It took 14 hours and 31 minutes to set a new, official Guinness World Record™ of 25,944 consecutive strokes and to bring the record back to the United States.
NORTH HAVEN, CT - Identical twin brothers and USPTA certified tennis teaching professionals, Angelo A. and Ettore Rossetti broke the Guinness World Record™ for the longest tennis rally and finished early Sunday morning, August 10 at North Haven Health & Racquet.
Last August 18-19, the brothers had set the U.S. record of 19,490 successful rallies over the span of two days, taking 10 hours and 38 minutes. This year the Rossetti Brothers more than doubled the 7 hours it took for the past world record set in 2005, eclipsing the world record by 1,248 strokes. The previous two records were from the UK and Germany.
The rally was part of USPTA's Tennis Across America which included Cardio Tennis, team clinics, private lessons, fast serve contest and open court time. In addition, it was recognized as an official Lessons for Life fund raiser. These activities are part of USPTA's Tennis for the Health of it, it's theme for 2008. "We are so pleased and excited to be a part of this admirable event," stated Stephen Tagliatela, one of the owners of North Haven Health & Racquet.
Tennis teaching pros Steve Rogers, Steve O'Connell, Paul Coorssen, Al "Skip" South, Bryan Adinolfi, Mike McManus, Paul Brower, and Mike Quitko were on hand to teach the clinics and support the attempt. The event an official Rally for the Cure®, a grassroots partnership between Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Conde Naste Publications.
The head counter this year was Tom Ettorre assisted by his two sons and a volunteer crew of clickers. He coordinated the team of counters throughout the day and evening. Given the duration of the attempt, volunteer counters had to rotate shifts.
During the event, there were fund raisers to benefit charity including a car wash, point-of-a-sale tennis ball donations, tennis lessons and a silent auction. A partial list of auction items included: two signed items by Roger Federer, one signed tennis ball by Andre Agassi, JetBlue airline tickets and Prince tennis racquets, a case of Pro Penn tennis balls and Wolf Blass wine and a Connecticut Sun autographed team jersey.
The Rossettis are still counting the money they raised for charity while they continue to raise money toward their new goal of $25,944 to match the number of strokes they hit in the rally through December 31. "We did our part" said Ettore Rossetti, who also works for Save the Children as Associate Director of Internet Communications and Marketing. Contributions are still being accepted online at RossettBrothersTennis.org. The four charity beneficiaries are: ALS Association, Save the Children, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation.
Said Ettore, we realized Christopher Reeve's quote: "So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable."
Shortly after 12 a.m. midnight, Angelo said to the fans and supporters "You have given us your shoulders to stand on to reach our dreams", paraphrasing Andre Agassi's retirement speech in 2006.
During this feat of skill and endurance, the twins struck one tennis ball, a Penn 4, continuously in play for 14 hours and 31 minutes without breaks for water, food or the restroom. By the conclusion of the rally, the effort took a toll on the ball as well, which by the end was worn down to its dark brown rubber surface.
Not only did the Rossettis have an answer for the world record but they had answers for the two most commonly asked questions over the past year resulting from last year's attempt. The Rossetti Brothers had a plan of not missing and not having to use the bathroom.
The two questions had inevitably been "How did you go to the bathroom?" and "Who missed?" They aired on the side of dehydration and starvation rather than have to succumb mother nature. As far as not missing, they instructed the counters to tell them when they had an even number of strokes just after midnight. So once the clock showed 12:01 a.m. on Sunday August 10, Angelo let the ball pass without even making an attempt at it, thus preserving the fact that neither Rossetti twin missed a shot.
They each struck the identical number of shots, 12,972, which is apropos since they are identical twins. The twins ultimately displayed the epitome of sportsmanship by showing everyone that it was a team effort and had nothing to do with missing or having one person outdo the other.
Sponsors of the event were: USPTA (United States Professional Tennis Association), Prince racquets, Pro Penn tennis balls, North Haven Health & Racquet club, JetBlue airlines, Pilot Pen Tennis and Wolf Blass wine.
The effort is to honor the late USPTA tennis teaching pro Scott B. Wilson who died of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) in July 2005 and to Tim Gullikson who died of brain cancer in May 1996. It is dedicated to survivors and victims of ALS, brain cancer and breast cancer along with the up to 26,000 children who die largely from preventable or treatable causes around the world.
