Isner wins rematch of marathon men... quicklyTuesday, 21 June 2011
by Alix Ramsay
In the end, it was not exactly a damp squib but it was certainly not the firework that everyone was hoping for. John Isner, as expected, beat Nicolas Mahut 7-6(4), 6-2, 7-6(6) to reach the second round just as he did last year. The only difference is that this time he took a good nine hours and two minutes less to achieve the same result.
Last year's marathon match (Isner won that one 70-68 in the fifth set, if you remember) not only smashed every record in the book, it also made headlines around the world. People who knew nothing of tennis marvelled at these two blokes who had been thwacking tennis balls at each other for three days and who had still managed to leave the court unaided. Having to do it all over again this year just seemed unfair.
The odds on their being drawn again were, depending on your grasp of mathematics, one in 142.5, or just absolutely flipping ridiculous. But whatever the chances of history repeating itself, neither man jumped for joy when his name was pulled from the hat and slotted into the draw. Last year had been a part of history; last year had been the match of a lifetime; last year had been exhausting to win and heartbreaking to lose - to come back and do it again was simply an anti-climax. Worse, it spoiled the memory of those three days and those 183 games.
The experience of those 11 hours and five minutes spent locked in battle had forged a unique friendship between the two combatants. They had spent all that time trying to kick the other off the court and yet once it was over, they could never be parted. They shared something special on Court 18 last year, something that no two players had ever experienced before or were ever likely to experience again - that meant an awful lot.
"John and me, we became very close friends, which is the most important thing for me," Mahut said. "And I hope this year he's going to go through the second week."
As soon as the draw was made, Isner texted his pal. The message was short and to the point. It was an emoticon, one of those smiley faces - only this one had a rueful smile. Isner was the favourite going into the match but he relished the idea of beating Mahut again almost as much as he relished doing his tax returns. Mahut, on the other hand, just fretted about the match for the four days between the draw and the showdown on court.
"I tried to stay focused during the last three days about how I wanted to be on the court practising and everything," Mahut said sadly. "And during the match, that was not the same. Much more difficult for me to play. If you want to talk about the atmosphere, it was not as huge as we was waiting for. But it's difficult to talk after losing that match."
From being a struggling player with a history of injuries and a ranking locked in a downward spiral, Mahut became a celebrity after last year's encounter. He wrote a book about the match, he appeared on TV and radio - he was a star. A first round loser, but a star nonetheless. The memories of the match will never fade and, it seems, the scars of the defeat will never heal.
"At first I was really disappointed, but I'm still disappointed," Mahut said. "But what we did last year, it's much more than a tennis match, what we show on the court. I'm very proud of it. But this is from last year. Today I just lost the match in three sets. It's a different story."
As is the way of things around Wimbledon time, everyone had got rather over-excited about the whole affair. What everyone had forgotten was that Isner was so exhausted after last year's match that he lost swiftly and quietly to Thiemo de Bakker in the next round. He failed to serve a single ace and he could only win five games. It was all over in 74 minutes.
No matter, the good and the brave made their way to Court 3 and settled in for what they hoped might be another slice of Wimbledon history. Although there was little evidence of sleeping bags or tents, many had brought sandwiches and a flask of tea - it was highly unlikely that lightning could strike twice and this year's rerun could match last year's epic but, still, it was better to be safe than sorry.
On the same theme, the queues for the bathrooms were considerably longer than usual before the start of Isner-Mahut II, The Sequel. Last year, many a punter made the schoolboy error of failing to avail themselves of the facilities before they nipped into Court 18 "just to see the end of this match... I won't be long". That was a painful lesson to learn.
They need not have worried: this time there were only 16 aces compared with last year's 215, only 201 points played compared with the record breaking 980 and there was only ever going to be one winner - John Isner. Just like last year.
http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/news/match_reports/2011-06-21/201106211308656481158.html
