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12/29/10 3:16 PM | Ricky Dimon
Tennistalk wraps up its Top 10 matches of 2010 with the final two. The never-ending Wimbledon epic delivered by John Isner and Nicolas Mahut beats out the rip-roaring World Tour Finals semi between Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
2. Rafael Nadal d. Andy Murray 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(6) - World Tour Finals semifinals
At the end of a hallmark year for Nadal and an up-and-down campaign for Murray, two of the Top 4 players in the world saved some of their best for last. This season's final tournament, the World Tour Finals in London, saw Nadal and Murray stage a semifinal showdown that will not soon be forgotten. They played for three hours and 12 minutes over just three sets--on pace for at least five hours and 20 minutes had this been a three-out-of-five-set match that went the distance. They combined for 85 winners (three more winners than errors), an especially impressive number given that Nadal and Murray are two of the best defenders in tennis, against whom outright winners are a rarity.
Just how close was it? Murray actually earned more service breaks (three to one) and more points (114 to 109), and still came out on the losing end. The Scot lost a tough first-set tiebreaker when Nadal came up with a pair of winners at 5-5 and 6-5. Despite the disappointment, Murray recovered to produce arguably his best tennis of the year in set two. He seized the first break of the match at 3-3 and struck again for 5-3 by pulverizing return after return. Both men delivered their best stuff with their backs against the wall in the third. Murray broke at 4-5 to stay in the match, then Nadal stormed back from a 4-1 deficit in the decisive 'breaker, three times being two points from defeat. In appropriate fashion, the top-ranked Spaniard put an exclamation point on the thriller with a crushing inside-out forehand on match point at 7-6. Nadal called it a "fantastic" match and an "amazing" victory. Murray, even in defeat, perhaps even took it one step further. Said Murray: "Today is the reason why I play tennis."
1. John Isner d. Nicolas Mahut 6-3, 4-6, 6-7(6), 7-6(3), 70-68 - Wimbledon first round
When asked how he would describe his legendary first-round Wimbledon encounter against Isner, Mahut quipped, "Do you have time?" Well, no, we don't. Nor do we have time (or enough space) to recap it. Everyone knows what happened, so let's just take a look back on some of the records and quotes from the 2010 Match of the Year and the longest--and definitely most shocking, improbable, and mind-bending--match in tennis history.
Isner and Mahut set records for the longest match (11 hours and five minutes), the longest set (eight hours and 11 minutes--longer than the previous longest match), most aces (216), most aces by one player (Isner: 113), and consecutive service games held (168), among many, many other feats that one can only assume are unbreakable.
Mahut won 24 more points than Isner (502 to 478). The Frenchman struck 244 winners and a mere 39 unforced errors while Isner fired 246 winners to just 52 errors. Mahut converted one break point at 0-40 for a 2-0 lead in the second set and did not have another chance until 15-40 and 30-40 at 50-50 in the fifth. Isner converted two of 14 break-point opportunities; first at 4-4, ad-out in the first set and again on the final point of the match; with a backhand pass at 68-69, 30-40. The match lasted three days and was suspended twice due to darkness, including at 59-59 in the fifth.
"Amazing match. Just congratulate both of players because they did something amazing. They make history." –- Rafael Nadal
"I love this. This is unheard of in our game. I have almost no words anymore. It was too much." -– Roger Federer
"We played the greatest match ever in the greatest place to play tennis." –- Nicolas Mahut
"Nothing like this will ever happen again. Ever." –- John Isner
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