Isner pleads the 5th at Wimbledon, losing 19-17 to Tsonga

Tsonga, who won a marathon match at the weekend against John Isner 19-17 in the final set, was a break up against number seven seed Gasquet when the match was ended.

Roger Federer has called for a tie-break at 12-12 in deciding sets at Wimbledon to stop matches, such as John Isner v Jo Wilfried Tsonga from the weekend, running for hours.

Tsonga will take on another Frenchman, Richard Gasquet, for a place in the quarter-finals and it will be a case of how much he has left in the tank.

Federer’s longest fifth set came in the 2009 Wimbledon final against Andy Roddick, when he prevailed 16-14. This was the ninth time in grand slams that he has gone beyond 6-6 and he has now lost five of them.

“Every time I step out on the court, if I don’t win, it’s major national news”, she said.

“I think we’re definitely going to hear a lot about him in the future”, said Berdych of Zverev.

Tsonga was 50-50 on the idea.

“One of my good friends”.

“It’s good to be alive”, said the Frenchman afterwards. This time, seats could only be purchased online, and there was a far-less-vibrant vibe than in the past on what was known as “People’s Sunday”. “Of course, for us it’s good to finish it, because the victor will play another match and continue”. He was serving very well, and, yeah, I know the match could go a long way, but I wasn’t thinking about what happened six years ago. Now I have to play three days in a row so that’s a little bit unfair, but I’m prepared for it.

In 2006, a men’s doubles match between Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor against Todd Perry and Simon Aspelin went to 23-21 in the fifth set and lasted 6 hours and 7 minutes, spread over two days. However, due to a rain-induced backlog of matches, organisers were forced to have play for just the fourth time in the tournament’s 130-year history.

After falling an early break behind at 2-1, Williams won 11 of the last 12 games and 24 of the second set’s 28 points. Isner manages to save set point in the seventh game with a 40-0 win, but Tsonga answers back with a 40-0 win of his own to seal the fourth set.

While Tsonga and Isner showed little sign of wilting, umpire Carlos Bernardes was not feeling as lucid on his lofty perch and struggled to keep pace, announcing “Isner leads by 16.sss.to fif.15” as the match entered its fifth hour.

He said: “I’m so glad to have the chance to play tennis again”.

Williams will next face No. 13 Svetlana Kuznetsova, who came from 5-2 down in the final set to beat No. 22 Sloane Stephens 6-7 (1), 6-2, 8-6 and reach the fourth round for the first time since 2008. “For sure tomorrow I will play”. I didn’t care about any other match that was being played other than that match. I need to work hard physically and on my wrist, my backhands.