37 hours. 102 sets. Two tired strangers. One Guinness World record

TWO ordinary Sydney dads have completed an extraordinary journey together, embracing in the middle of a suburban tennis court.
They were strangers just a few weeks ago.

Gavin White, 39, and Jeganathan "Jega" Ramasamy, 48, both from Epping, set out on Friday to play the world's longest continuous singles tennis match.

Battling shocking heat throughout Saturday, followed by rain, fatigue, sleep depravation and even delirium, the pair were supported by a team of family and friends as they smashed the Guinness World Record by almost an hour .

Gavin had placed an ad in the local paper, keen to find a partner to break the previous record of 36 hours and 36 minutes and raise money for the Haitian earthquake victims. Jega was the man who answered the call.

Starting at 7pm Friday, they played under lights at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre into a blistering Saturday, when temperatures hit 39.5C, even hotter on court.
Then came the afternoon's cool change and the rain of Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Finally, at 11.32am yesterday Gavin played a forehand winner down the line and the scorer called "game". It was then the pair agreed to call it quits, having unofficially set a record of 37 hours and 32 minutes, made up of 35 consecutive matches.

And out of those 102 sets, Jega's greatest glory came early on Sunday when he won a set tie-break to claim a 7-6 thriller.

It was the only set the still smiling father of four won.

As emotional families and friends rallied around the pair, Gavin revealed the moment that he had hit rock-bottom.

"Some time around 2am I was absolutely delirious," he said.

"I thought, 'How can I possibly keep doing this?' because at that stage I was barely able to stand up."

But with help from his support team he and Jega played on.

Neither had trained for the attempt and Jega said he'd responded to Gavin's ad because he always liked a challenge. "I thought this crazy man; I should join this crazy man," he said, pointing at himself and his partner.It could be up to six weeks until the record is made official. But the real winners are the people of Haiti - and two extraordinary men.

Source:heraldsun.com.au/