Grand Slam tournaments and Davis Cup matches are an ideal place to add to the list of record-breaking matches in the history of tennis, because currently only here the format of five-set matches has been preserved.
It is interesting that it was the Davis Cup, the importance of which is considered by many leading tennis players to be much lower than the “majors,” which produced the most long matches, most often indicating the incredible intensity of the struggle.
Of the ten longest matches in men's tennis in the history of the Open era, six represent the Davis Cup, and most of them featured outstanding athletes who enriched the history of the game with more than just these results.
5 hours 41 minutes. Paul-Henri Mathieu - John Isner. Roland Garros 2012, second round - 6/7(2), 6/4, 6/4, 3/6, 18/16
John Isner regularly becomes the subject of the “longest matches” column. Taking the American giant's serve is problematic even for the Big Four players, let alone other tennis players. However, when John comes across an opponent who also categorically does not want to give up his games, a stalemate is created.
In the match with Paul-Henri Mathieu at last year's Roland Garros, the American looked like the favorite, but in the fifth game the Frenchman literally stood up to the applause of his home crowd. The war of nerves ultimately ended with Isner faltering. The match is currently the second longest in French Open history.
5 hours 45 minutes. Mehdi Tahiri - Gilles Muller. Davis Cup 2005, First Group - 6/7(4), 6/4, 7/6(3), 6/7(5), 6/4
The national teams of Morocco and Luxembourg lost their opening matches, so no one wanted to leave the First Group. The fierce battle between the Moroccans, who had lost their former splendor, and the Luxembourgers, who had never shone, was marked by a stubborn and tough confrontation between Mehdi Tahiri and Gilles Muller.
The Moroccan veteran, who has defended the colors of the national team since 1993, resisted desperately and was able to achieve victory. This, however, did not help his team - Luxembourg won and retained their place in the First Group of the Davis Cup.
5 hours 46 minutes. Arnaud Clément - Marc Rosset. Davis Cup 2001, quarterfinals - 6/3, 3/6, 7/6(5), 6/7(6), 15/13
Arnaud Clement is another regular at such matches. In 2001, the French team was heading for its ninth victory in the Davis Cup, but the Swiss - young Roger Federer and the most experienced Marc Rosset - turned out to be an unexpectedly serious obstacle on its way.
It was he, the Olympic champion of Barcelona, who twice equalized the score in the opening match of the match against Clement, and in the fifth game he resisted for twenty-eight games. Clement snatched victory, but the outcome of the match was decided only in the fifth match, which the physically exhausted Rosset was no longer able to enter. Georg Bastl lost to Nicolas Escude in five sets, and the French team advanced to the semifinals.
5 hours 53 minutes. Novak Djokovic - Rafael Nadal. Australian Open-2012, final - 5/7, 6/4, 6/2, 6/7(5), 7/5
But all the fans remember this match very well. And not only because it took place a little over a year ago. “Hot on the heels,” some experts suggested recognizing the match as the best in the history of tennis, but even the most notorious skeptics will agree that it is included in the top ten without any questions.
Both great tennis players showed their best here, giving their all throughout every rally. Rafael Nadal failed to free himself from the “Djokovic complex” in Melbourne, but it was here that he took the first step towards this.
5 hours 59 minutes. Radek Stepanek - Ivo Karlovich. Davis Cup 2009, semi-final - 6/7(5), 7/6(5), 7/6(6), 6/7(2), 16/14
When Ivo Karlovic is serving and the opponents are a strong tennis player, this means that each set is likely to end in a tiebreaker. This is exactly what happened in the opening match of the 2009 Davis Cup semi-final. The problem for Ivo was that Radek Stepanek’s serve also went wrong...
As a result, four games invariably ended in tiebreaks, and according to the results of the marathon fifth set, the more experienced and seasoned Stepanek was stronger. When, in the second match, Tomas Berdych also defeated Marin Cilic in five games, almost everything in this semi-final became clear.
6 hours 4 minutes. Horst Skoff - Mats Wilander. Davis Cup 1989, quarterfinals - 6/7(5), 7/6(7), 1/6, 6/4, 9/7
The Swedish national team, along with the German team, was one of the main favorites of the Davis Cup in the eighties. However, the Swedes faced a very tough opponent in the quarterfinals. The Austrian team, led by the young Thomas Muster, defeated the Australians in the first round, and had to seriously compete with the favorites on the Viennese soil.
However, a few days before the match with the Swedes, Muster was hit by a car in Key Biscayne, as a result of which he tore two knee ligaments at once. But even without their leader, the Austrians fought desperately. 21-year-old Horst Skoff came back twice in the match with the former first racket of the world, and in the decisive set he was able to make such an important break. However, the victory in the match still went to the Swedes, who lost to the German national team in the final of the tournament.
