After displaying that bit of wizardry, the 32-year-old showed he still had something left in his bag of tricks a round later.
Facing John Isner, an old foe from college, Anderson took the first set in a tiebreak before dropping the next two by the same measure. He then leveled the encounter by winning the fourth and forcing a decider—which would become something like a match of its own.
As part of the longest match in Wimbledon history, Isner was no stranger to playing a fifth set on grass. The two were unable to make any headway on the other’s serve, and with no final-set tiebreak in place, 6-all soon became 12-all, then 18-all …
Finally, at 24-all with Isner serving, Anderson came up with the biggest, most unlikely, shot of his career.