Rally Tally: Tennis' Longest Rallies
Tennis professionals exhaust themselves mentally as well as physically over a single point. But how far are they willing to go? Here are some of tennis' longest rallies which confirm exactly how much.
In 2005, 16 time grand slam winner, Switzerland’s "Roger Federer" came up against Australia's Lleyton Hewitt at the Pacific Life Open. Federer took the first set six games to two. Nevertheless, Hewitt took the first game of the second set, prior to which Roger took the second game of the set. After the Aussie served for the second time in the set, the athletes played a 45 shot long rally in the final.
Hewitt dropped to his knees after clinching the winning point. Federer on the other hand smiled as the crowd gave both sportsmen a standing ovation. The Swiss maestro later stated that this was the greatest rally he had ever contested. Roger went on to win 6-4 in the second set and once again, 6-4 in the final set of the match.
The 2009 Australian Open Men's singles final featured Spain's Rafael Nadal against Roger Federer. Nadal won the first set 7-5. However, the second set was taken 6-3 by Federer. Rafa came back to win the third set 7-6. The athletes were tied at two games to two in the third set. Rafa and Roger played a 14 shot rally until Nadal won the point to get an advantage over Federer.
"The King of Clay" threw his hands up in the air upon winning the point. He further went on to win the final 6-2 in the last set in spite of losing the fourth set 3-6 to Roger Federer.
Later that year, at the 2009 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Nadal faced Serbia's Novak Djokovic in the Men's singles final. Rafa bagged the first set 6-3. The second set, however, was taken 6-2 by Nole. The first game of the third set started off with a 39 point rally between the two players. The crowd cheered on as Rafa took the winning point which brought Djokovic to his knees. Rafael took the final set 6-1 to win the title.
The Spaniard was opposed by Frenchman Gael Monfils in the fourth round of the 2009 U.S. Open. The fourth game of the first set gave rise to a 30 shot rally between the two. Monfils took the point along with the first set, 7 games to 6 on a tie break. Nadal failed to play Monfils last return. However, Nadal bounced back in the second set with a 6-3 win. Furthermore, he defeated his opponent six games to one in the third set. Monfils was crushed three games to six in the final set as Rafa breezed through to the next round.
A day prior to the 2010 Australian Open, a charity match that went by the name of "Hit for Haiti" was played to raise money for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Federer and Hewitt were up against Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick. In between all of the goofing around, the four sportsmen played an eighteen shot rally and after winning the point, Roddick and Nadal high-fived each other in sheer delight.
Team Red, consisting of Federer and Hewitt amongst a few other professionals defeated team Blue featuring Nadal, Roddick and a number of other players with seven games to six.
Sweden's Robin Soderling was up against Rafael Nadal in the 2010 Capitala World Tennis Championship played in Abu Dhabi. The three set match was taken 7-6 and 7-5 by Rafa. A rally consisting of more than thirty shots was played between the two during the course of the match. Nadal took the point as Soderling drove the ball into the net.
As passionate as the players are, one can expect such performances in the future from these extremely talented tennis professionals.
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