Until 2010, the record for longest match in professional tennis history was a first round match between Frenchmen Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clément at the French Open in 2004; Santoro eventually won 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 6-3, 16-14 after six hours and 33 minutes. However, that record was beaten, hands down, by another first round match, between American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahuf at the Wimbledon Championships in 2010.
Played over three days on Court 18, the match lasted eleven hours and five minutes in total, with Isner eventually winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68, making it the longest match both in terms of elapsed time and games played. In fact, the final set alone lasted eight hours and eleven minutes or, in other words, one hour and 38 minutes longer than the Santoro/Clément match. On the third day, played resumed in the fifth set at 59-59, to the amusement of the umpire and spectators, and continued until Isner broke serve in the 138th game to complete a remarkable victory. Both players were presented with crystal glasses and a commemorative plaque was erected courtside to mark their achievement.
In 2018, Isner was also involved in the second longest match in professional history, again at the Wimbledon Championships, where he eventually lost 6-7. 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 24-26 to South African Kevin Anderson in a men’s singles sem-final lasting six hours and 35 minutes. The following October, the All England Lawn Tennis Club announced that, from 2019, tie-breaks would be played at 12-12 in the final set to prevent such marathon matches.
According to Guinness World Records, the fastest serve of a tennis ball was recorded by former Australian professional Samuel Groth during a second-round match at the Busan Open Challenger Tennis in Busan, South Korea on May 9, 2012. Against Belarusian Uladzimir Ignatik, Groth sent down an ace clocked at 163.4 mph, thereby obliterating the previous record, 156 mph, set by Croatian Ivo Karlovic during a doubles match against Germany in the first round of the Davis Cup World Group in Zagreb on March 5, 2011. For the record, Groth also registered serves measured at 158.9 mph and 157.5 mph, but still lost the match.
Serving speed is measured, immediately after the ball has left the racket, by speed guns positioned behind the baseline at either end of the court. Each gun emits a stream of radar pulses, some of which are reflected by the ball back to the gun, where the difference between their frequency and those of the original pulses is translated into the speed of the ball, in miles per hour (mph). Not all speed guns are created equal, so the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) does not formally recognise speeds recorded at Challenger Tour events.
Thus, as far as the ATP is concerned, the fastest serve of a tennis ball, 157.2 mph, was recorded by American John Isner against Australian Bernard Tomic during a singles match in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup World Group in Melbourne on March 6, 2016. Isner also has the distinction of serving the most aces in the history of the ATP Tour, 14,177 at the time of writing, and having played in, and won, the longest tennis match of all time; after 11 hours and 5 minutes, he finally defeated Frenchman Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the final set of their first-round match in the men’s singles at Wimbledon in 2010.
Having already become the first British man since Fred Perry, in 1936, to win a Grand Slam final, with victory in the 2012 US Open, Andy Murray made even bigger headlines the following year by becoming the first British man since Perry to win the men’s singles at the Wimbledon Championships. Murray, 26, did so in some style, too, winning 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in three hours and 10 minutes.
Fresh from a straight-sets victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final of Aegon Championships at The Queen’s Club, in West Kensington, second-seeded Murray was largely untroubled in the early rounds of the Wimbledon Championships. However, having progressed to the quarter-final stages without dropping a set, he had to recover from two sets down against the unseeded Fernando Verdasco and, again, from a set down against twenty-fourth seed Jerzy Janowicz to set up a clash with number one seed Novak Djokovic in the final.
Played in blazing sunshine and temperatures approaching 50ºC, the final was a high-octane, albeit uncharacteristically erratic, affair, strewn win unforced errors, particularly on the part of Djokovic. Murray took a two-set lead, courtesy of a love service game, and broke serve to lead 2-0 in the third set, before Djokovic reeled off four games in a row to lead 4-2. Murray led again, and served for the match, at 5-4, but squandered three Championship points before finally converting a fourth. Having finally laid the ghost of Fred Perry to rest, Murray said afterwards, ‘It was an unbelievably tough match, so many long games.’
NOVAK DJOKOVIC is the hot favourite to make it Australia Open No.10 in January, despite the tennis world still being unaware whether the Serb will actually be allowed to participate in the competition.
The 34-year-old is the most successful player in the history of the event, his haul of championship successes ahead of Roger Federer and Aussie tennis legend Roy Emerson, both winning six titles. However, the insistence that no unvaccinated players will be allowed to compete has thrown the defending champion’s presence into doubt.
Djokovic has been very guarded about whether he has had the jab or not, and had highlighted his belief in people being allowed the ‘freedom of choice’. However, if he wants to play at Melbourne Park then he will have to reveal his medical status, with no-one allowed entry unless they’ve been vaccinated against Covid 19.
With the chance to move ahead of both Federer and Nadal on to 21 grand slam titles, reaching double figures in Aussie Open wins in the process, there is a clear attraction to play, especially with Federer still injured and Nadal on the comeback trail after a foot injury ruled him out of the US Open. If Nadal comes through a three-day exhibition event in Abu Dhabi this month unscathed, he is likely to target a warm-up tournament in Australia before heading to Melbourne.
Bookies have decided that if Djokovic is there then he is the player to beat, installing him as 6/4 favourite – bet £6 on the Serb and get £10 back if he wins with bet365 current welcome bonus in a free bet deal. Daniil Medvedev, who beat Djokovic in the US Open Final in September, is second favourite at 11/4, with Alex Zverev at 11/2.
The value may be further down the betting with former champion Nadal at 14/1, and up and coming Canadian star Felix Auger Aliassime available at 40/1 – Aliassime was beaten by Medvedev in the semi-final at Flushing Meadows.
At even longer odds you can get 80/1 on Andy Murray to defy his metal hip and claim a first Australian Open title; the Scot has lost five finals at Melbourne, four of those to Djokovic.
The focus, however, is on world No.1 Djokovic, and the Aussies clearly want the defending champion to line up come January, with tournament director Craig Tiley talking up the chance of the Serb making history.
“I know he wants to be here, he’d like nothing more,” said Tiley. “He doesn’t want to start the year without the opportunity to win all four Grand Slams – that’s enough motivation. So, the question is going to be: where is he at with his vaccination status?
“At the end of the day, you want to give everyone the best possible chance to get in, and to do it within the parameters which we can.”
And Tiley admitted: “Time is running out, and obviously you can get one vaccination – the Johnson & Johnson shot – but if you need a double vaccination, that window between the two vaccines is really closing.”
If Djokovic doesn’t make the event, and at present that appears a very strong possibility, then the smart money will be on either Medvedev or Zverev to claim a first Australian Open.
Medvedev will be looking to make it back-to-back slams after lifting the US Open title in September, and the world No.2 is seen as heir apparent to Djokovic at Melbourne. But he was beaten by Zverev in the recent ATP Finals event – the German’s first win over the Russian in two years – and the German will go into the Australian Open full of confidence.
Zverev, 24, has won six titles this year and an Olympics gold, but the drawback for the 24-year-old is that he is yet to win a grand slam. His best result is a beaten finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2020, going down in five sets to Dominic Thiem.