isner served 113 aces and Mahut 103, both records.

A plaque and a new rule

The All England Club gave both players and the umpire, Mohamed Lahyani, special gifts on court, and later put a plaque on Court 18 to mark the match.

Long final sets kept happening, including Isner's six-and-a-half-hour semi-final against Kevin Anderson in 2018. Wimbledon then brought in a tie-break at 12-12 in the final set from 2019, and since 2022 the Grand Slams use a 10-point tie-break at 6-6. That makes this record almost impossible to beat.

How the players recovered

Recovery became part of the story. Isner said drinking coconut water helped him avoid the cramps he had suffered in the past, and he slept less than four hours before the final day. Mahut squeezed in practice and treatment too.

Both men were exhausted by the end, and Isner lost his next match. Their effort still earned huge respect, and Mahut later gave items from the match to the International Tennis Hall of Fame museum.

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