Tiebreak 5th Set?

Written by: Hayley Hranicky-Galitzer on 6th July 2010

Tiebreak 5th Set? |

John Isner and Nicholas Mahut gave the tennis world a performance for the ages. We may never see a match quite like that, and most notedly as long as that. Both Isner and Mahut destroyed the records: most aces in a match, longest time on court, most games played in a match, and longest set ever played. Both players showed tremendous composure, persistence, and the character of a champion; too bad it was only the first round.

Despite the glory of the win, it was still worth the same amount of points as any other first round win and Isner was no closer to the Wimbledon title than any other first round winner. After such a hard fought battle, Isner lost badly in the second round.

It could be argued that the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon should implement a tiebreak in the fifth set because it would allow players to more easily recover from tough matches because players would not have to be on court as long. However, it could also be argued that to be champion at one of these major events it takes winning seven matches in a row, not just one really long battle.

So it’s something to think about. Maybe there is some sort of compromise like a tiebreak once it reaches 10 all or something like that. All I know is that Isner showed the qualities of a champion in his first round win against Mahut, and I think he could have gone farther in the tournament had he not been completely wiped out from the match.

Topics: Aces, Australian Open, Champion, Composure, Compromise, Fought Battle, French Open, Games, John Isner, Longest Time, Match, Nicholas Mahut, Persistence, Tennis World, Wimbledon, Wimbledon Title