Four tennis coaches from Oxfordshire, England today set a new World Record, playing the longest doubles match on record. Ollie Carr, Ed Isard, Jon Maskens and Josh Crossley started at 6am GMT on Friday 18 March 2016, and played through until 6pm GMT on Sunday 20 March 2016. "The Long Dubs" are all coaches at the White Horse Leisure and Tennis Centre in Abingdon. Their match lasted sixty hours and over 1000 games and raised over £11,000 (and counting) for Sport Relief.
The previous record doubles marathon stood at 57 hr 32 min 27 sec, achieved by Sipke de Hoop, Wichard Heidekamp, Andre Poel, Rob Hamersma (all Netherlands) at the Zuidlaarder Tennis Club, Zuidlaren, Netherlands, on 16-18 August 2013. The group of four played 46 matches, consisting of 112 sets and 975 games.
The Long Dubs received encouragement from Radio 1 DJ Dev, who dedicated Coldplay's Hymn for the Weekend to the team, and from Judy Murray, mother of tennis ace Andy. The tennis coaching team at the venue organised support events to help keep the players awake: over 100 supporters turned out for a 10 pm to 2 am Cardio Tennis session alongside the record-breakers on Saturday night. Several hundred supporters turned out to cheer the team as they overtook the previous record holder and continued to play for a further two hours and thirty minutes.
Thanking the supporters at the end of the match, Ed Isard spoke for the team, to encourage anyone who has never played the game, or used to play it to give it a go this year and join in and share their passion for the game.
See the action unfold at https://twitter.com/TheLongDubs