Racket, shirt from marathon Wimbledon match headed to hall of fame
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French tennis player Nicolas Mahut will donate a slightly used racket and somewhat-worn shirt to the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
The racket and shirt were used by Mahut during his record-setting match at Wimbledon last week, when he lost to American John Isner in a match that lasted more than 11 hours, was suspended twice because of darkness and included a 138-game fifth set.
Mahut will make the donation during a presentation at the Newport, R.I., museum Saturday before the draw party for next week’s Hall of Fame Championships, the only professional grass-court tournament in North America.
It’s unlikely that another marathon match like the one between Mahut and Isner will ever happen again, and it definitely won’t occur in Newport next week -- the tournament plays only three sets, with a tiebreaker.
-- Chuck Schilken
The Associated Press contributed to this report.