Andy Aitken and Ryan Trickey successfully completed their target of 72 hours to claim a Guinness World Record for the longest continuous tennis singles match.
In an amazing feat of endurance, the two tennis coaches from Abingdon in Oxfordshire beat the existing record by almost 12 hours.
As the 72nd hour arrived, Andy and Ryan were 1-1 in their 98th set of tennis with Ryan taking 71 sets to Andy’s 26 but both were winners as their amazing efforts hope to raise thousands of pounds for the Dan Maskell Tennis Trust which helps people with disabilities to play tennis.
“We’re tired but happy we’ve completed the challenge,” said an elated Ryan.
“The toughest part was the last few hours but by then we knew we could do it,” added Andy.
Over the three days and three nights of continuous play, the guys burned in excess of 40,000 calories each, ran around 70 miles on the court and played nearly 5,000 points.
Tim Henman had sent them both a message of support before the match. Afterwards he said, “Many, many congratulations to Andy and Ryan who have unbelievably smashed the world record by about half a day!
“This is a truly remarkable achievement for a very worthwhile cause. I really do hope people will take a minute to donate £3 by texting TENNIS to 70007 in recognition of this amazing effort. Well done guys!”
In addition to texting, donations can also be made online at: www.justgiving.com/longestsinglestennismatch
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