If you consider yourself a tennis fan, you probably know how amazing it is when tennis matches go the distance. If you have ever watched a close 5 set match, you know how exciting and nerve-wracking watching such matches can be. You can see players becoming more nervous, the crowd becoming more involved, and rallies becoming longer and more intense. The match becomes almost a show, and sometimes you wish that it could go on forever.
And yet, if you’re not a big fan of tennis, any tennis match will feel like it is going on forever. If you’re not interested, watching a little yellow ball bouncing from one side to the other can get quite tedious. I get it. Nonetheless, you might still find yourself respecting (and even admiring) tennis players who can push the limits of the human body by playing for hours and hours.
While a tennis match could technically go on forever, the average tennis match lasts between 1 and 2 hours for 3-set matches and a little more for 5-set matches. Eventually, players get tired and start making silly mistakes, which leads to the victory of one of them. Still, some players have been able to play matches in which no player wanted to give in, and the match ended up lasting an extraordinary amount of time.
5. John McEnroe vs Mats Wilander, 1982 Davis Cup - 6:22 hours
Third time's the charm. John McEnroe finally comes up on top this time at his longest match ever. During the 1982 Davis Cup match between the United States and Sweden, John McEnroe defeated Mats Wilander in 6 hours and 22 minutes, with a final score of 9-7,6-2,15-17,3-6,8-6. As you can imagine, this match happened before the tie-breaks were introduced in tennis matches.
This was one of the nerve wracking matches of all time since the overall tie was tied 2x2 in the quarterfinals. McEnroe and Wilander dueled like 2 gladiators until the end and McEnroe came out on top. The United States grabbed some momentum and ended up going all the way to the end, defeating France in the finals by 4x1 and winning the title.
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4. Fabrice Santoro vs Arnaud Clement, 2004 French Open - 6:33 hours
This tie happened at the French Open in 2004. Interestingly enough, the match was played between fellow Frenchmen Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement. The ' magician' Santoro came out on top defeating Clement by 6-4,6-3,6-7(5-7),3-6,16-14.
The match happened in the first round of the tournament and Santoro went on to win another 5-set match afterward before failing in the 3rd round. At the time, the duel became the longest tennis match ever played, a record that was held for 6 years. It is still, to this day, the longest match ever played in Roland Garros.
3. Kevin Anderson vs John Isner, 2018 Wimbledon - 6:36 hours
The most recent match to make the list happened in the semifinals of the 2018 edition of Wimbledon, between big servers Kevin Anderson and John Isner. The match lasted 6 hours and 36 minutes and ended with a win by the South African Anderson by 7-6(8-6),6-7(5-7),6-7(9-11),6-4,26-24. This is the longest Grand Slam semifinal ever played.
Interestingly both players played college tennis at the start of their careers. Anderson played for the University of Illinois, while Isner played for the University of Georgia. Anderson went on to the finals, losing to Novak Djokovic.
While this time Isner was not able to come out on top, he reigns as the winner of the longest tennis match ever.
2. Leonardo Mayer vs Joao Souza, 2015 Davis Cup - 6:43 hours
The second longest match of all time happened in a Davis Cup match between long time rivals Brazil and Argentina. In 2015 Argentina's Leonardo Mayer defeated Brazil's Joao Souza in 6 hours and 43 minutes, with a score of 7-6(7-4),7-6(7-5),5-7,5-7,15-13. This match is the longest match ever played on a clay court. It is also the longest Davis Cup singles match ever played.
The match was valid for the first round of the Davis Cup when Brazil was beating Argentina by 2x1. Mayer had 9 match points before he finally won the match. After his win, Federico Dellionis defeated Thomaz Bellucci giving Argentina the win. Argentina went all the way to the semi finals, losing to Belgium by 3x2.
1. John Isner vs Nicholas Mahut, 2010 Wimbledon - 11:05 hours
And finally, sitting at the #1 position as the longest tennis match ever is the legendary 2010 Wimbledon match between John Isner and Nicholas Mahut. The match, valid for the first round of the main draw, began on June 22,2010 on Court 18 of the All England Lawn Tennis Club. At the end of the fourth set, the match had to be stopped due to a lack of natural light. Play resumed the next day but once again they had to stop due to no natural light. Finally the match resumed and finished on June 24th, with Isner winning by a score of 6-4,3-6,6-7(7-9),7-6(7-3),70-68.
Yes 70 games to 68 games in the final set. The fifth set by itself lasted for 8 hours and 11 minutes, which would already beat the #2 match on this list. With a total of 183 games played,the whole match lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes, making it by far the longest tennis match ever played. Both players hit over 100 aces , which broke Karlovic's record.
