Will it ever end?

I wouldn't call it a great tennis match but the John Isner-Nicolas Mahut match is definitely an epic.

In case you somehow missed it, the first round Wimbledon match has turned into the longest in tennis history, by about five miles. It started yesterday, continued into today and will spill over into tomorrow. The fifth set is currently suspended until tomorrow with the score a ridiculous 59-59.

Consider that the 2008 Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal is considered by many the greatest match of all-time and Nadal won that fifth set by a 9-7 count. Or that last year's Federer-Andy Roddick final is considered by many to being fairly close to the Federer-Nadal match and Federer won that fifth set by a 16-14 score.

As of now, this match has gone one for a total of 10 hours of playing time. The fifth set alone has gone on for seven hours and six minutes, which alone would break the record for the longest match of all-time, a 2004 French Open match won by Fabrice Santoro over Arnaud Clement, that lasted six hours and 33 minutes.

Wimbledon began in 1877 and no match in its history had ever lasted more than 112 total games. The fifth set of this match has gone to 118 games on its own with no end in sight.

Isner has 98 aces to Mahut's 95. The previous one-match record? 78 by Ivo Karlovic. Neither, however, has managed to break serve in the fifth set. In fact, the match has been so mundane (in spite of its length) that, through 118 games in the fifth set, only four match points have been saved. Four. In 107 games since Isner went up 6-5 in the set.

Said the great Federer, who earlier today won his second-round match in four sets:

"I have almost no words anymore watching this. It's beyond anything I've ever seen and could imagine. I don't know how their bodies must feel the next day, the next week, the next month. This is incredible tennis. For them to serve the aces they served and stay there mentally is a heroic effort. As we know, we have no draws in tennis, so there will be a loser. But I guess in this match, both will be winners because this is just absolutely amazing."

(Would it be too much to ask for a Federer-Nadal final that goes this long?)