Follow the latest news and scores from Wimbledon 2016 on Wimbledon.com or Apple TV, or download the official IOS or Android apps for smartphone and tablet
Wimbledon has long been a special place for Nicolas Mahut. It became profoundly more so when he combined with Pierre-Hugues Herbert to win the 2016 men’s doubles title.
“I said since I played tennis that Wimbledon is the greatest tournament,” said Mahut.
“You know, when you win the match point in the final, you just realise that you're going to have your name written on the trophy and everywhere. Being the champions here in Wimbledon, it's a dream come true for me.”
Until then, the Frenchman had been best remembered for his record-breaking singles match with John Isner in 2010, which became the longest match in history after finishing 70-68 in the fifth set.
“It's something special, having the name on the Court 18,” said Mahut, who was also the Wimbledon boys’ singles champion in 2000. “We talk a lot about this match already. I'm very proud of it.
“But now it's something different. Now I can come in the press conference as a Wimbledon champion. It's great.”
With an emphatic 6-4, 7-6(1),6-3 victory over compatriots Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger Vasselin in an all-French final, it was also a pleasing validation of the pair’s status as the world’s No.1 pair. Wimbledon becomes their second Grand Slam title, following victory at the 2015 US Open.
Neither Herbert nor Mahut had their serves broken as they progressed to the Wimbledon title, the pair saving all four of the break points that Benneteau and Roger-Vasselin managed. Even so, the close contest was emphasised by the six set points it would take for Herbert and Mahut to secure the first set, that advantage at last occurring when the Benneteau serve was broken in the 10th game.
The most serious challenge Herbert and Mahut faced was in the fifth game of the second set. Mahut had won every point on his serve until then but after a rare double fault, he also faced break points. Surviving those to send the set into a tiebreak, the pair capitalised when consecutive errors from Benneteau helped them take an early lead. With their opponents not winning a point on their own serves, Mahut and Herbert closed out the set in 53 minutes.
With Herbert and Mahut combining superbly at the net and finding the critical gaps against their compatriots, the third set was never in doubt: with a break of serve on Roger-Vasselin’s serve in the seventh game, they claimed three consecutive games to secure their victory in two hours and six minutes.
While the scoreboard showed the match as a straightforward one, there were several complications in the first all-French final of the Open Era. Benneteau and Mahut enjoyed a successful junior career together, winning seven doubles titles together to become the 1999 ITF Junior Boys’ Doubles World Champions. The 34-year-old Mahut had in fact won doubles titles with every other man on the court.
“I know Julien for more than 20 years. I played so many matches with him. The same for him. He knows what I like to do, I know what he likes to do,” said Mahut.
“Even Edouard, we played many tournaments together. So something more tactically. Maybe sometimes you have to change what you really want to do to let them think.
“We said, ‘OK, we have to play the final of Wimbledon. Even if they're friends in front of us, we just want to win this tournament’. I think we did it well.”
