Anyone for Tennis?

[Ian Price]

59 - 59 in the fifth set. Outrageous! I imagine those guys are very, very tired indeed.

[dave_mc]

yeah, that was a good match.

i'm guessing (hoping?) they'll change the rules. I understand they don't want a tiebreaker in the deciding set, but setting a limit of, i dunno, 12-12 in the final set and allowing a tiebreak after that would mean for 99% of games there still wouldn't be a tiebreaker in the last set, but would stop daft matches like this one.

Don't get me wrong, that set was extremely enjoyable to watch, just i imagine it wasn't as much fun to play in, and either is going to be exhausted for the next round, nomatter who wins.

[choucas09]

I don't think they have to change the rules, it's not exactly a common occurance. I don't know which was more amazing Mahut's fitness or Isner's ability to keep making quality shot's when so obviously exhausted. Nice to witness a one off sporting event.

[dave_mc]

if it's not a common occurrence why not change the rules to make sure it never happens? i mean, how often does the score reach 12-12 in the final set? the rule would rarely be invoke, surely? :?

[Ian Price]

Yeah - they should keep it as is - makes sense to have tie breaks in the other sets but not the 5th. It's the penalty shoot out of Tennis and doesn't always reward the best player.

[blue]

they ended up 70-68 to isner.

amazing spectacle!  and they had a presentation for the players and umpire after the match.  poor Mahut was devestated :(

a thing i'm glad to have seen, the last set alone was 8 hours 11 minutes!  that's nearly two hours longer than the next longest match! 

on one hand, changing the rules would make sense as regards keeping the players fit to continue playing in the tounament and for matches drastically overrunning.  but on the other hand, we would have been robbed of this magnificent spectacle.  these two guys will go down in history now.  and it's not as if it happens too often.  keep the rule as it is i say.

[choucas09]

Stunning stuff. Will and endurance in abundance. I feel privileged to have witnessed a piece of sporting history.

[Philly Q]

Then Isner got slaughtered in his next match. 

I suspect both he and Mahut are wondering why they bothered.... but they'll probably have fond memories of the match once they're retired.

[dave_mc]

yep. as i said, while the spectacle is great, i don't see much point. the guy isner played might as well have had a bye. It hardly makes for a more fair tournament. Obviously you get rewarded if you hammer someone 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 and your opponent had to go to 5 sets, but there's rewarded and rewarded. Didn't the guy isner lost to have to play 5 sets in his match too?