The life of one of the heroes of this match did not really work out. Horst won four ATP tournaments, but was forced to retire in 1995. In 2008, at the age of thirty-nine, Horst Skoff died of a heart attack.
6 hours 21 minutes. Boris Becker - John McEnroe. Davis Cup 1987, World Group playoffs - 4/6, 15/13, 8/10, 6/2, 6/2
It’s hard to imagine, but in 1987 the national teams of Germany and the USA met in a World Group playoff match, having suffered defeats already in the first round of the draw. Not wanting to leave the elite, the team captains brought their best forces to the decisive battle - young Boris Becker and the aging, but still formidable John McEnroe.
At that time, there were no tiebreakers in the Davis Cup, so the main events unfolded in the second and third sets, one of which went to Boris and the other to John. However, two marathon games exhausted the great American so much that after that he only occasionally offered decent resistance. Becker won, and with him the German team, sending the US team into a difficult knockout.
6 hours 22 minutes. John McEnroe - Mats Wilander. Davis Cup 1982, quarterfinals - 9/7, 6/2, 15/17, 3/6, 8/6
Well, five years before, McEnroe was in his prime and at the zenith of his fame. “Junior” did everything he could in the quarterfinal match against the Swedish team, but his partners, Eliot Teltscher and Brian Gottfried, let him down. As a result, McEnroe's second singles match, against Mats Wilander, proved decisive.
McEnroe took the first two sets in the fight, but in the third game the young Swede flatly refused to lose. Mats took literally all the balls, and after a titanic struggle he celebrated victory in the game - 17/15. An inspired Wilander equalized the match - 2:2, and resisted for a long time in the fifth set, until McEnroe remembered that he, after all, was the first racket of the world.
Subsequently, the Americans had no problems winning the Davis Cup - 5:0 with the Australians and 4:1 with the French in the final. But the duel between McEnroe and Wilander became the longest in the history of the Davis Cup.
6 hours 33 minutes. Fabrice Santoro - Arnaud Clément. Roland Garros 2004, first round - 6/4, 6/3, 6/7(5), 3/6, 16/14
The last Roland Garros of the Donadalev era turned out to be extremely interesting. In particular, two outstanding Frenchmen pleased the fans. Santoro and Clement held out their match until darkness, as a result of which the fight had to be postponed to the second day.
But even after the resumption of play, the two brave Frenchmen fought so famously that they eventually set a record for the longest matches in the history of Roland Garros, as well as an absolute record for the Open era. Who could have known that this achievement was destined to last only six years?
11 hours 5 minutes. John Isner - Nicolas Mahut. Wimbledon 2010, first round. 6/4, 3/6, 6/7(7), 7/6(3), 70/68
This match will forever remain in the history of tennis. Three days, one hundred eighty-three games, two hundred and sixteen aces, nine absolute game records. It is unlikely that a fight like this will ever take place. Although, you shouldn’t promise. After the match between Santoro and Clement in 2004, something similar sounded.
By the way, an interesting fact - it took Serena Williams a total of just under ten hours to win the title at Wimbledon 2010 in seven matches - that is, less than this titanic first-round match lasted.
However, do not underestimate women's tennis, because the longest match here lasted 6 hours 31 minutes - and this was in two sets! In 1984, at the WTA tournament in Richmond, American Vikki Nelson defeated her compatriot Jean Hepner with a score of 6/4, 7/6 (9).
This match also set two absolute tennis records. Firstly, the longest rally in the history of tennis was recorded here - 643 strokes in twenty-nine minutes. Secondly, this is the longest meeting in history - one that was played over one day. After all, Clement and Santoro, and especially Mayu and Isner, didn’t get it done in one day.
So women tennis players also have something to brag about. However, in the general mass of five-set matches, men have a much greater chance of setting an outstanding record. I wonder what the 2013 season will please fans in this area?
The longest match in tennis history was played at Wimbledon.
American John Isner, ranked 19th in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings, played the longest match in tennis history with world number 148 Frenchman Nicolas Maillot. The match between these rivals in the first round of Wimbledon lasted for three days. The match lasted 11 hours and five minutes and ended with Isner winning with a score of 6:4, 3:6, 6:7 (7:9), 7:6 (7:3), 70:68.
Tennis players broke a number of records - in particular, the number of games in one set and one match, as well as the number of aces. Isner completed 112 serves, and Maillot had 103 aces. 
