Longest Grand Slam Finals in History

Most of us who follow the sport frequently know that a typical three-set match takes about an hour and a half (30-40 minutes per set). Of course, when a top seed faces up against a newcomer, the match may be over quickly.

On the other hand, if both players are at a high level, the match is likely to last longer, and if it’s a major tournament like Wimbledon, we might even be forced to watch the entire thing through to the end of a fifth set.

Longest Grand Slam Finals in History

Contents

The Longest Tennis Match in Wimbledon History

Place 24 in the world Many people, especially in the United Kingdom and those looking for information like this, know John Isner best for his incredible match against Nicolas Mahut on Court 18 at Wimbledon in 2010.

Over the course of 11 hours and five minutes, Isner, then ranked 10, prevailed 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68 in a mind-bogglingly long fifth set.

The 665-minute win occurred over the course of three days, beginning on 22 June and ending on 24 June, with play being halted twice due to a shortage of natural light.

The crowd of watchers, who had to be constantly refilled with strawberries and cream, was entertained and excited by the large number of serves. Each player served more than 100 aces, and the match featured 168 straight holds of service.

As the length of the match was completely unexpected, the electronic scoreboard cut out at 47-47 in the fifth set (which is very understandable).

In the 138th game, the American eventually broke Mahut’s serve and advanced to the second round of the famous championship. It took a little longer than the typical match I indicated earlier to complete the fifth set alone (eight hours and eleven minutes).

The Wimbledon Match Lengths are too Long, But Why?

The men’s finals at each of the four Grand Slam tournaments are best of five sets. Wimbledon is unique in that it is played on grass rather than hard courts.

The Australian Open and the United States Open are both played on hard courts, whereas only the French Open is played on clay. Grass courts are ideal for powerful servers, but the slowness of clay courts can result in lengthier rallies.

Both players were more effective from the service line than they were from the return box, and this was a major factor in the record-setting length of the fifth set. As they wore out, they had a much harder time breaking the opponent’s serve. To date, this is the longest match played at a Grand Slam event.

Grand Slam Final

Nadal played in the longest Grand Slam final ever played in Australia. Nadal and Djokovic battled it out in the men’s singles final of the 2012 Australian Open.

An unforgettable tennis match, played on January 29, 2012, exactly 10 years and one day before this final, is widely considered to be among the greatest of all time.