TWO TENNIS PLAYERS FROM MONACO MAKING HISTORY

By Julia Saint-Germain

It was ten years ago that two Monaco tennis players, Benjamin Balleret and Guillaume Couillard, entered into the world tennis book of records with the longest tie-break in history. The duel between the two monegasques kept the crowds in suspense for over 35 minutes — the entire length of a tie-break.

tie-break is played up to seven points. The winner must score seven points and at least two points more than his opponent.

As to the two Monegasques, they actually played a whopping 70 points, with a final score of 36:34! It was an absolute breakthrough. The match was ultimately won by Benjamin Balleret ranked world 636th, with a 6:1 second set. The two players had previously competed for the Davis Cup against Morocco under the Monaco flag in April 2012. They naturally parted on good terms.

Benjamin Balleret

Duels between tennis players are not uncommon. This sport is all the more entertaining with an ever increasing number of records that it has in store. The match between the two Monegasques in Florida, however, not only made a splash in the tennis world, but truly went down in history.

In 2013, Benjamin Balleret and Guillaume Couillard were qualified for the $10,000 Futures tournament in Plantation, Florida, USA. Back then, little did we know that the tie-break between the two Monegasques would last for an entire 35 minutes. Not being the world’s longest tennis match, it certainly is a record-breaker in terms of points scored during a tie-break. It must be said that once a set is a draw 6:6, a special

For Benjamin Balleret this historic match was the second highlight in his career. The first time he drew attention to himself was in the spring of 2006 when he reached the quarter finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, having beaten the 44th in the world Christophe Rochus, and then Sebastien Grosjean, who then ranked 23rd in the ATP and was considered the best tennis player in France. Benjamin Balleret himself before the start of the tournament had a modest 351st ranking. At the next stage he lost to Roger Federer, the ATP No 1, but the shining performance of the 23-year-old Monegasque made a splash, and in June 2006 he immediately climbed to 204th place in the world rankings.

Today Benjamin Balleret is training young Monegasques, getting them ready them for new victories. Having played for the Davis Cup Monegasque team for sixteen seasons, Benjamin scored 47 wins (32 in singles and 15 in doubles) and played 44 tie-breaks — more than any other member of the team throughout its history.

It’s interesting that it was another Balleret, Bernard, Benjamin’s father, who played most seasons for the Monaco Davis Cup team — nineteen. Bernard is also the youngest player to have played for the national team: he defended the colours of his country in 1971 two weeks before his 17th anniversary.

Guillaume Couillard

Lorraine-born Guillaume Couillard became a member of the Monegasque Davis Cup team in 2002. In the same year, he achieved the best result of his sports career (569th in the ATP Tour rankings) and was one of the top thirty French players. For several seasons he also performed well at the Futures tournaments (it was exactly at one of these tournaments that the historical tie-break took place). Guillaume Couillard also participated in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in doubles: in 2008 together with Jean-René Lisnard he played against Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo and in 2009 against Gaël Monfils and Stan Wawrinka.

During 13 years of playing for Monaco in the Davis Cup Guillaume scored 28 victories (14 in singles and 14 in doubles) and played 35 tie-breaks. Unfortunately, he suffered from injuries that prevented him from progressing and reaching his potential. Today, 47-year-old Guillaume Couillard is the captain and coach of the Monaco team, which includes Hugo Nis, Romain Arneodo, Valentin Vacherot and Lucas Catarina.

Some Other Tennis Records

The second longest official tie-break was played in 2016 at the Futures tournament in Aktobe when a Russian Evgenii Tiurnev defeated a Serbian Danilo Petrović in the final with a score of 7:6 (25:23), 6:3.

Tie-breaks of 38 points (20:18) were played and won by Bjorn Borg in 1973, Goran

Ivanišević in 1993 and 1997, Roger Federer in 2004, José Acasuso in 2006, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2007 (he lost the match), and Leonardo Mayer in 2020.

As to the longest tie-break in men doubles, it was played in 1985 at Wimbledon. Michael Mortensen and Jan Gunnarsson then beat John Fraulia and Victor Pecci — with 26:24 in the final set.

This is definitely not the only Wimbledon record. The tournament is also known for the longest match ever played in history. In June 2010, American John Isner beat Frenchman Nicolas Mahut with a score 70:68. The historic battle lasted 11 hours 05 minutes over three days, being interrupted twice be - cause of darkness, and at last finished with a score of 6:4, 3:6, 6:7, 7:6, 70:68 in favour of Isner. On the third day, even Elizabeth II, the Queen of Great Britain, came to watch that incredible final!

As to the longest match in history played in one day, it was on September 24, 1984, between the Americans Vicki Nelson and Jean Hepner, 93rd and 172nd in the world. It was at the Virginia Slims tournament match in Richmond, Virginia with a $50,000 prize pool. The game, in which Nelson won with a score of 6:4, 7:6, lasted 6 hours and 31 minutes. Another record was registered in this match — the longest point which lasted 29 minutes. During this point two tennis players exchanged 643 shots.

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