Wimbledon: After many hours, Kevin Anderson beats John Isner in semifinal

It was finally time for Anderson to serve for the win, and although he missed a volley of forehand in the net on the first point, with the anxious crowd, he pulled himself together remarkably to win all four Following points and the match

When Isner's last forehand went off, Anderson could have been excused for doing cartwheels or at least several handpumps on the grbad. Instead, he was remarkably restrained, partly by fatigue, partly out of respect for Isner.

"Obviously, I'm very happy to get through, but at the same time, I really feel for John," says Anderson. "It's not easy to lose games regardless of the score line in this kind of context, semi-finals at Wimbledon, but especially in those conditions with such a tight score line."

who developed an unexpected friendship. Anderson and Isner already had a long history: they were rivals before becoming professionals, when Isner starred for the University of Georgia and Anderson for the University of Illinois.

Isner won eight of his 12 games on the ATP tour, but they did not clash in a single Grand Slam tournament until Friday. Their meeting at the Center Court lasted longer than a few university meetings away from the Court Center.

But as memorable as it was for Anderson, he is not keen that others have a similar experience. Moments after leaving the pitch, he told the BBC that he thought there should be a tiebreaker in the fifth set at Wimbledon, Roland Garros and the US. Open from Australia. The US Open is the only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments that uses a tie breaker in the last set of singles.

Anderson and Isner later reiterated their support for a format change.

see the reason not to include it now at least at all Slams, "said Anderson, a longtime member of the ATP Player Council." Obviously, John's match in 2010 When it was ridiculous, I felt that many people were talking about it then. Things have not changed.