Wimbledon: Mahut v Isner: Groundhog Day

Every record in the book has been broken.  Even the fact that yesterday the umpire sat in his chair without a bathroom break for over 7 hours must be a record. 

At the moment the world seems besotted with the Football World Cup.  Footballers seem to be the prime donnas of the sporting world but when it comes to fitness I’m sure they couldn’t hold a candle to an FI GP driver or a top class tennis player.  To be on the court for 8 hours running around and serving a ball at around 130 miles per hour requires very considerable stamina and fitness.

John Isner eventually won the match but it is not that for which he will be remembered.  He will be remembered for being part of a game in which so many records were broken:

Some of the moments after the match captured from the BBC’s coverage:

The players and the umpire:

Wimbledon

I’m not an avid tennis follower but I still enjoy the Wimbledon experience even though I’ve only ever watched it on television.  In recent years I’ve not even watched much of the play.  This year I may manage to keep up with things because I’m working in the Study at the moment because the weather is too awful to get out into the garden and I will be at CJ’s when the finals are on.  CJ and Jo are avid Wimbledon followers.  I have a television in the Study.  It’s rarely on other than when the News is on but it also enables me to keep an eye on programmes whilst I work if there is something exciting like the Grand Prix or Wimbledon.   So although I don’t usually have the sound on I can keep an eye on it and put the sound up when it gets exciting.  And it’s exciting as I write this.

The longest match in Wimbledon history is taking place on Court 18 between the American John Isner (World 19 and American number 2) and the Frenchman Nicolas Mahut (World 149).  As I write they are up to 34 matches each in the fifth set and there has been 6 hours and 54 minutes of play.

Well. Nearly four hours after I wrote the above the match came to a conclusion – for today.  The match will re-commence tomorrow!  It has broken every record in the tennis record book already and it hasn’t finished yet.  It was amazing.  I have never seen such stamina both mentally and physically.  It will take their bodies weeks to recover.

To be continued.