To appreciate last year’s grueling match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut, consider this historical perspective.
The numbers border on the absurd. 183 games. 11 hours, 5 minutes of play stretched over three consecutive days. An incomprehensible score line of 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68. Not only was last year’s John Isner-Nicolas Mahut Wimbledon first-round match the longest in tennis history—measured by both time and number of games—but it blew away the previous record. That distinction belonged to a 2004 French Open first-rounder in which Fabrice Santoro defeated countryman Arnaud Clement 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 3-6, 16-14 in a paltry 6 hours, 33 minutes. The Isner-Mahut match bested it by 272 minutes; nearly 70 percent more court time.
To give you an idea of scale, here’s what it would take for each of the following sports to surpass the previous duration record by the same percentage that Isner-Mahut surpassed Santoro-Clement:
Soccer
Current NCAA Record: UCLA goes into an 8th overtime (166:05) to defeat American University 1-0 in the 1985 NCAA men’s championship game.
Isner-Mahut Equivalent: More than 20 overtimes
With 168 straight service holds and a fifth set alone lasting 90 minutes longer than the previous longest entire match ever, Isner-Mahut was Groundhog Day. The same could’ve been said of the NCAA soccer final played in Seattle’s Kingdome. After nearly three hours of scoreless play, Bruin sophomore defender Andy Burke scored inside the far post from about 15 yards away for his only goal of the entire season.
Basketball
Current NCAA Record: Cincinnati’s 75-73 seven-overtime win over Bradley in 1981.
Isner-Mahut Equivalent: 18 overtimes
With 0:04 left, Cincinnati’s Bobby Austin tied the score at 61-61 to send the game into extra sessions. Without a shot clock, the OTs were marred by stretches of scoreless play—a single basket scored by the Bearcats in the seventh overtime proved to be the difference. In the 2009 Big East quarterfinals at Madison Square Garden, Syracuse and Connecticut played six overtimes, after which Syracuse guard Jonny Flynn said, “I can’t even feel my legs right now.”
Baseball
Current MLB Record: Chicago White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-6 in 25 innings on May 8, 1984.
Isner-Mahut Equivalent: 42 innings
Harold Baines’ homer in the bottom of the 25th ended the longest MLB game (8 hours, 6 minutes) to be played to conclusion. (In 1974, the St. Louis Cardinals edged the New York Mets 4-3 in 25 innings, with an hour less of game time.) The Brewers held a 3-1 lead in the ninth, but future Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers couldn’t make it stand. Due to league curfew rules, the game was called after 17 innings and completed the next day. In the 21st inning the Brewers scored three runs, which the White Sox matched. Four innings later, Baines provided the mercy shot.
Boxing
Current Record: Andy Bowen draws with Jack Burke after 110 rounds on April 6, 1893. The fight lasts 7 hours, 19 minutes.
Isner-Mahut Equivalent: 186 rounds
Modern boxing rules—and a distaste for barbarism—make this a record that will never be challenged. But in the early days of the sweet science there were no judges’ scorecards; it was either a knockout, or no mas. Battling for the lightweight title, Bowen and Burke traded so many punches at the Olympic Club in New Orleans that the latter supposedly broke all the bones in both of his hands. Referee John Duffy declared “no contest” when both fighters were too woozy to start the 111th round. He suggested they split the purse of $2,500.
Golf
Current PGA Record: Billy Burke defeats George Von Elm in a 72-hole playoff to win the 1931 U.S. Open Golf Championship.
Isner-Mahut Equivalent: 244 holes (about 13 rounds)
In 1931, if there was a tie at the end of golf ’s U.S. Open, competitors would play a 36-hole playoff the following day. At the Iverness Club in Toledo, OH, Burke and Von Elm stood tied at 282 strokes. On the 36th hole of the playoff, Von Elm sank a birdie to match Burke’s 7-over 149 and force another 36 holes, during which Burke bested Von Elm by one stroke. Burke, a chain-smoker, allegedly smoked 32 cigars during the tournament.
Hockey
Current NHL Record: Detroit Red Wings need until 16:30 into the sixth overtime to defeat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 on March 24, 1936.
Isner-Mahut Equivalent: About two minutes shy of 10 full overtimes
After scoreless regulation, the Wings and Maroons needed nearly two more hours of ice time before Detroit’s Mud Bruneteau netted the winning goal. In 2000, a five-OT playoff game (152:01) between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins chased the record. Said Philly’s Keith Primeau, “I’m surprised it was [only] the third-longest game. It felt like an eternity.”