In every sports game, only one winner should emerge. In tennis, the history of long matches has become routine. Sometimes, it will only take a few sets to end the match. In some instances, it takes hours for the players to battle each other for the most coveted crown.
It all boils down to the skills of the sportsmen and women. When the matches are tough, the possibility to end it quickly is near to impossible.
To know more about the longest tennis matches up to date, we will be ranking the five longest matches in professional tennis history. Let's take a look at how the players ended up finishing them.
5. John McEnroe vs. Mats Wilander in 1982 (6h 22m)
Mats Wilander had previously recorded another long tennis match against Horst Skoff in the 1989 Davis Cup quarterfinals. The first match on the list is already a grueling six-hour battle of sweat and racket. John McEnroe only edged his erstwhile match by just one minute, and he swirled in his match in a similar pattern. This time, he defeated Wilander in five sets. Another Davis Cup match recorded one of the longest times in tennis history. The third set between McEnroe and Wilander saw them not giving up, considering the hard-fought sets' duration. Many thought that Wilander had neared the finish line when he won the third set. Eventually, McEnroe had lost track of time only to return in the fifth set, 8-6, to beat Wilander in a shocking finish.
4. Vicki Nelson vs. Jean Hepner in 1984 (6h 31m)
This list's penultimate match is the head-to-head battle between Nelson and Hepner during the 1984 Central Fidelity Banks International. If men can do longer matches, women can also do the same. The twist? Men have to play for five sets, but the women could only play for three sets. Knowing that women's sets are tighter than the men's, these two women took the match to something unforgettable. It seemed to be a never-ending exchange of kills and smashes across the court until Nelson stopped Hepner in the third set, owning her fellow American player with an 11-9 win in the second round of the tournament.
3. Fabrice Santoro vs. Arnaud Clement in 2004 (6h 33m)
Who would have thought that 2004 will be a year worth remembering for the tennis fans? The two French players had their encounter settled in the 2004 French Cup, and they did not see what's ahead of them, a long rally of volleys. Santoro was ahead in the first two sets, and the crowd expected an easy win for him. The third set was the finishing touch of the match. A series of tiebreakers happened in the third set. The fourth set saw the two players reached the 6-3 endpoint, only for the match to be extended once more. Santoro ended the match exhausted, with a fifth-set get-away win, 16-14.
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2. Tomas Berdych & Lukas Rosol vs. Stanislas Wawrinka & Marco Chiudinelli in 2013 (7h 2m)
The first Doubles match has appeared on the list of the longest tennis matches up to date. With mouth-drying action in the 2013 Davis Cup, many speculated that this would be a long match, but not longer than they guessed. The two duos fought to grab the championship. The doubles match toured the fans for a rare sight, with all sets tight at both ends. The winner was decided and announced as Berdych and Rosol, who took the fifth set with a 24-22 win for over seven hours of playing.
1. John Isner vs. Nicolas Mahut in 2010 (11h 5m)
The most anticipated match in the list was staged between American player Isner and French player Mahut. Believed me or not, the previous matches were nowhere close to this one. The first round of the 2010 Wimbledon Open became the most memorable match in tennis's history when it comes to the match duration. Isner and Mahut found each others' weaknesses only to stop after three days of action. Three days! Every fan had to stop to witness how can such a match end. The 11-hour long match caught Isner on the ground, as he fell exhausted and energy-sapped. He won the longest tennis match ever with a final score of 70-68 in the fifth and last set. Who would have forgotten this match?
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