Wimbledon crowd witnesses marathon match

The scoreboard says it all. Please note: that is not a misprint
Photograph: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

The players look thoroughly knackered as referee Soeren Friemel suspends play for bad light, and for the sake of his sanity
Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

Where does the crowd get its energy from? Not one spectator is asleep. Several find it spectacularly, punishingly boring, but not one is asleep. Respect
Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

The photographers get their close-ups of Mahut: History Man, as he'll doubtless never be called
Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Isner is applauded by a set of fairly battle-hardened spectators as he leaves the court at the end of play
Photograph: Hamish Blair/Getty Images

Isner - tongue out, sweating, mind addled by 10 hours of tennis - heads for the locker room, while a supporter pleads with him to shoot her now
Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Mahut may be shattered, and psychologically scarred by the game of tennis for ever more, but at least his kit remains ice-white. Small victories, I suppose
Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

In a funny way, the spectators on court 18 probably went home thinking they got value for money
Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

Imagine how bad that towel smells after an unfinished final set THAT WENT WITH SERVE FOR 118 GAMES
Photograph: Hamish Blair/Getty Images

Pow! Isner plays a forehand that almost certainly doesn't lead to a break point
Photograph: Hamish Blair/Getty Images

'Can I at least go and get a sandwich?'
Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Mahut reacts in disbelief as the match moves from 44-43 in the final set to 44-44
Photograph: Hamish Blair/Getty Images

Isner looks to the heavens for inspiration. (Suffice to say, it was not forthcoming)
Photograph: Felipe Trueba/EPA

Insurrectionist Wimbledon spectators wilfully disobey the clearly labelled signage to sneak a peek at a final set of white-hot tennis with 118 successive games of serve being held
Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

'Maybe I'll be able to break serve if I lost the cap. But then the spectators might laugh at my hat hair. No, I'd better leave it on'
Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Spectators - maybe aware that history is being made, maybe just masochistic - watch the match on a giant screen
Photograph: Paul Childs/Action Images

Isner wins a point at the net. The crowd cheers. Mahut throws down an ace to hold. The crowd applauds. And so the match continues
Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

Yeah, Isner, you should be like that: 118 games, we've just been forced to sit through, and still no-one can break serve. Have a heart: throw in some double faults at least
Photograph: Neil Munns/EPA

Interesting Mahut-Isner Stat #72: If you totted up the number of steps the players took while changing ends in the final set, you'd be able to mark out three football pitches, or several times the length of Wales
Photograph: Hamish Blair/Getty Images

It might look impressive, but Mahut didn't actually win this point. Or game. Isner held. It was probably at 23-23. Or was it 36-36? Whatevs
Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA

Mahut returns after a toilet break to anguished cries from spectators who just want to go home and watch The Inspector Lynley Mysteries
Photograph: Felipe Trueba/EPA

'Hey, Mr Isner, would you like your towel?' "Kid, it's 55-55 in the final set. Forget the towel - I need a session with my shrink. Or at the very least an extra large glass of Robinson's Barley Water'
Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

A fearless Wimbledon ball boy offers Mahut his racket back - and risks the immediate threat of having it smashed all over his attentive head
Photograph: Mark Baker/AP

OH MY GOD WILL SOMEBODY JUST PLEASE MAKE IT STOP
Photograph: Mark Baker/AP

The guy fourth from the left in the navy shirt with the fair hair and the beard looks quite a lot like Graeme Swann, the England off-spinner. (Well, when it's 53-53 and your eyes have started to bleed, your mind has got to turn elsewhere, hasn't it?)
Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

To put it in perspective, Pancho Gonzales and Charlie Pasarell's putative epic at Wimbledon in 1969 had a first set which finished 22-24. 22-24! That is Vauxhall Conference tennis! Mahut and Isner have 22-24 for breakfast
Photograph: Mark Baker/AP

'If that had just been two inches the other side of the net, then Mahut would have probably still gone on to win the game and hold his serve, so, really, what's the point?'
Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP

Thank God it's finished. For today at least …
Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA