It began as one of those familiar Wimbledon staples, a first-round serving contest neither yeoman singles player appeared capable of winning.
The men, an angular 6-foot-3 French qualifier and an elastic 6-foot-10 ace-maker from the U.S. who had yet to win a match as a pro at the mecca of grass-court tennis, quietly struggling into the twilight out on Court 18.
When the match ended, five years ago to the day, more than 11 hours had passed and 200 aces were struck. The clash between France's Nicolas Mahut and John Isner had evolved into a credulity-straining, record-shattering, mesmerizing spectacle that left even casual tennis fans riveted to their news feeds until Isner finally punched out a backhand pass to win it, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68.
While everyone understood the joy and relief Isner must have felt, their hearts probably swelled with feeling for Mahut. He had to be shattered. Oh what a bitter pill to swallow. Mahut's coach reportedly had to carry him the last few steps to the locker room, where the Frenchman collapsed, wept inconsolably and gasped for air so desperately that tournament officials called a doctor for fear that he would pass out.
Such an effort. And now Mahut would be remembered forever as the loser in what was almost certainly destined to be the longest match in tennis history. It was an open-and-shut case. Or was it?
Isner declared himself as a force with that magnificent performance, and he'll always be remembered for the courage he showed in winning. But in the ensuing years, he also has had trouble getting traction as a Grand Slam contender, and he has taken criticism for it. And while Isner has been ranked as high as No. 9 (2012), he hasn't been able to hold a place in the top 10 with any degree of consistency.
Moreover, Isner was expected to step forward to replace Andy Roddick as the rock upon whom the U.S. would build its tennis fortunes. His spirit has been willing, but the rock has been unstable. He has flared up with good results, then slipped back. He has handled the pressure inherent in his situation with grace and dignity, but the setbacks have been jarring.
Isner, who recently turned 30, has been to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam just once -- at the 2011 US Open. His next best result has been a third-round appearance at the French Open in 2014. Isner feels that he has been "put a bit under a microscope" as the top player in the struggling American stable, and he has struggled a little with that. And he has been asked some uncomfortable questions lately about his progress.
"I'm not desperate to get that [second Grand Slam quarterfinal]," he recently told reporters in London. "The results in the Grand Slams have been a bit disappointing since that first quarterfinal, but I'm not putting pressure on myself."
For Mahut, the "endless match" translated to instant recognition -- and what appears to be improvement by osmosis. Mahut was an outstanding junior (he won a Wimbledon singles title among other things) who reached a pro career high of No. 40 in 2008. But injuries and failing confidence left him at No. 148 by the summer of 2010. He was lost in the shuffle, a scrub on a deep French form chart. Then the Isner match transformed him into what he remains today: a personage.
Mahut's post-Isner notoriety helped him earn a ranking as high as No. 94, but he slipped back again. He rebounded again, though, in 2013. His resurgence began when Mahut joined with fellow countryman Michael Llodra to reach the French Open finals that year, when they lost to the Bryan brothers. Just weeks later, Mahut went to Newport and, on the final day of the tournament, he won a semifinal from Michael Russell and defeated Lleyton Hewitt in the final to win the title. Then he went out with Edouard Roger Vasselin and won the doubles, too.
Mahut is 33 years old, the same age as Roger Federer. It's unlikely he'll ever be ranked in the top 10. But the best things that have happened to him in tennis (his three singles titles, including one he bagged recently in 's-Hertogenbosch) have happened since he lost the biggest tennis match he has ever played in his life, the one in which he will forever be remembered as the loser.
Meanwhile, the winner of that epic endless match might be entitled to ask himself whatever happened to the payoff from that effort? Here Isner is, five years down the road from that glorious day, with just five Wimbledon wins (two of them over Mahut) to his credit.
Time has softened the pain of that historic loss for Mahut. In the months immediately following the match, he has said, he sometimes experienced depression and frequently dreamed he'd won the match. But he got over that. And over time, he also came to a liberating conclusion he shared with an interviewer.
"I came to see that this is not going into the history books as either a loss or a win, but because we both achieved something unbelievable. It made a lot of people feel good, and that makes me proud."
Proud, certainly, but it also made Mahut just plain better.