The match began on June 22, when the athletes played four sets. On June 23, the game continued - the tennis players played until the score was 59:59 in the fifth game, after which the match was again postponed due to darkness. On June 24, the meeting ended.
The previous tennis record was 6 hours 33 minutes, set by the French Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clément at Roland Garros 2004. And the previous Wimbledon record was set in 2008 by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal - then their final meeting lasted 4 hours 48 minutes. 
The fifth decisive set of the match between Mahut and Isner has already surpassed in duration the match between Santoro and Clement at Roland Garros 2004 and is the longest set in the history of tennis. It should be noted that the match began on Tuesday, when the tennis players played four sets, but on Wednesday the fifth set continued until the score was 59:59 and was postponed due to darkness.
The participants in the 11-hour match and the main referee of the match, Mohamed Lehyani from Sweden, received valuable gifts at the end of the historic match. Thus, the judge was presented with a crystal vase, a signature Wimbledon tie and silver cufflinks.
« You know, despite the fact that I spent more than 11 hours sitting on a chair, I did not feel tired, said the judge. - I was so caught up in what was happening on the court that my concentration did not allow me to think about anything else. You see, when you are so passionate about something, you don’t think about eating or taking a bath. I was shocked by the tenacity and spirit of these tennis players who accomplished the seemingly impossible", said the 44-year-old referee. 
Mohamed Lehyani, who lives in Spain, admitted that during the match his voice often failed, and therefore he started coughing every now and then.
« To clear my throat, I not only cleared my throat, but also tried to drink more. I probably haven't drank so much in my entire life.“,” the judge added, admitting that during the game he often even forgot about his numb arms and legs, and when he remembered that he tried to stretch as unnoticeably as possible on the tower, although he did not experience any particular inconvenience from numb limbs, since he was already accustomed to sitting still when flying in economy class. 
Lehyani also stated that he had not previously judged matches for so many hours - the longest match he served was completed in five and a half hours.
Here are other Wimbledon records:
The longest match is 11 hours 5 minutes (the previous record was Fabrice Santoro - Arnaud Clément at Roland Garros 2004 - 6 hours 33 minutes)
The largest number of games in a match is 183 (Pancho Gonzalez - Charlie Pasarell at Wimbledon - 1969 - 112)
Longest set - 70:68 (John Newcombe - Marty Reissen at US Open 1969 - 25:23)
Most aces in a match - Isner 112, Mayu 103 (Ivo Karlovic had 78 in the 2009 Davis Cup semi-final match against Radek Stepanek)
After Bernard Tomic from Australia and Finn Jarko Nieminen played the shortest match at the Miami tournament - a match in which the representative of Finland won with a score of 6:0, 6:1, lasted only 28 minutes and 20 seconds - the tennis community remembered the craziest records on the court. The German newspaper Bild cited 11 such unusual achievements.
1. The longest match in Grand Slam history took place at Wimbledon in 2010. Frenchman Nicolas Mahut and American John Isner, fighting in the first round, spent 11 hours and 5 minutes on the court. At the same time, the fight was interrupted twice due to darkness. In the end, Isner won - 6:4, 3:6, 6:7, 7:6, 70:68! For women, a similar record was set by Italian Francesca Schiavone and Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the one-eighth final of the Australian Open in 2011, they played for 4 hours and 44 minutes. The Italian won with a score of 6:4, 1:6, 16:14.
2. German Steffi Graf on June 4, 1988, in the final of Roland Garros, won against 17-year-old Natalya Zvereva, representing the USSR, in just 32 minutes - 6:0, 6:0.
3. The longest final in a Grand Slam series was the final match in the men's singles at the 2012 Australian Open. The meeting lasted 5 hours 53 minutes and ended with the victory of Serbian Novak Djokovic over Spaniard Rafael Nadal - 5:7, 6:4, 6:2, 6:7, 7:5.
4. The largest number of straight serves was recorded in the longest match - between the American Isner and the Frenchman Mahut in the first round of Wimbledon 2010. John Isner made 112 aces, while Nicolas Mahut - 103. Both of them exceeded the achievement of Croatian Ivo Karlovic - he had 78 serves in one match.
5. Croatian Goran Ivanisevic has the most aces in a season: in 1996, he served 1,477 times. Similar statistics have been kept since 1991. In addition, another Croatian - Ivo Karlović (1318 in 2007) and the American Andy Roddick (1017 in 2004) have over a thousand aces.
