What are the longest Wimbledon finals of the Open Era?

Oli Dickson Jefford 12 Jul 2025 1:13 PM

Pictured: Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

The Wimbledon finals for 2025 are set.

Iga Swiatek and Amanda Anisimova will face off in an intriguing women’s singles final, while Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner renew their rivalry in the men’s final.

Both are intriguing matches, but will either threaten to become the longest women’s or men’s finals of the Open Era at the All England Club?

Here, we take a look at the finals that went the distance and beyond inside Centre Court.

Women’s singles

2025 marks two decades since Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport’s epic women’s singles final at the All England Club, a match widely considered the greatest women’s final at Wimbledon.

Former world No 1 Davenport served for the match in the second set and held a championship point in the fourth, only for Williams to rally back and triumph 4-6, 7-6(4), 9-7 and claim the third of her five singles titles at SW19.

Not only is the match considered by many to be the greatest Wimbledon women’s singles final, but it is also the longest, at two hours and 46 minutes in length.

At 39 games in length, it is the second-longest Wimbledon final of the Open Era in terms of games played.

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That record is held by Margaret Court and Billie Jean King, who contested a staggering 46 games in the Australians’ 14-12, 11-9 triumph back in 1970.

Due to the introduction of final-set tiebreaks, that record will not be broken unless rules are reversed, with a maximum of 39 games possible under tiebreak rules.

Men’s singles

While you have to go back two decades to find the longest women’s singles final of the Open Era, you only have to travel back six years for the longest men’s final.

That record is held by Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, who were on court for four hours and 57 minutes during the 2019 men’s singles final.

Much like Williams in the longest women’s final, Djokovic battled from the brink of defeat, saving two championship points in a 7–6(5), 1–6, 7–6(4), 4–6, 13–12(3) triumph inside Centre Court.

That match broke the previous record set by Federer and Nadal, who were on court for four hours and 48 minutes during their legendary 2008 championship match.

However, the longest final in terms of games played came back in 2009, this time with Federer on the right side of the result.

The Swiss’ 2009 final versus Andy Roddick took a staggering 77 games to complete, with the eight-time Wimbledon champion triumphing 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(5), 3-6, 16-14.

That is the most games ever played in a major final in the Open Era, and also cannot be broken under current tennis rules.