Thursday, June 24, 2010
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Thursday, June 24, 2010
MARATHON MOMENTS
For Two Gladiators At
Wimbledon, A 59-59 Chance Of Winning
Marathon madness: Neither net nor night could stop them. John Isner,
right, and Nicholas Mahut yesterday at Wimbledon during their epic contest.
Steve Wake/AELTC
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Spectators over the last two days at Wimbledon would be forgiven for thinking
they were in South London at the Oval cricket ground, instead of at South London's
upper crust tennis estate.
For within the pristine and prestigious sports the modest venue of Court 18
beckoned the usual Centre Court suspects.
What, pray tell, made Court 18 so special?
A tennis match, yes, but no ordinary tennis match.
In the blue corner: Nicholas Mahut of France. In the red corner: John
Isner of the United States.
Mr. Mahut's fellow countrymen were unceremoniously dumped out of the World Cup
this week, but in this genteel, tony sport Mr. Mahut honorably kept the flag
flying. Meanwhile, Mr. Isner's countrymen left it very late in their match
yesterday to guarantee themselves at least one match of football in South
Africa. Mr. Isner however, didn't leave it at all.
The court, that is.
He didn't want to leave the court at least, at 9:00p.m. local time when his
opponent said "no mas" to more tennis.
And who could blame Mr. Mahut? He and Mr. Isner had been in the midst of a
fifth and final set at the All England Tennis Club, a set that lasted more than
seven hours. And the night skies intruded on this wild, nutty affair.
Not only did the decisive fifth and non-tie-breaking final set keep going like
an Energizer bunny, the previous four combined lasted three hours.
Ten total hours of tennis, a clear record as the world's longest tennis match
ever. Spread over two days.
Make that three days. The match continues today.
The score of the fifth set? 59-59.
Each set must be won by at least two games (i.e. 61-59, or more conventionally,
6-4 or 6-3.) Tie-breakers at Wimbledon can occur in any set except the
decisive fifth set in men's game or the ultimate third set in ladies' contests.
These gladiators should receive an additional paycheck for endurance alone.
"You're never going to see this again," declared Mr. Isner, exhausted.
He's only half right.
For his opponent had been warming up for this incredible spectacle very recently
at the Queens Club tennis tournament just a few miles from Wimbledon. In a
match earlier this month Mr. Mahut won the third and final set 24-22.
So this was 59-59 thing was just a walk in the park.
You could have flown from New York City to San Francisco or travelled from
London to Barcelona or ventured from Nairobi to Durban and the Isner-Mahut fifth
set would have still been playing. You could have run a marathon and
finished in seven hours.
Both men surely ran the equivalent of a pure marathon -- 26.2 miles -- during
this fascinating fifth set alone.
And the race isn't over yet.
More strawberries and cream, please!
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