As Wimbledon and the tennis world was giddily celebrating the marathon first round match between American John Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut, we couldn't help but think something was amiss.
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Isner and Mahut's match went 5 sets, the fifth set ended with Isner's win at 70 games to 68 games. (Wimbledon, unlike the U.S. Open, does not allow a tie break for a final set.) The match took place over three days and took, in total, 11 hours and 5 minutes to complete. After the match, Wimbledon officials presented awards to the players and forced them to pose for photos beside the scoreboard with the umpire, and a woman in a pink blouse who is evidently Helen Mirren's stunt double.
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Anyway, the whole world was going on and on about what a great match it was and what a great accomplishment it was, blah, blah, blah. We watched part of the final set, and we couldn't help but think, there is something really wrong when a player's game is so weak that he can't ever break his opponent's serve. To win in tennis at the top level, you have to be able to have a strong defensive game, to break your opponent's serve. The record-setting match said more about the weakness in Isner's game than his future as a tennis great.
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