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.
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