Its All About Endurance...

My Grey cells were constantly active by the very thought of How on earth could one have such great strength and stamina with reference to the Semi Finals between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic at Roland Garros 2013.These two have been put to test time and again when playing against each other. It was Australian Open 2012 where both had exhausted to such an extent that they couldn't even stand during the Ceremony.

It needs perseverance and great strength along with the ability to tolerate pain and grief when it comes to playing Grand Slams.The Serve and Volley game of tennis in the 1980's and 90's has been of mere existence today where we see players playing from Baseline and Long Rallies.

In 1969 Wimbledon,  it was Pancho Gonzales and Charlie Pasarell who played a match lasting 5 hours and 12 minutes with the score of 22–24, 1–6, 16–14, 6–3, 11–9.  It was after this match that the rule to implement tiebreak gained momentum. Hence, In 1971 Wimbledon Introduced Tie break in all sets except the Final with games equalling 8 each. The rules changed with time and now it is at 6 games each, we have a tiebreak.
Still in those days, while the tiebreak was not introduced in Davis cup, the 1982 quarterfinal between John McEnroe ( US ) and Mats Wilander ( Sweden ) was considered to be longest in open era at 6 hours and 22 minutes and in the end the scoreline was 9-7, 6-2, 15-17, 3-6, 8-6. John McEnroe was again put to similar challenge in 1987 davis cup match against Boris Becker with the German winning this time 4–6, 15–13, 8–10, 6–2, 6–2.

John McEnroe after the match stated that
"I gave it all I had, and it was a hell of a tennis match, I wish the results were different, but it's nice to be a part of a match like that."

Tie break in all sets except the deciding set, made matches to finish off faster and still with the application of tie break, the Longest Match till date is of John Isner vs Nicolas Mahut at The Championships 2010. The final set score was 70-68, which itself speaks about how much the players would have stretched themselves to.
The Longest Grand Slam Finals was Between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal at Australian Open 2012 which is considered today by many greats as One of the Greatest Matches Ever for just not the time it took but the quality of tennis was exceptional and way beyond our imagination. Even in our wildest of dreams,could we think of anyone as passionate and committed towards the game as Nadal and Djokovic were in that match ?. It was Preternatural and an extraordinary match. The Semi finals of French Open 2013, gave us a glimpse of this Finals but Djokovic was not upto the mark considering the number of Unforced errors he committed. It was 75 against 44 of Nadal.
It is to be strongly believed now that whenever Rafa and Nole would lock horns in future, it would be an epic to watch out for. The Spanish Bull prevailed over the Gritty Djoker in this semis but would love to see many more encounters like these.

Its the fortitude and courage along with endurance, stamina, resilience and mental ability to overcome an opponent as great as Nadal and Djokovic. While speaking about endurance, i would love to speak here about players specially from a background of Clay courts like Del potro , David Ferrer , Fernando Verdasco. Even they have been put to test by Nadal and Djokovic. It was Australian Open 2009 Semifinals, where Verdasco lost to Nadal in epic 5 setter. A match highly rated among tennis fans.
You might be thinking, why am I not considering the Great Roger Federer here, it is only because of a simple reason that Roger has not been put to such devastating challenge except once when Nadal won over him at Rome Masters in 2006 in a match that lasted 5 hours 5 minutes. The 5 set record of Federer is just 56% in comparison to Nadal's 75%.
If you might consider Age as a factor for Roger then I would like to cite examples of Tommy Robredo who at French Open 2013 became the Only player in Open Era to have won 3 consecutive matches in a Grand Slam being 2 sets down in each. Also Tommy Haas needs a citation with due respect as he overcame John Isner in an epic at French Open this year. For that matter I would also consider David Ferrer to be highly fit even at 31 as he had reached the Finals of French open last year without even loosing a Set.
Even at the age above 30, these guys are playing phenomenal tennis and is a very good sign for the Game and fans.
Hope to see more matches like the ones mentioned and more players coming and challenging the Top 4.

Signing Off for the being and looking ahead to a Great 2014 Season.