6. The longest exchange of blows was recorded on March 12, 1988. Tennis players R. Kapp and V. Dyuggan in a match held in Santa Barbara kept the ball in play for 3 hours and 33 minutes. At the same time, the ball flew over the net 6202 times. Among women, the longest exchange of blows took place in a match between Vicki Nelson and Jean Hepner, held in October 1984 in Richmond. For 29 minutes, the tennis players threw the ball over the net - they exchanged blows 643 times. In total, the match lasted 6 hours 22 minutes, with only the tiebreak lasting 1 hour and 47 minutes.
7. Croatian Ivo Karlovic again served with the highest ball speed - 251 km per hour. The tennis player succeeded in this on March 5, 2011, in the 2011 Davis Cup doubles match in Zagreb, in which the Croats met the Germans. However, the unofficial record belongs to the Australian Samuel Groth - on May 9, 2012, the ball he sent at the Challenger series tournament in South Korea reached a speed of 263 km per hour. Among tennis ladies, the official record for serve speed belongs to an American, Williams’ older sister, Venus. She hit the ball at 207.6 km per hour, which was recorded at the 2007 US Open. The unofficial achievement of the same American woman is 209 km per hour (in Zurich 2008 and Tokyo 2013). Dutchwoman Brenda Schultz applied just as quickly in 2006 in Cincinnati. Among the “unrecognized” records is the serve performed by the German Sabine Lisicki in a competition in Bali. The German representative performed the “service” at a speed of 210 km per hour, but due to a technical error in the device measuring the feed speed, the record was not recorded.
8. The largest number of double faults in one match was made by Russian Anna Kournikova (Kournikova now has dual citizenship - Russian and American - author's note). Anna set the anti-record in the second round of the 1999 Australian Open, playing against Japanese Mio Saeki. Kournikova made 31 double faults, but still won - 1:6, 6:4, 10:8.
9. Swiss Roger Federer has won 24 consecutive finals at Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tournaments. Having lost for the last time in the final in Gstaad in 2003 to the Czech Jiri Novak, Federer then did not suffer defeats in the final matches until the final ATP Championship in 2005. Then he lost to the Argentinean David Nalbandian.
10. The best balance - the ratio of victories and defeats - was established by an American of Czech origin, Martina Navratilova, in 1983 - 86:1. She lost only to Katie Horvath (USA), then the 33rd racket in the world, with a score of 4:6, 6:0, 3:6 in the fourth round of Roland Garros. For men, a similar achievement was achieved by American John McEnroe in 1984 - 82:3.
11. The highest number of spectators at a Grand Slam tournament was at Melbourne Park at the Australian Open - on January 22, 2005, 60 thousand 669 people attended the competition.
Treaty or fight?
On June 24, 2010, the longest match in the history of tennis took place at Wimbledon. The authors of the record were two unnoticed second-tier tennis players - John Eisner (USA) and Nicolas Mahut (France). The longest tennis match lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes. Thus, the previous record fell almost twice as high.
Evil tongues say that the match was fixed and its participants simply found a way to get into history. On the other hand, eyewitnesses of the confrontation instruct that everything took place in a stubborn and grueling struggle that cannot be played out.
Match results
The longest tennis match ended with a basketball score of 70:68 in favor of American John Eisner at the Wimbledon tennis tournament on Thursday, June 24, 2010. To the relief of the crowd, the fifth set of the longest match in the history of the sport ended.
Eisner's amazing fight with Frenchman Nicolas Mahut lasted a total of 11 hours and 5 minutes. The final score is 6:4, 3:6, 6:7 (7:9), 7:6 (7:3), 70:68 in favor of the American. From now on, he also holds the record for the number of aces in one match - 112.
Together, the tennis players served 215 times in this match. In the fifth set, where they needed to break away from their opponent by two points to win, they took turns taking their serves. According to Eisner, who eventually reached the second round of Wimbledon, “this will never happen again.”
Previous records
The title of the longest match in the history of professional tennis until today was held by the duel between the Frenchmen Fabrice Santoro and Arnaud Clement, who butted heads in 2004 on the slowest clay surface of Roland Garros for 6 hours 33 minutes. The Wimbledon record was 6 hours 9 minutes.
The world record for the number of aces was previously held by the Croatian Ivo Karlovic - 78 serves in the 2009 Davis Cup match Croatia - Czech Republic.
The meeting was suspended for the first time on Tuesday before the American served in the deciding game. However, on Wednesday the tennis players were unable to determine the strongest in their confrontation; the referees separated them with a score of 59:59 in the decisive game.
Perhaps the participants in this unusual marathon simply wanted to write their names in the history of tennis forever. How else can we explain the fact that during yesterday not one of them was able to break away from their opponent by two points. Although, according to eyewitnesses, immediately before the suspension of the match on Wednesday, the tennis players did everything possible to bring it to a victorious end. At the same time, the fans chanted non-stop: “We want more, we want more!”
