Refuse to Lose

Last June at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, American John Isner rivaled the French qualifier Nicolas Mahut in what was to be the longest match in tennis history. After four sets on Tuesday evening, play was suspended due to darkness. The match was tied at two sets a piece.

The final set resumed the following afternoon. During the course of the afternoon, the record for the longest match was broken. The score board became stuck on 47-47 games and later went dark because it wasn’t programmed for higher numbers. As the evening light faded, the match was again suspended with a tied score.

Play resumed again on Thursday, when at last Isner defeated his opponent. They had played 11 hours and 5 minutes over three days with a total of 183 games.

There had to be a loser, but neither man wanted to be the one who lost. These are two men who live life to win. Neither would accept losing, even after hours upon hours of a deadlock.

Tennis may not allow two winners, but both players are winners in my book. How much determination it must have taken to keep pushing, and to refuse to lose. What an inspiration. I might not have the skill to play like Isner or Mahut, but I can have the heart to try as hard as they do.