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

Thank God it's over.

 

Whaaaaaaaa?

I like me some Hannah Storm.

 

With apologies to Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Obviously this is a spoof of "Karn Evil 9 First Impression Part 2"

Welcome back my friends to the match that never ends
We're so glad you could attend
Come inside! Come inside!
There upon the grass is a real tennis net
Be sure to place your bet
Come along! Come along!

Come inside, the match is gonna start
Guaranteed to blow your head apart
Rest assured, you'll get your money's worth
The longest match for tennis here on Earth
You've gotta see the show, it's a dynamo!
You've gotta see the show or heads will roll!

Right before your eyes it's exhaustion by the by
And they laugh until they cry, then they die then they die
Come inside the match is gonna start
Guaranteed to blow your racket out

You gotta see the show
It's a dynamo
You gotta see the show
It's rock and roll

Soon the chair ump is gonna call the match
'Tis only shadows that he sees
What a scene! What a scene!
Next day comes we'll resume from yesterday
At two sets a piece
Still a match, still a match!
See the show!

We're back here once again at the match that never ends
Two hundred aces and 12 hours
Get your rest, get your rest
We would like it to be known the match that you have seen
Was history, was history.
Come and see the match! Come and see the match! Come and see the match!
See the match!

 

This would have been so much better if they had lights and could have let them go all night until someone won.

 

Then it would've been over Tuesday night, and this likely wouldn't have happened.

 

That's men's tennis on grass for you. Not exactly compelling.

Bet here is that the Grand Slam Council will get together and, starting next year (it's a non-issue at the US Open, anyway) decide that there will be a certain point (maybe 12-all) when a fifth set must be decided in a tiebreak. No one could have ever forseen this.

 

Good thing there weren't managers in the dugout keeping track of pitch counts.

Snark out of the way, I'm really wondering how much difference there is in stress on the arm between a pitch and a first serve. Because each of those guys had to be over 300 just in the last set, and that's being conservative.

Each guy served 69 games. Minimum number of serves per game is four. Average was probably close to 6 or 7 (and even that might be conservative). So 6 X 69 is 414. 7 X 69 is 483.

And that doesn't even take into account second serves and ground strokes --- or the first four sets.

Kind of makes baseball pitchers look like wimps, doesn't it?

 

If you figure the max of 12 games per set, then this thing went 10.5 sets over the normal five. Imagine a 10-overtime NHL playoff game and that's what this was.

If you consider it in terms of NBA overtimes -- a five-minute period compared to 12-minute quarters -- it was the equivalent of a 25-overtime game.

Baseball? I dunno, two innings per set, maybe? Which would be about a 30-inning game. So maybe, just maybe, the Pawtucket-Rochester game was longer in terms of percentage of a normal game. But it's got to be about the only comparison anywhere in sports history, doesn't it?

 

Who wants to take Isner in his next match (tomorrow)?

 

I'll bet he's praying for rain.