Saddlebrook member John Isner’s marathon matchSeveral professional tennis players train at Saddlebrook Resort and one recently had to use his endurance gained at the Wesley Chapel facility to get through the longest match in the sport’s history.Tampa resident John Isner recently won a five-set match at Wimbledon against Nicolas Mahut which lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes, making it the longest contest in professional tennis history. The previous record for a match was 6 hours and 33 minutes in 2004.The final score was 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 70-68. The fifth set alone was more than 8-hours long. The first-round contest was originally scheduled for June 22 and it did not finish until June 24. Both players passed the previous record for aces in a match. Isner had 112 aces to Mahut’s 103.After play was suspended June 23 because of darkness, Isner said in a courtside interview that nothing like this will ever happen again.Isner, 25, became a professional in 2007 and has a singles record of 69-56 and one title entering Wimbledon, according to the Association of Tennis Professional’s Web site www.atpworldtour.com. He is currently ranked No. 19 on the tour and was ranked 23rd in the tournament.“Watching that match was incredible,” said Howard Moore, program director of Saddlebrook tennis since 1986. “It just kept going on and on.”Isner had little time to rest as he faced his second-round match the following morning. He fell to Thiemo de Bakker 6-0, 6-3, 6-2 in 1 hour and 14 minutes, making it the shortest match at Wimbledon to that point.Other professional tennis players who train at Saddlebrook include James Blake, Mardy Fish and twin brothers Bob and Mike Bryan.
