John McEnroe collected his fifth Wimbledon men's doubles title today when he and Michael Stich beat fourth seeded Americans Jim Grabb and Richie Reneberg 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), 19-17 in a record-breaking final.
For McEnroe, who won the title four times with Peter Fleming, the title made up for a singles semifinal defeat by the eventual champion Andre Agassi. For Stich, it was compensation for losing the singles title he won last year.It was the longest Wimbledon final in terms of games, beating the 70-game match in 1968 when John Newcombe and Tony Roche downed Ken Rosewall and Fred Stolle 3-6, 8-6, 5-7, 14-12, 6-3.
That final took three hours but the 1992 version, even with tiebreaks, lasted five hours and one minute, another Wimbledon record, officials said.
The game was held over from Sunday because of fading light with the score at 13-13 in the final set.
Wimbledon allowed free entry for the fans on the extra day and, with hundreds locked out, a full house of 7,500 packed Court One.
After 34 games in the final set had gone with serve, McEnroe gained the first break with a stunningly disguised lob that brought roars from the fans.
And when Reneberg planted a McEnroe serve into the net at match point, Stich grabbed McEnroe around the waist and lifted him high while the American threw his arms in the air in celebration.
The fans gave the unseeded pair a standing ovation as they collected the trophies from Wimbledon chairman John Curry.
When the match was halted Sunday, an angry McEnroe clearly wanted to keep on playing. He offered a tie-break solution but officials refused.
It was the second time McEnroe had gotten close to a title in this year's championships.
In the singles event, the three-time champion reached the semifinal before losing in straight sets to Agassi.
Grabb and Reneberg should have settled the doubles final at 7-6 on Stich's serve in the final set. They had two match points but Reneberg netted a power-packed serve from the German and later hit a return wide.
Also staged Monday was the mixed doubles final in which third seeded Cyril Suk of Czechoslovakia and Latvian Larisa Savchenko-Neiland downed the Dutch duo Jacco Eltingh and Miriam Oremans 7-6 (7-2), 6-2.
At least the women's doubles was finished Sunday.
No. 2 seeds Gigi Fernandez and Natalia Zvereva won their second straight Grand Slam doubles title with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over No. 1 seeds Jana Novotna and Savchenko-Neiland. They also won the French Open.
Czechoslovakia's David Skoch defeated American Brian Dunn 6-4, 6-3 to win the boys' singles and another U.S. player, Chanda Rubin, downed Laurence Courtois of Belgium 6-2, 7-5 in the girls' event.