Another Wimbledon day and another sleepless night for me in Sydney, as France’s Lucas Pouille beat our Bernard Tomic 10-8 in the fifth set, while Slovakia’s bubbly Dominika Cibulkova defeated third-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwańska 9-7 in the fifth set.
These were not exactly marathons as those featured in Part 1, nor to be described below today.
Before tie-breakers were introduced in 1970s, in all sets apart from the final set, epic matches were more common.
One to remember was a singles match between Roger Taylor (Great Britain) and Wieslaw Gasiorek (Poland). In a King’s Cup tie at Warsaw, Poland, on November 5 1966, Taylor won 27-29, 31-29, 6-4 after four and half hours and 126 games.
At the US Indoor Championships at Salisbury, Maryland, on February 16, 1968, Mark Cox and Bobby Wilson (GB) defeated Charles Pasarell and Bob Holmberg (USA) 26-24, 17-19, 30-28, a total of 144 games over six hours and 23 minutes!
In a Davis Cup doubles, 95 games were played in the quarter-final in Birmingham, UK, in 1969. Wilhelm Bungert and Christian Kuhnke (Germany) beat Mark Cox and Peter Curtis (GB) 10-8, 17-19, 13-11, 3-6, 6-2.
Closer to home, the Greater Pacific Championships at Manly, in December, 1974 saw weary rivals Trevor Sargent and Vic Eke struggled for four and a half hours before Sargent took the final set 27-25. This set had to be halted at 14-all due to failing light, and was continued the next day.
“After this match, Sargent went off to sleep on Manly Beach and Eke composed himself for a doubles match that was to follow,” wrote Phillip Christensen in next day’s Sun-Herald.
The longest rally on record? According to British sports journalist Lance Tingay, that was played on November 13, 1977, between two 11-year-old girls, Cari Hagey and Collette Kavanagh from La Jolla, California in the Anaheim Junior Championships.
The opening point of the second set lasted 51 and a half minutes! It was estimated that the ball crossed the net 1030 times. The second set of 6-4 lasted three hours and 35 minutes. Crikey!
One of the most arduous matches at Wimbledon was between Jaroslav Drobny (Czechoslovakia) and Budge Patty (USA) on June 25, 1953. Tingay described the epic in Match Point: “It was a clash of artists with Drobny the worker in oils against Patty, the more delicate water colourist.”
The 22nd game of the final set was the 93rd of the match, as Drobny won 8-6, 16-18, 3-6, 8-6, 12-10. Drobny had won 47 games to Patty’s 46, although he won three fewer points than the loser, 301 to 304.
Both players all but dropped with exhaustion. So did the 15,000 spectators, their nerves shattered, their necks cricked. The Wimbledon Committee presented a gold case to both players in recognition of their indefatigable performance.
Drobny and Patty were engaged in another duel, at the 1955 Lyons Indoor final, in France. They played 100 games for almost four hours, and the result was inconclusive at 21-19, 8-10, 21-all. The title was shared.
Patty and John Isner could well be titled the ‘Emperors of tennis marathons’. With Tony Trabert (USA) as his partner, Patty defeated Australia’s legendary Frank Sedgman and Ken McGregor 6-4, 31-29, 7-9, 6-2 in the Wimbledon doubles of 1950. That means 94 games.
This Wimbledon record was lowered in 1966 when Eugene Scott (USA) and Nikki Pilic (Yugoslavia) brushed past Cliff Richey (USA) and Torben Ulrich (Denmark) after 98 games (19-21, 12-10, 6-4, 4-6, 9-7) in the first round of doubles.
One classic clash was between the ageless and legendary Pancho Gonzales and Charles Pasarell – 16 years his junior – in the first round of Wimbledon 1969. Commencing on June 24 – 16 years, almost to the day, after the fabulous Drobny-Patty clash – Tennis 1970 wrote: “The first set lasted 46 games and Pasarell won it 24-22. Already the two had equalled the longest set in singles in Wimbledon.
“It was nearly dusk and electric lights on the scoreboard stood out brightly in the gloom.”
The light was fading fast and Gonzales, 41, pleaded that the match be stopped for the night. But the referee disagreed. Gonzales was furious and gave vent to his emotions. Ultimately he had his wish, but by then Pasarell had won the second set 6-1 to lead 2-0.
Gonzales stormed off the court angrily amid derisive boos.
The next day witnessed tennis at its magnificent best. In a sensational comeback, Gonzales took the third set 16-14 and the fourth 6-3 to make it 2-all.
The decisive final set was a spine-chiller, and Gonzales triumphed 11-9 – but not before he had served seven match points in a fantastic display of guts and glory.
The unforgettable marathon had lasted five hours and 12 minutes, spanning 112 games – the most in any Wimbledon event before the Isner-Mahut classic 70-68 set of 2010.
Roarers, have I missed any others? Well, this post can be dubbed a marathon!
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Ted Kemp,. I referred to Lawn Tennis (1961) by CM Jones. He writes, "The longest recorded set in tennis occurred in May 1949 in Los Angeles when Ted Schroeder and Bob Falkenberg beat Pancho Gonzales and Hugh Stewart 36-34, 3-6, 4-6, 19-17, 6-4 in 4 hours and 45 minutes play. This total of 135 games is also the longest match on record." Of course, this has been bettered now.
Kersi Meher-Homji
Guest
Ted Kemp, It's an honour to get a positive comment from you, the person who played Tom Brown and other well-known players. I'll check on Bob Holmberg / Bob Falkenberg. I referred to so many books and it may take me some time to check. Hope you are keeping well and still playing.
mds1970
Roar Guru
The Isner v Mahut match had tie-breaks in the 3rd & 4th sets; with no breaks of serve. Imagine if they'd been played to advantage as well..... But to go to your question - No, I don't think the rules should be changed to have tie-breaks in the last set. These matches that are being reminisced about are special and memorable because they are unusual.
ted kemp
Guest
Informative as always, Kersi. I hear the W committee is thinking of going to a tiebrake when the score in the fifth is 12 or 14 all. BTW, I think that's Bob Falkenberg you're referring to. Bob had the biggest serve of anybody and used it to win the singles title in '48 beating John Bromwich, the ultimate soft baller. But The Brom won the doubles with Sedgeman, and the mixed with Louis Brough that year. B&S beat Tom Brown and Gardner Malloy. I rallied a few times with Tom Brown in San Fran and every shot he hit, even the volleys, landed one inch inside the baseline. Hard to beat a player with groundies that good and not many did.