Tennis - ATP Cup - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, February 5, 2021 France's Nicolas Mahut in action during his group stage match against Austria's Dennis Novak REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
(Reuters) -Frenchman Nicolas Mahut delivered an emotional farewell to professional tennis after his doubles defeat at the Paris Masters.
Mahut, 43, won five Grand Slam doubles titles in a career spanning 25 years, but he is best known for losing the longest professional tennis match in history against American John Isner at Wimbledon in 2010.
The match lasted 11 hours and five minutes and took place over three days, with the last set alone - eight hours 11 minutes - being long enough to have broken the previous longest-match record.
Mahut bid adieu to the sport on home soil alongside Grigor Dimitrov on Tuesday, losing 6-4, 5-7, 10-4 to Hugo Nys and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.
"Being able to win Grand Slams was for me one of the best memories," an emotional Mahut said after the match.
"That's what I will remember," he said. "Beyond the titles, the trophies that I may have, it's also ultimately everything that happened in order for me to achieve those trophies and victories."
"It's all the doubts, the questioning, the mistakes I made. That is ultimately what makes a career rich and mine is very rich in that regard."
Asked about his record-setting match with Isner, Mahut said: "I now enjoy talking about that match because it was a crazy experience. It brought me a lot as a player and as a man."
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru)
