Tuesday 31 July 2012

OLYMPICS: Jo - Wilfried Tsonga win longest Tennis Match


Jo -Wilfried Tsonga in his record setting Olympic match.

 Tennis player Jo-Wilfried Tsonga entered the record books on Tuesday by winning the longest tennis match in Olympic history.
The Frenchman's second-round clash with Canada's Milos Raonic took three hours 58 minutes to complete, with the final set ending 25-23.

  Tsonga drew first blood, comfortably taking the opening set 6-3. But Raonic, who is ranked 23rd in the world game, notched up the reverse score line in the second set and was increasingly looking like the man to beat.
 Three match points came and went for the fifth seed before he finally found a volley at 40-15 in game 66 of the match,which was met with a desperate, failing lunge by Raonic.
It ensured the encounter beat the previous record of 48 games in one match between Chile's Fernando Gonzalez and American Taylor Dent in the Athens Olympics of 2004. A men's match at the 1920 Olympics lasted 76 games, but that was played over five sets.


 It also claimed the record for the longest third set played at an Olympic match. Officials at Wimbledon have become used to rewriting the history books of late. The tennis venue was also the home of the longest game in all competitions when another Frenchman, Nicholas Mahut was beaten by American John Isner in a match lasting 183 games over three days in 2010.
Tsonga admitted this was one of the rare chances he had to shine in the tough world of men's tennis.
"It's good because this is the only way to write my name in history for the moment. With Rafa, Roger and Novak, even Andy (Murray), it's tough to go through big tournaments. So I'm really happy. I hope I will have some more," he told reporters.


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