Wimbledon is undoubtedly the most prestigious grand slam in tennis. Every tennis player dreams about winning Wimbledon, and hopes of cementing their names in the history books forever. Over the years the grass courts of SW19 has witnessed some of the most thrilling matches that have kept everyone busy till the sunset. There also have been matches in the last few years, that have not been completed as there was no tie breaker in the fifth and the crowd saw some amazing marathon matches. Since the year 2000, the fifth set lasted longer than 20 matches in 28 men’s matches at Wimbledon. But the most astonishing fact is that only two times the Winner of the match advanced beyond the next round.
Iconic Marathons at Wimbledon in Recent times:
Longest Match in Tennis History was played at Wimbledon
Who can forget the first round match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut that was finished in two days. It was perhaps the greatest match ever played on Wimbledon. The match began at 6:13 British local time on Tuesday 22 June, on court 18 and the play was suspended before the start of the fifth set due to fading light at 9:07 PM. Both players looked exhausted and took a sigh of relief when the match was stopped. The match resumed the Next day at 2 in the afternoon and light faded again between the fifth set, and the match remained unfinished again. The next day play commenced again and the rest is history. The match went on to become the longest match in tennis history. The American Isner finally defeated French qualifier Mahut 70-68, in the fifth set. The match took a staggering 11 hours and 5 minutes of play, over three days and the final score was 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7-9), 7-7(7-3), 70-68.
In 2017, Novak Djokovic was unable to finish his round of 16 match on the scheduled time because of the time consumed by Gilles Muller’s 15-13 fifth set victory over Rafael Nadal. Djokovic wasn’t amused and stated “ It is impossible to play for 5-6 hours and then play again the next day, it’s not really what your body is looking for. If the fifth set reaches 6-6 in the fifth set, I guess a tiebreaker should be played to decide the winner”.
Last year three extra time men’s matches were during the Quarters and Semis, Kevin Anderson defeated Roger Federer 13-11 in the fifth set of their grueling Quarter Finals, Anderson played a marathon again against Isner to defeat him 26-24 in the fifth set and the last epic encounter was between Djokovic and Nadal in the semis in which Djokovic won 10-8 in the fifth set. These long matches ended up disrupting the schedule of the rest of the matches in the tournament. Spare a thought for the South African Anderson who played two long matches and was left with no energy to play in his first ever Wimbledon Finals and lost easily in three sets against Djokovic.
Several Tennis greats have said that a tiebreaker should be played when the fifth set reaches 6-6, to decide the winner of the match. The players go through so much punishment when they play long matches in the tournament and have absolutely nothing in their tank to play their upcoming matches.
In October last year, the chairman of the All England club finally said in his statement that “ We feel the tiebreak in the fifth set strikes the balances in allowing players enough opportunities to complete the match to advantage. This also helps in completing the match in an acceptable time frame”.
Which Grand Slam does it best?
The Australian Open and US Open play a tiebreaker when the match is tied at 6-6 in the fifth set, whereas French open is the only grand slam that continues to follow the advantage-set tradition.
Wimbledon ranks third of the four grand slams when it comes to deciding the final set. The best solution may be to adopt the strategy of Australian open’s use of the match tiebreaker. The 10 pointer is longer than the 7 point tiebreak, which helps is getting rid of any sort of luck and makes the solution not just unique but practical.
The US Open plays it safe and uses a standard option, which is a common 7 point tiebreaker at 6-6 in the fifth set to determine the winner. This has been followed by The US Open for many years now, and no one has ever complained regarding the 7 point tiebreaker including the traditionalists that follow the game closely than others. Wimbledon and French open are quite happy to stick to the old methods, which is to not play a tiebreaker in the final set. But the fact is that the surface of clay courts is not hard on the body as compared to the grass courts.
Wimbledon now has finally bowed to the pressure from the players, coaches, and umpires and are all set to introduce a tiebreaker in the fifth set if the score reaches 12-12.