The match took place on court 18 of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, which is why the game was not broadcast on leading sports television channels. However, one of the most brilliant masters in the history of tennis, John McEnroe, called it "the most outstanding advertisement for this sport."
Seventeen years ago, on April 26, 1998, the largest simultaneous game of checkers took place. Three-time world champion Barbadian Ron King, nicknamed "Ali of Checkers" for his long tongue, played against 385 opponents and beat them all. We present the most striking examples of long matches from other sports.
Marathon at Wimbledon
Usually tennis matches at Wimbledon are postponed to the next day due to rain, sometimes due to darkness. And in very rare cases, due to the fact that both opponents can barely stand on their feet from fatigue. In 2010, the French Nicolas Mahut and American John Isner played the longest match in the history of world tennis. In addition to the record for duration, records were set for the number of aces per game. In the fifth set alone, Isner served more hits than any other player in the entire match. With the score 47:47 in the fifth set, the scoreboard on court No. 18 went out, as this was the maximum score for which it was programmed. Six games later, for the same reason, the statistics on the official Wimbledon website were reset to zero. The result of this amazing match is 6:4, 3:6, 6:7 (7:9), 7:6 (7:3), 70:68 in favor of Isner. In total, the match lasted three days, the pure time spent by the players on the court was more than 11 hours. Immediately after the end, the players and, and a memorial plaque dedicated to this incredible game soon appeared on the wall of the court. Nicolas Mahut I was so shocked by what happened that I wrote the book “The Match of My Life.”
Pyrrhic victory for the Russian team
Russian water polo masters arrived at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney as one of the favorites. The group tournament was successful for the Russians. In the quarterfinals it was unexpectedly difficult against the Americans, but in the end our water polo players achieved victory. And in the semi-finals, the Russian team took on the then-current Olympic champions from Spain. It was a fabulous match. The Russians constantly came forward, the Spaniards caught up with them with the same regularity. In extra time, both teams were most afraid of making mistakes and, as one of the commentators put it, they swam back faster than forward. In the end, everything was decided 10 seconds before the end of the third overtime with an accurate throw Dmitry Gorshkov. But the Russians did not have enough strength for the final match - the Hungarians easily beat our team with a score of 13:6. After the Sydney Games, changes were made to the regulations - water polo players stopped playing endless overtime and switched to penalties.
Hotter than hell
On April 5, 1915, the longest championship fight between heavyweight boxers in history took place in Havana (Cuba). American Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion, defended his title in a fight with his compatriot Jess Willard. At that time, there were no regulations on the mandatory number of rounds in championship matches, and before each fight the opponents agreed on its length.
This time they agreed on 45, which was supposed to show the extreme endurance of the boxers. It didn’t reach the required number of rounds; the champion was knocked out in the 26th. After the defeat, Johnson always claimed that he gave up this fight - the hostility towards the black champion was too great in America at that time. In fact, the champion simply did not bother training too much before the fight, hoping to knock out Willard at the beginning of the fight. When this did not work out, it became clear that a long fight in forty-degree heat would be to the advantage of the challenger. Perhaps Johnson really could have gotten up after the missed blow, but in any case, his stamina would not have been enough not only to win, but even to stay on his feet for another 20 rounds. Willard said only one phrase after the fight: “I think that even in hell it won’t be as hot as here.”
With a lunch break
One cricket match can take place over several days, and the regulations include official breaks for lunch, tea and sleep. Modern rules limit matches in time, but previously teams could play virtually indefinitely. It was just such a match that the teams of England and South Africa played in 1939, which ended only when it was time for the British to board the ship to sail home. The match was played over nine days with two days off. The rain also added to the duration of the match - on one of the game days, the participants simply could not go out onto the field, which was completely flooded with water. Despite (or perhaps because of) the length of the game, cricket is very popular in countries that were formerly part of the British Empire. the fact that she did not know who (the greatest player in cricket history) was who had come to watch her match caused an uproar in India. Indian fans even came up with the hashtag #whoisMariaSharapova.
How one party changed all the rules
In 1989, a chess game was played in Belgrade between Ivan Nikolic And Goran Arsovic. The players signed a peace treaty after the 269th move and 20 hours spent at the board. In the endgame there were only five pieces left on the board - white had a king, bishop and rook, black had a king and rook. Nikolic tried to use his advantage for more than a hundred moves, but nothing worked. After this record, FIDE decided to introduce the “rule of 50” - if each player makes 50 moves without capturing the opponent’s piece, the game is declared a draw.