Four Irish men have officially set a new world record for the longest ever doubles tennis match.
The Guinness Book of Records has approved the record set by former Davis Cup players, David Mullins and James Cluskey and Daniel O’Neill and Luke McGuire from Trinity Tennis Club. They clocked up 62 hours of play at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin last July.
Having reviewed the detailed submission including 62 hours of video tape, the Guinness Book of Records announced on Wednesday that they had approved the submission for the longest marathon doubles tennis record.
The four stopped playing with a scoreline of 77 sets to 72.
The record event was a fund-raiser for the Enjoy Tennis programme which has to date enabled almost 1,000 players with a disability to learn and play the game in 70 clubs around Ireland. The attempt has raised almost €20,000 for Enjoy Tennis.
James Cluskey said he was “absolutely delighted for the record to be ratified” adding: “Looking back for me our mental toughness and resilience got us through. We had a plan and for the most part we stuck to that plan. I think the support of the other players, volunteers and our families really helped us and there is no way we could have done it alone.”
Dan O’Neill also paid tribute to “ the other guys, my parents and friends, combined with the incredible knowledge of our trainer, Leo Daniel Ryan”. David Mullins said it was “wonderful news to hear that Guinness have recognised the hard work” .
