Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France celebrates after defeating Milos Raonic of Canada in the second round of Men's Singles Tennis on Day 4 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at Wimbledon on July 31, 2012 in London, England
Image by: Clive Brunskill / Getty Images
French fifth seed Tsonga out-lasted Canada’s Raonic 6-3, 3-6, 25-23 in a remarkable second round clash on Wimbledon’s Court One on Tuesday that wrote their names in the record books.
The 48-game final set was the longest single set in Olympic history, a record that takes into account all men’s and women’s matches in both singles and doubles.
That last set took the total number of games in the match to 66, which shattered the previous record of 48 for Fernando Gonzalez’s 6-4, 2-6, 16-14 win against Taylor Dent at the 2004 Games in Athens.
In Olympic singles, only the five-set, 76-game encounter between Gordon Lowe and Augustos Zerlendis at the 1920 Games in Antwerp has featured more games.
In total, the players spent three hours and 56 minutes on court before Tsonga finally sealed the win with a volley that Raonic couldn’t quite reach despite a despairing lunge.
For Tsonga it was a rare moment in the spotlight after several years playing second fiddle to Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
Tsonga was beaten by Djokovic in his only Grand Slam final at the Australian Open in 2008 and has also lost to Djokovic and Murray in the Wimbledon semi-finals for the last two years.
“For me it’s good because this is the only way to write my name in history for the moment,” Tsonga said.
“With Rafa, Roger and Novak, even Andy, it’s tough to go through big tournaments. So I’m really happy. I hope I will have some more (history).
“Today I was just thinking from point to point and not anymore than that. I had many possibilities and I didn’t take them. But finally I did it so I’m really happy.”
Tsonga has been a huge fan of the Olympics since falling in love with the event while watching on television as a child.
“It’s something special because I dreamed about Olympics when I was kid. And now it came true. It’s maybe better than in my dream,” he said.
“For me, to represent my country is something big. They give me a lot, so I try to give back.”
Tsonga won’t have long to celebrate as he needs to recover quickly for his scheduled third round match against Spain’s Feliciano Lopez on Wednesday, while he is also due to play in the doubles with Michael Llodra.
“It’s not like if I played for one hour. It’s a long match. But I will do everything to recover and I will take some time to relax,” he added.
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