Grand Slam tennis is known for matches of epic length, frequently spanning four hours or more. In video games, more than an hour on the sticks is enough to conjure memories of Borg-McEnroe at Wimbledon 1980.
Kotaku reader Frequenter and apal decided to pick up Top Spin 4 and play Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic a day before the two men faced off in real life at the French Open semifinals. In real life on Friday, Fed stopped Djokovic in four sets to end the Serb's 43-match winning streak. In Top Spin, the affair went the full five.
It looks like Frequenter (as Federer) and his mate (as Djokovic) may have wanted this to go the distance, as the first two sets went 6-1 Federer and 6-0 Djokovic. Gentlemanly, but still tanking. In the third set, they got serious, with Djokovic prevailing 7-5.
That set the stage for a marvelous fourth set. Federer faced a dozen set points against Djokovic, Frequenter writes, yet he still pulled through with a 7-6 tiebreak victory. His friend demoralized, Djokovic succumbed 6-3 in the fifth.
In the end, it was a lot closer affair than the first two sets indicated. Total points won were 155 for Federer to 154 for Djokovic. Here's the box score.
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Now the Kotaku Sports open thread commences with the sports TV highlights for today and tomorrow. All times are U.S. Eastern.
French Open
Today, Li Na became the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam singles title, besting defending champion Francesca Schiavone in straight sets. That leaves Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, again, in the men's final tomorrow, 9 a.m. on NBC.
NHL Playoffs
Game Two of the Stanley Cup Final is tonight in Vancouver at 8 p.m. on Versus and CBC. The Canucks lead Boston 1-0.
NBA Playoffs
On Sunday, the NBA Finals shift to Dallas for Game Three, with the Mavs and Miami tied 1-1. ABC, 8 p.m.
Baseball
Fox's game of the week today: Cubs at Cardinals, Dodgers at Reds or Rockies at Giants, 4 p.m., check local listings. WGN has the Tigers at White Sox, 7 p.m. Tomorrow, the TBS game is Cubs at Cards at 2; WGN has the Tigers and Sox again at 2, and ESPN's nightcap is Braves at the Mets.
Other Stuff
Live from Track Town USA (that's Eugene, Ore.) today at 2:30 is the Prefontaine Classic. ESPN2 has the USA-Mexico exhibition in women's soccer at 2 p.m. tomorrow; In golf, the Memorial is on CBS today and tomorrow at 3 p.m. NASCAR's STP 400 is at 12:30 tomorrow.
Remember, you may send your sports Game of the Week nominations to owenATkotakuDOTcom, and flag it "Box Scores" in the subject header. Please include your commenter handle for proper credit.