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Wimbledon Report: “Is it death? I think it might be death.’

The record-breaking

endless tennis match

between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut has produced an equally memorable piece of sportswriting: a

sprawling, desperate liveblog

by Xan Brooks of the Guardian. Form and subject come together in an ever-heightening frenzy, with Brooks gradually recognizing that the Isner-Mahut stalemate, which began as a side note in the blog’s all-around Wimbledon coverage, has become the day’s only story, obliterating all other news about the tournament, London, or life itself. There are hilarious lines throughout, but to quote very many of them out of context is to lose the maddened real-time artistry of the writing, as Brooks—like the players themselves—keeps reaching the outer limits of his imagination and endurance, then pushing on into the unknown. (Via

The Awl

.)