The longest recorded tennis match lasted 11 hours and five minutes — about 10 times longer than the average singles match. The contest was the Wimbledon 2010 first-round match between French player Nicolas Mahut and American John Isner, and it took three days to play.
More facts about tennis:
- The Isner-Mahut match was almost twice as long as most of the other record-setting tennis matches. The longest match in women's tennis was the Vicki Nelson-Jean Hepner match in 1984, which took six hours and 31 minutes to play — including 29 minutes for a single point. The longest doubles match, between Argentinians Lucas Arnold and David Nalbandian and Russians Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin, lasted six hours and 20 minutes.
- The shortest tennis matches on record last only a matter of minutes. The shortest win at the French Open took only 32 minutes — Steffi Graf beat Natasha Zvereva in the 1988 women's final. The shortest match at Wimbledon took only 37 minutes — William Renshaw defeated John Hartley in the 1881 men's final.
- Tennis match length can also be measured in terms of games. The Isner-Mahut match is the longest ever in terms of both time and games, with 183 games. The longest women's match in terms of games was a 1995 match between Chanda Rubin and Patricia Hy-Boulais match, which lasted 58 games.