On the third day, someone won.
格兰温布尔登网球公开赛，在历时11个小时零五分钟之后，美国网球选手伊斯内尔（John Isner）最终以6-4、3-6、 6-7(7)、 7-6(3)、 70-68的比分战胜法国老将马胡（Nicolas Mahut）。这场网球史上耗时最长、比分最怪异、最惊世骇俗的比赛最终打了183局，总分达980分，双方共轰出215个Ace球，打坏了126个网球。
After 11 hours, 5 minutes, 183 games, 980 points, 215 aces and 126 badly bruised tennis balls, John Isner ended the longest, strangest, darnedest tennis match ever played, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 70-68 over France's Nicolas Mahut.
伊斯内尔以一记反拍拿下赛点，赢得这场世纪大战。获胜后的他倒在球场上大叫起来。稍复平静后，他拥抱了脸色阴沉的马胡。从第一盘的第九局开始，马胡在自己的发球局中从未失手。而那已经是周二的事情了。
Mr. Isner belted a backhand winner on match point, dropped to the court and screamed. Moments later, he embraced a sullen Mr. Mahut, who hadn't lost a game on his serve since the ninth game of the first set. That was on Tuesday.
伊斯内尔在球场上接受采访时说，必须要分出胜负真令人难过，和他（马胡）在赛场上奋战绝对是我的荣幸。
'It stinks someone had to lose,' Mr. Isner said in an on-court interview. 'To share this day with him was an absolute honor.'
周四，在简短的仪式之后，两位球员和当值主裁拉亚尼Mohamed Lahyani在全英草地俱乐部第18号球场的记分牌下合影。在周三进行的第五盘比赛中，当比分超过50-50时，这块记分牌罢工了。像温布尔登其他人一样，像全世界其他一样，这个记分牌无法计算一场永不终结的比赛。
After a brief ceremony Thursday, the players and the chair umpire, Mohamed Lahyani, posed for a picture under the scoreboard on Court 18, which malfunctioned on Wednesday when the contest went beyond 50-50 in the fifth set. Like the rest of Wimbledon, and the rest of the world, it couldn't compute the match that just would not end.
这个时候无需谦虚。马胡说，我们刚打完史上最伟大的比赛。当地时间下午八点左右，这名法国人又回到第18号球场进行双打比赛。
This wasn't a time for modesty. 'We just played the greatest match ever,' Mr. Mahut said. The Frenchman later returned to Court 18 for his doubles match, which began just before 8 p.m. local time.
持续了三天的这场网球马拉松引发人们思考一个问题：这种情况还会发生吗？当然我们是指的长盘决胜。
The three-day tennis marathon inspired a question: Would anyone ever let this happen again? We're referring, of course, to the tiebreaker.
在美国网球公开赛中，比分不会超过6-6。与澳网、法网、温网不同，美网的决胜盘采用抢七决胜制。网坛名宿约翰•麦肯罗(John McEnroe)在接受BBC采访时表示，另外三个大满贯赛事也应该采取美网的比分制度。俄罗斯美女球星沙拉波娃(Maria Sharapova)同意前辈的说法。她说，到了一定的比分，就应该抢七定胜负。
At the U.S. Open, they wouldn't have played past 6-6. Unlike the other three Grand Slam tournaments, it settles fifth-set ties with breakers. John McEnroe told the BBC that the rest of the majors should fall in line with the Americans. Maria Sharapova agreed. 'At a certain point you're going to have to play a tiebreaker,' she said.
但是并没有太多人支持这种观点。伊斯内尔和马胡之间这场网球历史上耗时最长的比赛令现场的观众恨不得时间就此停止。周三晚上，温网赛事官员在两天内第二次商量是否中止比赛，而现场观众高呼：我们还想看！
Yet there's hardly a groundswell of support for this view. The longest match in history has mostly left people begging for seconds. As officials decided whether to send Messrs. Isner and Mahut off the court Wednesday evening, for the second time in two days, the crowd shouted, 'We want more!'
Tom Perrotta
- interview [´intəvju:]
n.&vt.接见；会见；交谈 (初中英语单词) - absolute [´æbsəlu:t] a.绝对的 n.绝对 (初中英语单词)
- ceremony [´seriməni] n.典礼；礼仪；客气 (初中英语单词)
- wednesday [´wenzdi] n.星期三 (初中英语单词)
- contest [kən´test, ´kɔntest] v.争辩 n.争夺；竞赛 (初中英语单词)
- frenchman [´frentʃmən] n.法国人 (初中英语单词)
- unlike [,ʌn´laik] a.不同的 prep.不象... (初中英语单词)
- mostly [´məustli] ad.主要地；多半；通常 (初中英语单词)
- tennis [´tenis] n.网球(运动) (高中英语单词)
- sullen [´sʌlən] a.不高兴的 (高中英语单词)
- decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
- winner [´winə] n.胜利者，得奖者 (英语四级单词)
- compute [kəm´pju:t] v.&n.计算；估计 (英语四级单词)
- modesty [´mɔdisti] n.谨慎；端庄；羞怯 (英语四级单词)
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