John Isner won the longest match in tennis history at Wimbledon yesterday when he beat Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68.

John Isner, Nicolas Mahut and the unreal score - Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP/Getty Images

The match was full of records but one key question remains: why did this tennis “anomaly” happen?

John Isner said in his interview that he doesn’t know really why. He thought that both players served really well and that perhaps it was meant to happen.

Nicolas Mahut also said that he didn’t know why the match lasted so long. (more…)

What can we learn from the French Open finalists?

What did Rafael Nadal, Robin Soderling, Francesca Schiavone and Samantha Stosur play well, what was the mindset that produced the play we saw and what really made the difference between both winners and both losing finalists?

Let’s start first with both losing finalists and what we can learn from their losses…

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Rafael Nadal is one of the best players in the world because he has a very smart plan on how to play key points.

The perfect example of that were the two tie-breaks he won against Nicolas Almagro today in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros.

The first tie-break was played in a very controlled way (playing high percentage tennis) but the second tie-break was a masterpiece of tactics and intelligence.

Rafael Nadal hits a forehand against Nicolas Almagro / Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images

Here’s what happened: (more…)