The Universe At Balance: Isner v. Mahut
Today, the third consecutive day of the thrilling John Isner v. Nicolas Mahut tennis match will begin at Wimbledon. Currently, each player is tied with a score of 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 59-59; yesterday's seven-hour marathon of play ended with Mahut essentially begging the umpire for mercy, claiming there was too little light in the sky for visibility. It's more likely he was verging on collapse from exhaustion. His opponent Isner, though just as tired, actually objected to the stoppage, probably because it came just one game after he had a match point, his first since the 33rd game. The crowd, instinctively sensing blood, urged the athletes onward. But to no avail.
This grossly inflated score represents a rare and potentially unique cosmic phenomenon where two combatants, so finely balanced in skill, are completely unable to defeat each other. In this case, both Isner and Mahut specialize in power serves, and as the game dragged on, lacked the strength to counter the other's thundering service game. Each player broke serve only twice in the fifth set, representing just 3.3% of the games played, and they combined for a shocking 193 aces (Isner with a slight advantage there with 98). They were just hammering each other to death with big serves, and as they lost energy, found themselves less and less able to return effectively.
As this match enters its 10th hour, it'll be interesting to see if some rest will upset this balance. More likely, each player will be at less than optimal strength, so the possibility of seeing this set go to 70-70 or even 80-80 is not out of the question. It's also possible that these cosmically-balanced souls will battle each other unto eternity, like a slowly decaying sine wave. Who knows. But it would be funny if one of them won it in the first two games.
It goes without saying that this is the longest-ever match in Grand Slam history.
Update: John Isner finally won the fifth set 70-68 after eleven hours of play.