By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Tomas Berdych and Lukas Rosol’s historic Davis Cup doubles victory in 7 hours, 2 minutes over Stan Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli set a new standard as the longest doubles match and longest Davis Cup match of all time.
Of course the Czech’s 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 24-22 win over the Swiss team in Geneva was still four hours and three minutes shy of equaling the 11 hours, 5 minute epic performed by John Isner and Nicolas Mahut in their 70-68 in the fifth set first-round epic at Wimbledon in 2010. It now stands, however, as the second longest match ever played.
In his authoritative volume THE BUD COLLINS HISTORY OF TENNIS (available here for $35.95: http://www.amazon.com/The-Collins-History-Tennis-Authoritative/dp/0942257707/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359897048&sr=8-1&keywords=bud+collins+history+of+tennis) Hall of Fame tennis historian and personality Bud Collins summarizes all of the longest tennis matches of all time, listed below.
Longest Matches— Time
Men’s Singles
11:05 John Isner d. Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68, 2010 Wimbledon first round
6:33 Fabrice Santoro d. Arnaud Clement 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5), 3-6, 16-14, 2004 French Open first round
6:22 John McEnroe d. Mats Wilander 9-7, 6-2, 15-17, 3-6, 8-6, 5th rubber, Davis Cup Quarterfinal, St. Louis, Mo, 1982
6:20 Boris Becker d. John McEnroe 4-6, 15-13, 8-10, 6-2, 6-2, Davis Cup, Qualifying Round, Hartford, 1987
Women’s Singles
6:31 Vicki Nelson Dunbar d. Jean Hepner, 6-4, 7-6 (13-11), 1984, Richmond, Va., first round (tie-breaker alone lasted 1 hour and 47 minutes, one point lasted 29 minutes, a rally of 643 strokes)
4:44 Francesca Schiavone d. Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 1-6, 16-14, 2011 Australian Open fourth round (
4:19 Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova d Regina Kulikova 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 2010 Australian Open first round
Men’s Doubles
6:20 Lucas Arnold and David Nalbandian d. Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin, 2003 Davis Cup semifinals 6-4, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 19-17, 2002 Davis Cup Semifinal, Moscow
