06-23-2010, 06:44 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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The Reforms
Location: Rarely, if ever, here or there, but always in transition
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"I have almost no words anymore watching this. It's beyond anything I've ever seen and could imagine. I don't know how their bodies must feel the next day, the next week, the next month. This is incredible tennis - for them to serve the aces they served and stay there mentally is a heroic effort. As we know, we have no draws in tennis, so there will be a loser. But I guess in this match, both will be winners because this is just absolutely amazing."—Roger Federer - - - - -
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And to think: Isner vs. Mahut could have concluded much, much earlier in the day.
Isner held a match point all the way back in the 20th game of the fifth set, when he was ahead 10-9 with Mahut serving. Mahut double-faulted twice to give Isner a break point and match point, but the Frenchman erased it with an ace.
10-10.
Hard to believe, perhaps, but there wasn't another break point or match point for either player until the 66th game of the set, with Isner ahead 33-32.
Isner smacked a backhand return winner down the line to go ahead 15-40, earning two match points, and then waved his right hand to signal to the overflowing crowd to cheer louder. But he couldn't convert either chance. Mahut delivered a volley winner to erase the first and then a service winner on the second.
Two points later, Isner ceded the game by putting a forehand return into the net, prompting some fans backing Mahut to chant, "Nico! Nico! Nico!"
33-33.
In the 71st game, with Isner serving, he faced a deuce. Two more points for Mahut would have allowed the Frenchman to serve for the match. But Isner delivered a second-serve ace at 124 mph, followed by a service winner.
36-35 for Isner.
Mahut earned his first break points of the fifth set in -- believe it or not -- the 101st game, when Isner missed a forehand wide to fall behind 15-40. Isner saved the first with a service winner at 132 mph. On the second, Mahut tried a lob -- perhaps not the ideal strategy against the 6-foot-9 Isner -- and the American hit an overhead winner. Two more service winners ended the game.
51-50 for Isner.
An opening for Isner came in the 108th game, when Mahut missed a backhand, then a forehand, to fall behind 0-30, putting the American two points away from victory. But Mahut came up with a volley winner and then three consecutive aces.
54-54.
In what would wind up being the final game of the day, with Isner ahead 59-58, Mahut's double-fault -- his 21st -- afforded the American one more match point. Mahut delivered again, smacking an ace to get to deuce. Isner then shanked a return long, crouched and bit his white T-shirt. On the next point, Isner's backhand return sailed wide.
59-59.
And that's where they will resume, once more, the 25-year-old Isner and the 28-year-old Mahut, striving to be better than the other just long enough to win.
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-- courtesy of ESPN, via the Associated Press
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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves. —Mohandas K. Gandhi
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