Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner wins 70-68 in 5th*

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut in crazy 5th set*

Isner didn't want to stop, he basically said as much in the post-match TV interview when he said something like "We couldn't agree on whether or not to keep playing." We know Mahut wanted to stop because he asked to, but I don't think Isner did since he was serving.

I like the no-tiebreaker system for the fifth set (the U.S. Open is the only slam that doesn't have it) but I think there comes a point where you have to say enough is enough. I'd put a tiebreaker in place at 15-all or something like that, which would still allow for the dramatics of a match going way past 6-all.

 

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut in crazy 5th set*

They don't have a choice. It's in the contract. Black and white.

 

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut in crazy 5th set*

It'll end after one of the players gets distracted by Pam Shriver from the broadcast booth

 

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut in crazy 5th set*

Naw, OJ was far more dramatic. That match was like watching grass die. Serve. Serve. Serve. Serve.

So many sets on grass are decided by one break of serve. This darn thing may never end. They NEED a tiebreaker. Fine to push it back a little. 10-all 12-all. Whatever. But not 59-all!!

 

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut in crazy 5th set*

Aw, they get a break. Don't have to be on first. Start at 3:30 p.m. London time (10:30 am ET), on whenever the previous match is finished.

 

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut 59-59 in 5th, suspended*

It will go two games... epics like this usually do. The next day is quick and merciful. Ask anyone who saw the Minnetonka-Bloomington Jefferson four OT hockey quarterfinal... three periods, three OTs... the MSHSL decides not to send the teams out for a fourth OT -- delays the game until the next morning. Minnetonka, which had dominated the three OT's, is pissed. Jefferson scores in the first two minutes of the fourth OT the next day.

 

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut 59-59 in 5th, suspended*

Did any of you ever read The Long Walk by Stephen King (Richard Bachman)?

This match reminds me of that story, which is about a walking contest in which the last man alive wins.

 

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut 59-59 in 5th, suspended*

If neither player is good enough to break serve, they deserve what they get. Even if it is boring to watch. But arbitrarily saying there ought to be an end point is ridiculous. What, multiple overtimes or extra inning are OK too, but only X number of overtimes or innings?

 

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut 59-59 in 5th, suspended*

Yeah, but this <i>was</i> the second day. This is like Minnetonka and Jefferson coming back the next morning, playing seven more OTs and then having to come back again.

 

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut 59-59 in 5th, suspended*

I loved that story. I like to walk run, so I think about it every once in a while.

 

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut 59-59 in 5th, suspended*


Paddy Power are offering odds of 5/6 that John Isner and Nicolas Mahut keep their Wimbledon marathon clash going for at least 20 more games.

The pair took to court 18 four hours before England took the pitch against Slovenia and yet came off four hours after with the final set still tied at 59-59.

That broke all previous records and Paddy Power don’t think they’ll be much quicker tomorrow, offering odds of 5/6 that they play 20 or more games before we see a winner.

Both players are rated 5/6 to triumph and it's even 10/1 they play another 50 games on Thursday.
http://www.bettingpro.com/category/Tennis/John-Isner-v-Nicolas-Mahut-bets-continues-2010062300195/

 

Re: Wimbledon Running Thread. *Updated--Isner-Mahut 59-59 in 5th, suspended*

I wish they had taken the bathroom break earlier because even something like that I think could have really changed things. If someone had needed a trainer or just any sort of extended break to throw off the rhythm of the match, I think it would have ended.

These guys aren't 100 percent even tennis players, no matter what happened today, and you could throw these same two out on the court for a match 100 times in the next six months and never get anything like this again. They got into a groove, with their serves and to a large extent mentally, and after awhile neither had the energy to actually go out and change something enough to break out of that groove and win it. Tomorrow, they'll be out of the rut and one of them will put it away quickly.

I think. I hope it goes another 120 games because that would be awesome.