London 2012 Olympics: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga wins a marathon match

THE longest set in Olympic history was played at Wimbledon last night when Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France defeated Milos Raonic of Canada 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 in the second round.

Tsonga won on his fourth match point with a drop volley. “This is the only way for me to write my name in history at the moment,” he said, referring to the domination of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at major tournaments. “It’s good for tennis and it’s good for sports,” he said of the record.

The previous record in men’s singles was 30 games in 2004 when Fernando Gonzalez defeated Taylor Dent in the third set, 16-14, to win the bronze medal. The third set of a women’s doubles match in 1988 went to 20-18.

The longest set in tennis history also was played at the All England Club – in 2010 when John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set in the first round of Wimbledon.

“It’s difficult to play the other guy because his serve is perfect,” Tsonga said after the marathon. “I’m pretty happy with the way I played because 
it was not easy for me.”

The contest between Tsonga and Raonic also had most games – 66 – in a best-of-three sets match at the Olympics. The previous record was 63. Tennis was not played at the Olympics between 1924 and 1988.