Kevin Anderson Wins a Six and a Half Hour Marathon Match That Included a 50 Game 5th Set To Get To The Wimbledon Finals
That was ridiculous. I watched this match from start to finish, starting a little after 8:00 AM and I feel exhausted. Six hours and 35 minutes. 102 aces. A 50 game 5th set. I told myself when it was 5-5 in the fifth that I would wait until it was over before I go grab lunch. Well, that was hours ago and I still have an empty stomach. Both of these guys are tall beasts with giant serves. They don’t return very well (Anderson better than Isner) and therefore get into a lot of tiebreaks as a result. Isner led this one two sets to one after winning a few tiebreaks, but Anderson kept on trucking, broke Izzy in the 4th and grinded out that fifth set forever until Isner got tired.
Obviously Isner has been here before back in 2010 when he and Nicolas Mahut took their match for three fucking days long, lasting a total of 11 hours and five minutes on the court, before Isner broke and won the match 70-68 in the fifth. This time it didn’t go Isner’s way as his serve really broke down late, and understandably so. Usually his first serve is cooking upwards of 130 mph and is untouchable, but by the 46th game in the set it was down to 119 mph and very attackable for Anderson.
The point of the match came in the 49th game of the set when Anderson fell down mid-point. He was somehow able to get back up and hit the ball with his opposite hand to stay in the point. He went on to win the point and go up love 30 on Isner, and a few points later broke to serve for the match. Insane.
I mean how do you even move your arms after that? Anderson just overcame Roger Federer after being down two sets to love, and now this shit? Dude’s legs and arms and everything are probably jello. The winner of Nadal and Djoker right now probably sleep walks in the finals.
Nadal and Djoker probably expected to get on the court around noon at the latest for their own semifinal match, but instead had to wait and wait and wait until it was over. Djokovic was playing with marbles trying to keep himself occupied.
They’re about to get started right now with the roof closed, to Djokovic’s favor, because it’s so late. There’s an 11:00 PM curfew so there’s a chance if this runs late that they have to resume this tomorrow morning. Tennis is such a weird obsession of mine, but I love this shit.