Anderson withstands Isner to seal place in final
Kevin Anderson (S. Africa) bt John Isner (USA) 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 26-24
Wimbledon’s marathon man John Isner was at it again, but this time he was outlasted by Kevin Anderson in an epic 6hr 36min semi-final, the second longest singles match in Championship history.
It was going to take something special to separate these gladiators as they went ace for ace and blow for blow. With the light starting to fade close to 8pm, the saga duly got the ending that it deserved. In the 49th game of the fifth set and at love-15 up, Anderson slipped at the back of the court. He fell to the ground, so did his racket, but when Isner put his return into the centre of the court, Anderson got off the canvas like Rocky, picked up his racket left-handed and got his forehand back into play to win the point. Hollywood eat your heart out.
For the fourth consecutive Isner service game, Anderson was love30 up. On every previous occasion, Isner’s blunderbuss serve, which peaked at 142mph, had come to his rescue. Not this time. A second serve was the chance Anderson had been waiting for and he hit a forehand winner for three break points. Isner had saved four previous break points in this marathon final set, which was approaching the threehour mark. Each time he produced an ace to save his skin. The fifth was saved with a serve and volley, but he could not repeat the trick, at 1540 putting a backhand into the net.
The crowd celebrated raucously, as much with relief than anything else, but the job was not yet done and Anderson had to serve out the match. What must have been going through the 32-year-old’s head? On two of the three games that he had broken Isner, the American had broken straight back. This time he held his nerve as Isner put a forehand into the tramlines.
There were no wild celebrations from Anderson despite becoming the first South African man in 97 years to reach a Wimbledon final, in part because of exhaustion, in part in sympathy for his vanquished foe who he first played on the American college circuit 14 years ago. The reward is a meeting with Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal, whose semi-final was also turning into a battle royal, the Serb edging ahead after a gruelling third-set tiebreaker. Their contest, which was ended just short of three hours at 11pm, will resume today.
“Coming through that match, obviously I’m ecstatic to be through to the finals.” Anderson said. “At the same time, you know, you feel like it should be a draw.”
Eight years ago, Isner took part in the longest match in history in his 11hr 5min conquest of Nicolas Mahut. The 33-year-old has repeatedly said that he did not want his career be defined by that match. Fate obviously has a sick sense of humour. The Donald Trump supporter will have to wait to make American men’s tennis great again, with Andy Roddick their last male representative to reached a grand slam final nine years ago.
“I feel pretty terrible,” Isner said. "My left heel is killing me. I have an awful blister on my right foot. It stinks to lose, but I gave it everything I had out there.”
Anderson’s victory is even more remarkable when you consider that in the last 16 he went 3½ hours against Gael Monfils and became only the fifth man to come from twosets down to beat Roger Federer in a four-hour plus quarter-final. We all thought he would have nothing left. How wrong we were. “You’re really in a war of attrition out there,” Anderson said. “It’s way beyond a normal tennis match or tactics.”
That a match between the tournament’s two leading severs went to five sets was no surprise. To paraphrase Guns N’ Roses, “Take me down to tie-break city, where the grass is green and the serves aren’t pretty.” Yet as the match progress ed and each man’s serve lost its rapier edge, the rallies went to script.
The first three sets certainly went according to script, although how different might the contest have been had Isner seized one of three break points in Anderson’s second service game? The South African took the first tie-break and doublefaulted on set point in the second which allowed his opponent to level.
Business started picking up in the third set when Isner, after winning 110 consecutive service games at this tournament, was finally broken. Almost inevitably, Isner broke back straight away as if he was righting a cosmetic imbalance.
The third-set tie-break was a classic bit of psychological theatre. Each man traded mini-breaks and lost set-point opportunities, notably when Anderson double-faulted at 8-7. When Anderson sent a forehand into the tramlines, Isner looked too shocked to celebrate.
Showing some incredible reflexes, Anderson broke in the fourth game of the fourth set. Like night follows day, Isner broke straight back only to go love-40 down in his very next service game and this time Anderson held his nerve to take it to a fifth set that even Tolstoy would have considered overblown.