Spectators on Centre Court grew beards and ballboys walked off as grown men before John Isner lost the final set 26-24
The grass grew, the sun set, governments fell, empires crumbled, and John Isner and Kevin Anderson played tennis. Ace after ace, game after game, hour after hour. There were spectators on Centre Court who grew new beards, ballboys who walked off as grown men. Anderson won, but after six hours and 36 minutes, he wasn’t happy about it. The fifth set, which finished 26-24 in two hours and 55 minutes, was a cruel and unusual punishment, and Anderson made a desperate plea for the officials to please, please put the players out of their misery and start using fifth-set tie-breaks. After all, they shoot horses, don’t they?
Anderson, though, is going to have to do it all over again on Sunday. He seemed to be overcome with survivor’s guilt. “At the end I feel like it’s a draw between the two of us, but someone has to win,” he gasped, “John’s such a great guy.” They are old friends from the college circuit and the main thing Anderson seemed to be thinking in the aftermath was “why am I the lucky one?” He even apologised for not being more excited about winning. “But I’ve got so many mixed emotions. All I can say is congratulations to John on such a great tournament. Hopefully he can come back stronger.”
Written by Andy Bull at Wimbledon
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jul/13/john-isner-kevin-anderson-wimbledon-survivors-guilt under the title “Kevin Anderson suffers survivor’s guilt after marathon defeat of John Isner | Andy Bull”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
