"Otherwise you can destroy the entire match" - Referee Mohamed Lahyani on the Isner / Mahut record game
Not only the record men John Isner and Nicolas Mahut had to go the full distance at the 2010 Wimbledon tournament, referee Mohamed Lahyani also had to wait a long time - despite exciting news.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Jul 06, 2020, 09:25 am
For their first-round drama in 2010, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut have secured entry in the world's record books. But referee Mohamed Lahyani also had to do endurance work.
Although at first everything seemed like a normal working day. "Two in the sets, that happens a lot . And in Wimbledon it is often canceled because of darkness," Lahyani recalled in an interview with the ATP these days . Shortly before he came to the square the next day, he received a call from his wife Mariam, who was in Morocco. "My wife called me and said there was special news: 'It's a boy!'" Lahyani replied: "I'm still finishing my match. Then we'll talk." You then had to wait for more than seven hours. And didn't even see the match, didn't realize that her husband was accompanying a historic event.
"Teamwork," Lahyani says of the 11-hour match
The Swede is committed to treating each match equally, as he continued to explain. "People always think about the finals. But it doesn't have to be a final to be a big match." He always says to young referees: "You have to treat all matches equally." The finale could often be the easiest game to arbitrate, "most of the hard games take place in round 1."
It was also remarkable that there was no remarkable discussion in the 11 hours and 5 minutes. "Teamwork," said Lahyani. When a player had the ball open to serve, he always said: Mohamed, concentrate! You don't want to finish the match after so long and do something stupid. "He often explains this to his young colleagues: that you have to focus on the whole match." This game was the perfect example. If you lose concentration for a millisecond, you can destroy the entire match. "
A very special moment: when Mahut hit an ace to 50:50 and there were standing ovations. It felt like it lasted several minutes, "the players had to tell the audience that they were calming down." After the game, Isner asked him, by the way: "Mohamed, you never had to go to the bathroom, how did that happen?" He was simply so focused on the game that he hadn't even thought about eating or drinking, the 54-year-old said in retrospect.