Ultra Marathon Match

With all the attention on the World Cup in South Africa, there is actually another major sporting event that is going on at the same time. The Wimbledon Open 2010 is officially underway this week on the pristine grass courts in England.

And whist the usual favourites like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal take centre stage, there was an absolutely amazing match that took place at court 18. The match between Nicolas Mahut of France and John Isner has officially become the longest match ever in Wimbledon history and get this, it is still not over. Due to poor light conditions at the end of the match, it will resume again today. Here are the mind-boggling statistics that will not be seen ever again in Wimbledon history.

The match is currently tied at 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 59-59. That's not a typo but ya. For all you tennis noobs, the Wimbledon Men's Singles matches like any other grands slams are played over the best of 5 sets. There will be no tie-breaker in the final 5th set, meaning that the winner has to win by a margin of 2 games. Last year's Wimbledon final saw Federer edging Roddick with a scoreline of 16-14 in the final set. That is child's play in comparison to the 59-59 scoreline. If anything, it looks more like a basketball score.

The match is into its 10th hour! That's right, 10 whopping hours! The last set alone has lasted 6 hours and is still counting! To put this into perspective, the previous record of longest Wimbledon Men's match stood at 6h 33 min. The only break these players will get is a 1.5 min break at the end of every 2 games when they change end and a 2 min break at the end of each set. Other than that, they are constantly up and running, chasing, hitting and serving balls. But the players are not the only ones affected. The poor umpire's ass must be sore from sitting on the same chair for almost half a day. The linesmen and ballboys must be claiming for overtime pay. And the fans surely are getting their every penny's worth. So far, John Isner has served 98 aces and 218 winners while Nicolas Mahut has served 94 aces and 216 winners. These are just ridiculous numbers unheard of in the game.

I can only feel sorry for the loser of this match. To have played 10 hours of non-stop quality tennis and be knocked out only in the 2nd round will be the most bitter pill to swallow. Whatever the outcome though, these two players have surely cemented their names in tennis history. Respect to the max.