Sasha
23rd June 2010, 21:30
The Longest Tennis Match in History (http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/06/23/the-longest-tennis-match-in-history)
Posted by Brendan Kiley (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/ArticleArchives?author=1124) on Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 12:55 PM
... is currently being played at Wimbledon (http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/wimbledon-live-isner-vs-mahut/?src=mv).
John Isner and Nicolas Mahut have been locked in an epic battle at Wimbledon, one stretching over two days. In a match that began Tuesday night and was suspended because of darkness after four sets, Isner and Mahut have now played the longest tennis match in history.And the live-blogger at the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jun/23/wimbledon-2010-tennis-live) is has been spinning out in a heroic, hilarious way:
7.30pm: Let it end, let it end, it's 46-all. It was funny when it was 16-all and it was creepy when it was 26-all. But this is pure purgatory and there is still no end in sight. John Isner has just struck his 90th ace. Nicolas Mahut, poor, enfeebled Nicolas Mahut, has only hit 72. Maybe we should just decide it on the number of aces struck? Give the game to Isner and then we can all crawl into our graves. 7.20pm: And so this match goes on and on, on and on. Somewhere along the way, the players have mislaid their names. The man who was once Mahut is now a string-bag of offal. The man who was Isner is a parched piece of cow-hide. The surviving members of the audience don't seem to care who wins. They just cheer and applaud whoever looks likely to make a breakthrough and bring this nightmare to a close. Invariably they are disappointed.
And that was early in the game. Later:
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/_belial/540405620/) 4.05pm: The Isner-Mahut battle is a bizarre mix of the gripping and the deadly dull. It's tennis's equivalent of Waiting For Godot, in which two lowly journeymen comedians are forced to remain on an outside court until hell freezes over and the sun falls from the sky. Isner and Mahut are dying a thousand deaths out there on Court 18 and yet nobody cares, because they're watching the football. So the players stand out on their baseline and belt aces past each-other in a fifth set that has already crawled past two hours. They are now tied at 18-games apiece. On and on they go. Soon they will sprout beards and their hair will grow down their backs, and their tennis whites will yellow and then rot off their bodies. And still they will stand out there on Court 18, belting aces and listening as the umpire calls the score. Finally, I suppose, one of them will die.
source:http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/06/23/the-longest-tennis-match-in-history
:blink:
Posted by Brendan Kiley (http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/ArticleArchives?author=1124) on Wed, Jun 23, 2010 at 12:55 PM
... is currently being played at Wimbledon (http://straightsets.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/23/wimbledon-live-isner-vs-mahut/?src=mv).
John Isner and Nicolas Mahut have been locked in an epic battle at Wimbledon, one stretching over two days. In a match that began Tuesday night and was suspended because of darkness after four sets, Isner and Mahut have now played the longest tennis match in history.And the live-blogger at the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2010/jun/23/wimbledon-2010-tennis-live) is has been spinning out in a heroic, hilarious way:
7.30pm: Let it end, let it end, it's 46-all. It was funny when it was 16-all and it was creepy when it was 26-all. But this is pure purgatory and there is still no end in sight. John Isner has just struck his 90th ace. Nicolas Mahut, poor, enfeebled Nicolas Mahut, has only hit 72. Maybe we should just decide it on the number of aces struck? Give the game to Isner and then we can all crawl into our graves. 7.20pm: And so this match goes on and on, on and on. Somewhere along the way, the players have mislaid their names. The man who was once Mahut is now a string-bag of offal. The man who was Isner is a parched piece of cow-hide. The surviving members of the audience don't seem to care who wins. They just cheer and applaud whoever looks likely to make a breakthrough and bring this nightmare to a close. Invariably they are disappointed.
And that was early in the game. Later:
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/_belial/540405620/) 4.05pm: The Isner-Mahut battle is a bizarre mix of the gripping and the deadly dull. It's tennis's equivalent of Waiting For Godot, in which two lowly journeymen comedians are forced to remain on an outside court until hell freezes over and the sun falls from the sky. Isner and Mahut are dying a thousand deaths out there on Court 18 and yet nobody cares, because they're watching the football. So the players stand out on their baseline and belt aces past each-other in a fifth set that has already crawled past two hours. They are now tied at 18-games apiece. On and on they go. Soon they will sprout beards and their hair will grow down their backs, and their tennis whites will yellow and then rot off their bodies. And still they will stand out there on Court 18, belting aces and listening as the umpire calls the score. Finally, I suppose, one of them will die.
source:http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2010/06/23/the-longest-tennis-match-in-history
:blink: