John Isner a.k.a. the Marathon Man

After his unforgettable performance at Wimbledon in 2010, when he prevailed in an 11 hours and 5 minute contest with Frenchman Nicolas Mahut to set a new record for the longest tennis match ever, American John Isner gave another testimony of his resistance while tackling Argentinean David Nalbandian in the second round at Melbourne. 

Although Isner was the higher ranked player, Nalbandian, a former Grand Slam finalist, is still one of the most dangerous opponents on the tour, thus odds looked pretty even prior to the clash. And they remained so for most of the match, as there was little separating the two after they split the first four sets. Even though Isner has built himself a legacy as a marathon man following his Wimbledon epic, Nalbandian is no stranger to going the extra mile. He showed incredible fighting spirit and determination many times in his career, coming out on top of some fierce five setters. He did so especially during his fairytale run to the Wimbledon final in 2002, but also more recently, at the last year's Australian Open, when he broke the hearts of the crowd by beating the Aussie darling Lleyton Hewitt.

The decisive moment of the battle came in the 17th game of the decider when the Argentinean benefited from several break points. Struggling to dismiss a third opportunity for Nalbandian, John cracked down one of his powerful aces. The serve was called out, but the French referee Kader Nouni over-ruled. What followed was one strange incident. Nalbandian hesitated, but then decided to challenge the call via hawk-eye. Nuoni objected, arguing that it took too long for him to make up his mind and decided that the call stands, sending the game back to deuce. An angry Argentinean blasted the empire for several minutes and his ourburst proved extremely costly in the end. Not only did he lost that game, but he was broke immediately after by a clearheaded Isner who sealed a sensational 4-6,6-3,2-6,7-6,10-8 victory after 4 hours and 41 minutes of play.
While David used the press-conference to express once more his indignation, Isner declared himself delighted with the triumph, praising particularly his serve: ""[The] only thing that was keeping me in [it] was my serve. From the back of the court [he] was just not missing much and playing aggressively and playing really well. I knew he was capable of that. I mean, I was hoping he wasn't going to pull it out today. I felt like he played well, but I just hung in there. Eventually it paid off." The American, who hit 43 aces and 88 winners during his last performance, goes on to face Spaniard Feliciano Lopez next.

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