John Isner says that when he and Nicolas Mahut heard they would play each other again at Wimbledon, they high-fived in the locker room. Last year, the two played the longest match in history, with Isner winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68 in a first-round match that lasted 11 hours and five minutes, over three days.
Isner told a small group of reporters that he first heard about the rematch on the radio in the apartment he's renting in London. "I was happy that I avoided Rafa [Nadal] and [Andy] Murray and [Novak] Djokovic, but I just couldn’t avoid Nic," the unseeded Isner said. "My first thought was the draw is rigged, but it’s obviously not as it’s a complete coincidence. We both didn’t think that it was ever going to happen, and it did, and now we have to duke it out again."
The American has tried to put the historic contest behind him but is now once again the focus of tremendous media attention. The two will meet Tuesday on an undetermined court, but it’s is not likely to be Court 18, where they played last year’s match. Court 18 is a show court, but is a smaller one and won’t be able to meet the seating demand that is likely to come from the much-publicized re-match.
"Now that I have him again it’s almost impossible to put last year’s match behind me,” Isner said. "I don’t know if the tennis gods had it out for us, but they want us to meet again."