Nicolas Mahut vs John Isner: The greatest match in Wimbledon and tennis history

On Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 6:18 p.m., Nicolas Mahut and John Isner enter court number 18 of the All England Club to compete in the first round of the Wimbledon tournament. They don't know it yet, but the two men are preparing to play the greatest match in tennis history.

On one side, the American John Isner, 19th in the world and the big favorite for the match, according to the Stats-tennis website. At 2.08 m tall, he is known to be one of the best servers on the circuit.

On the other, Nicolas Mahut, the 148th ranked player in the world. Despite the comparably low ranking, the Frenchman is an excellent double and grass player, a surface he has mastered.

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Unlike John Isner, who arrives fresh for his first round, Nicolas Mahut has already spent a lot of time on the court. For his second qualifying round, the Frenchman battled against Brit Alex Bogdanovic in three sets – including 46 games for the third set alone which lasted 2 hours 51 minutes: 3-6, 6-3, 24-22. A match, now forgotten, but which nevertheless made the front page of the French newspaper L'Équipe, with the headline "24-22, it's tennis!"

The match, refereed by the Swede Mohamed Lahyani, begins and John Isner quickly takes the measure of his opponent by breaking the Frenchman to win the first set 6-4 in 32 minutes, according to the official Wimbledon website.

The second set is important because, for the first and only time in the match, Mahut manages to break his opponent to take the second set 6-3 in 29 minutes. So far, nothing unusual.

The third and fourth sets, meanwhile, will set the tone for the rest of the match. Inseparable, the two men will win all their service games (despite eight break points for Isner in the fourth set) and will part with two decisive games: 6-7 (7-9) and 7-6 (7-3). At 9:07 p.m, night falls after 2:54 hours of play, according to ESPN. Play will resume the next day.

On Wednesday, June 23 at 2:05 p.m., the match resumes between the two men to play the fifth set of the match. Important detail, it is John Isner who begins to serve, forcing Nicolas Mahut to win his serve each time to stay in the match.

No player manages to get the better of his opponent on the opposing serve, except in the 19th game. Isner then leads 10-9 and gets a match point after two double faults from the Frenchman. The latter saves it with a new ace, his 38th of the match.

That's when things start getting a bit wild. Between 25-24 and 32-32, Mahut strings together eight shutouts on his serve while Isner only loses four points on his, Tennis Magazine reported at the time. Both men are fatigued and are no longer able to return their opponent's serve. The aces follow one another at a maddening speed.

At 32-32, the match then reached 6:34 and became the longest match in history, entering the Guinness Book of Records at the same time... and it's far from over!

At 33-32, a new thrill will run through course number 18. Isner gets two match points, but Mahut is determined. He won the first by going to the net and the second thanks to a winning serve. In the 75th game, the American scored his 79th ace of the match, a new record.

The match continued, and the referee admitted to the New York Times that he almost lost his voice on the second day due to dehydration.

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At 47-47, the scoreboard freezes, before going dark at 49-48. The match seemingly had no end until suddenly, at 50-50, Mahut picked up two break points for the first time since the start of the fifth set. The crowd holds its breath, but Isner nails a winning serve and a smash.

After playing for 6 hours and 48 minutes without stopping, according to Tennis Magazine, the two players took a bathroom break at 58-58. Shortly after, Mahut remained on the ground after a fall. While making it back to his feet, the Frenchman would receive a standing ovation from the entire crowd – and applause from his opponent.

At 59-58, Mahut is struggling with his serve but saves a new match point thanks to an ace, his 95th (compared to 98 for Isner). He then complained about the brightness and, at 59-59, after 7:06 of play, the match was suspended in the fifth set.

On Thursday, June 24, at 3:40 p.m., the match resumes in front of a delirious crowd. Fans flock to court 18 to watch this endless match. The first games of this day are similar to what we've seen so far and Isner continues to show his dominance with the serve.

At 68-68, we see a change in momentum – Mahut takes control. The Frenchman then leads 0/30 on the American's serve, but the latter recovers and slams his 113th ace, to lead 69-68.

After a missed drop shot by Mahut, Isner leads 15-30 at 69-68. He obtains his fifth match point and, on a backhand passing, crucifies the Frenchman. The public stands up, Isner can't believe his eyes: 70-68, after 11:05 hours of play, he is qualified for the second round.

If Isner won the match that day, it was Mahut who won the most points: 502 against 478. In total, the Guinness Book recorded 12 records for this match.

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In total, 216 aces were scored, including 113 for Isner. The American's fastest serve in this match was clocked at 230 km/h according to Wimbledon. According to the Daily Mail, 126 balls were used in this match, with the referee having to ask for new balls on 19 occasions.

In an interview with L'Équipe in 2010, Mahut explained: "It goes beyond physical. [...] I no longer felt my body, but I remained in a sort of daze. I pushed my limits very far and I even think that I could go further. We think we have limits but  if we had to go until 200-200, I was ready to draw energy from those around me.”

In a press conference after the match, Isner said: "When I left the court, I really thought it was a dream. I was in complete delirium. I didn't think this type of match was possible This is something that Nic and I will share forever. I don't think I said five words to this guy before our match. Now when I see him at other tournaments, we can always share this. ."

It would only take one year for the pair to face off again in the first round of Wimbledon 2011.

Once again, it was John Isner who won with a score of 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 7-6 (8/6), after 2 hours 03 minutes of play.

In 2018, again at Wimbledon, Isner completed a new marathon against Kevin Anderson after 6:36 hours of play and 26 to 24 in the last set. After the match, he proposed "a tie-break at 12-12" in the 5th set to avoid this kind of marathon. The following year, this rule was introduced at Wimbledon. Weirdly, the Mahut-Isner match had nothing to do with it!

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