Quit complaining, we’ve had ten hour work days too

Quit complaining, we’ve had ten hour work days too

After ten hours on court, two Wimbledon players resume their epic battle today. Reminds Kipp of that time we had to stay a bit late when the internet broke down.

June 24, 2010 4:51 by shafeer

You may not have noticed, thanks to the din of the FIFA World Cup, but earlier this week the Wimbledon tennis championships got quietly underway. It’s been a slow start to the tournament, aside from an early scare for defending champion Roger Federer, but all that changed on Wednesday when John Isner and Nicolas Mahut embarked on what turned out to be the longest grand slam game ever played. They closed the day having played for ten hours, and were set to resume the match on Thursday.

“We’ll have to come back. We play for too long, I don’t know how many hours,” said Mahut after the game was halted due to poor light.

Kipp is not sure what he’s complaining about, to be honest. We’d need to use more than one hand to count the number of days we’ve worked for ten hours, and you never heard us complaining. Although it was really, really tough, and we were exhausted afterwards; it’s so unfair.

What’s that? Tennis is more physically demanding than Kipp? Not when the building’s lift breaks down, it isn’t. Kipp still has sore legs from the last time that happened. And you try sitting in this chair all day.

Still we do concede that a ten hour tennis match at the highest level could be a pretty grueling feat. To accomplish it, you’d need to do some major preparation. Comfort is your first major factor, as you’ll need a couch that is up to the job. Second, hydration. Too much, and you’ll be off the couch every half hour for the toilet; too little and you may have to head down to the shop during the action, which is bad news if you’ve invested five hours in the game and it could finish in just a couple of minutes. Third, nutrition: it is imperative you have plenty of snacks nearby, or once again you might face the shop dilemma. And ten hours is a long time, a spectator’s got to eat.

As for the guys actually playing the match, well they can thank their lucky stars they’re not England fans. Watching one of their World Cup games – that really is hard work.