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The longest match in tennis history lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes, with the players competing over three days. Let’s look back at that showdown and examine other marathon matches.
2010 Wimbledon: John Isner def. Nicolas Mahut (11 hours, 5 minutes)
At Wimbledon in 2010, the first-round match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes. The two battled over the course of three days. Their match featured five sets, including a 138-point fifth set. (Wimbledon does not use a tiebreak in the fifth set at the time.) On the first day, the match had to be halted at the end of the fourth set because it was too dark to continue. On the second day, the scoreboard stopped working and eventually shut off, as it was only programmed to go to 47-47 (but it would be fixed by the third day). The match was halted on Day 2 once the sun went down. On Day 3, Isner won the deciding final set, 70-68. There were 980 total points, including 711 points in the fifth set. The players were exhausted, as it was 4½ hours longer than the previous record for longest match. Isner’s 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68 victory allowed him to advance to face Thiemo de Bakker, but Isner would lose that match in just 74 minutes (the shortest men’s match in Wimbledon history at that time).
2018 Wimbledon: Kevin Anderson def. John Isner (6 hours, 36 minutes)
John Isner also competed in the second-longest Grand Slam match of all time! This time, Isner faced Kevin Anderson in the 2018 semifinal at Wimbledon. This match featured 99 games and three tiebreakers over five sets. The fifth set lasted nearly three hours, becoming the longest Centre Court match in history. Anderson defeated Isner 7-6 (6), 6-7 (5), 6-7 (9), 6-4, 26-24 after 6 hours and 36 minutes. In the final, Anderson ultimately lost to Novak Djokovic. Several months after this match, the All England Club announced a rule change: tiebreaks would be played if the final set score reached 12-all. In 2022, the rules were updated, with all Grand Slam tournaments implementing a 10-point tiebreak when a match reaches 6-6 in the final set.
2004 French Open: Fabrice Santaro def. Arnaud Clement (6 hours, 33 minutes)
This first-round match between Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement lasted 6 hours and 33 minutes across two days. The match was halted at 5-all in the third set due to darkness. On Day 2, Santoro defeated Clement 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 3-6, 16-14. The match featured the most games (71) in the French Open since tiebreaks were introduced in 1973. After the match, Santoro said he had difficulty breathing at times. However, he somehow won the next day, defeating Irakli Labadze 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. Santoro would eventually lose in the third round to Olivier Mutis 6-0, 6-2, 6-3.
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