Isner Plays His Pal Mahut at Hopman

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 5th January 2011

Isner Plays His Pal Mahut at Hopman

John Isner's historic match against Nicolas Mahut (FRA) as the longest match in history. 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68 |

The match took nearly 10 hours less than the last time they played, but the result was the same. John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut.

Meeting for the first time since they battled in the longest match in tennis history at Wimbledon last year, Isner defeated Mahut 6-3 7-6 (5) in 90 minutes Monday at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia.

Of course they were not going to make history again, but there was still a great deal of interest when John Isner and Nicolas Mahut faced each other for the first time since their Wimbledon marathon. That 11-hour five minute Wimbledon match which finished 70-68 not only made the record books but forged a lasting friendship, according to Isner.

“Had I lost that second set, it might have gone four hours, so I was lucky to finish it in two,” Isner said. “For the first match of the year, I was pretty pleased with how I played.

“I got on top of him early in the first set, he picked up his game in the second, but I stayed the course with mine. I didn’t get to break, but fortunately for me I came up with my best serves.”

Isner and Bethanie Mattek-Sands gave the United States a victory over France. Mattek-Sands beat Kristina Mldafenovic 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.

“It (the ‘replay’) was a lot of fun actually. We’ve become really good friends off the court,” said the American. “Honestly, before that match game we had never said a word to each other – Now we text with each other quite often. I’ve gotten to know that he’s really a class act and a really good guy, so it was fun out there playing against him again. We’ll share that moment for the rest of our lives. I’m sure we’ll be keeping in contact for a long time after we’re both done playing tennis.”

Topics: Bethanie Mattek, Class Act, Good Friends, Hopman Cup, John Isner, Kristina, Last Time, Long Time, Marathon, Match Game, Nicolas Mahut, Perth Australia, Playing Tennis, Record Books, Replay, Rest Of Our Lives, Tennis History, Tennis Wimbledon, Victory, Wimbledon