The first rain delay came in the fourth game, with the match even, and when the combatants returned they settled back into the established routine. They fought like two puppies over a rawhide bone. Every now and then, one of them appeared to take a little mental break, letting up just long enough to allow his rival to steal a few points and make a few threatening growling sounds. But then the re-energized one would regain lost ground and the tug of war continued on even terms.

By the time we hit the 5:04 mark, with random raindrops falling, it seemed that neither man could muster the will or physical strength to win, but neither was about to give up, either. They were like two prizefighters who could no longer hit hard enough to score knockout, but were in no danger of losing their own feet, either. They could have used foam bats to club each other instead of rackets and balls, and the chair umpire could have called it "therapy" and charged each of them a few hundred bucks.

In the 10th game, Clement reached match point against serve, but Schuettler saved it with a great shot: an "inside-in" forehand down the line, right over the highest part of the net. If you had to pick a shot of the match, that was it.  At 6-6, the only thing certain was that this was not going to end in another tiebreaker. We had rain delay with the score at deuce, and when play resumed Clement was broken.  Schuettler wouldn't let the bone go this time, although it took him three match points to end it.

In his presser, Schuettler said, "Honestly, it was a strange match. I mean, I was up 4-1 in the fourth and had two or three break points, so the entire match was like really, really strange. And after winning six (consecutive) points in the tiebreaker, I was like, Okay, two sets to one - solid!  Now he has to really try to win it and try to be more aggressive, try to risk it. Then 6-all, I was like, Oh, my God, what's happening here?

. . . I thought in the fourth set, I have it, and then it changed like the other way. So you never know."

When Clement was informed that the battle was close to being the longest match in Wimbledon's recorded history, he expressed indifference — that might have had something to do with the fact that he happened to be the loser in the longest match on record at Roland Garros - a six-hour plus loss to Fabrice Santoro. He ruefully said, "When you lost a match like this, you don't really care about, yeah, it's the longest match, ever. . .(anyway) it's not an interesting record. The record of Federer is a little more interesting."

Wow. You know those guys on death row. . . they're hard cases.

For more from Tennis World or to comment, visit Peter's blog. For All Things Tennis, All the Time, visit Tennis.com.

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