Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The Longest Tennis Match (942 views)
Fabrice Santoro rolled in the red clay at Roland Garros, then wept after defeating fellow Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (7-5), 3-6, 16-14 on Tuesday (5/25/2004) at the French Open. The 6-hour, 33-minute match — played over two days — is the longest in tennis’ Open era, which began in 1968.
Moments later, Santoro sat on his chair and threw a towel over his head, crying from the strain of 6 hours, 33 minutes on court.
“I only took 1 liter of water out with me today,” Santoro said. “I told myself we’d play maybe 10 or 15 minutes. I didn’t think I had another two hours in my legs.”
The match beat the previous mark held by John McEnroe and Mats Wilander. They battled for 6:22 in a Davis Cup quarterfinal between the United States and Sweden in 1982. McEnroe won the 79-game slugfest 9-7, 6-2, 15-17, 3-6, 8-6.
“I don’t care (about the record). What do I get? A medal?” Clement said after his fourth first-round exit at Roland Garros in eight attempts.
“There may be an even longer match tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t play tennis to spend as much time possible on court.”
Santoro saved two match points — one on each day. The first came when serving at 4-5 in the fifth set late Monday evening.
Then, facing a break point while trailing 14-13 Tuesday, Santoro frustrated Clement into a mistake — his opponent hurrying a winner into the net after a long rally marked by looping shots that bounced on the red dust like beach balls.
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