Profesional sports are not always nice — and winning in five sets is a mark of great endurance and mental strength. But it’s not something you want to have to do in every best of five-set match.

Champions are revealed in five-set matches, and pretenders are exposed. Doubt and fatigue are punished, while self-belief and stamina are rewarded. In the Open era only five players have won at least 30 five-setters, and what names they are… Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Lleyton Hewitt… and, our own Nicolas Lapentti.

ALL NICO’S 5 SETERS

Nicolas Lapentti 30-16 ( 65 % )

1995 Davis Cup: Pino-Perez 6-3 6-3 4-6 4-6 6-4
1995 Davis Cup: Nestor 5-7 2-6 6-3 6-4 6-8
1996 Wimbledon: Carlsen 7-6(3) 3-6 6-7(6) 6-4 6-4
1996 Wimbledon: Milligan 4-6 2-6 7-6(5) 7-6(3) 1-6
1997 Davis Cup: Silberstein 2-6 6-4 6-1 3-6 3-6
1997 Davis Cup: Rios 5-7 7-6(6) 3-6 7-6(6) 6-8
1997 Roland Garros: Woodruff 4-6 7-5 6-3 3-6 2-6
1997 Davis Cup: Gumy 6-4 6-3 3-6 0-6 6-3
1998 Australian Open: Viloca 5-7 6-3 6-4 6-7(3) 6-1
1998 Australian Open: Santoro 4-6 6-3 6-3 2-6 4-6
1998 US Open: Santoro 6-4 5-7 3-6 6-3 6-7(4)
1999 Australian Open: T.Johansson 6-3 3-6 3-6 7-6(4) 6-0
1999 Australian Open: M.Norman 7-6(4) 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-4
1999 Australian Open: Tillstrom 4-6 7-6(9) 2-6 6-4 6-2
1999 Australian Open: Kucera 7-6(4) 6-7(6) 6-2 0-6 8-6
1999 Wimbledon: Voinea 7-6(8) 6-3 4-6 2-6 8-6
1999 Davis Cup: Schalken 1-6 3-6 6-0 7-6(5) 6-3
2000 Australian Open: Medvedev 6-3 5-7 6-7(4) 6-4 8-6
2000 Davis Cup: Horna 4-6 6-2 7-5 6-7(3) 6-2
2000 Davis Cup: Rusedski 6-3 6-7(3) 7-5 4-6 7-5
2000 US Open: Golmard 6-7(3) 0-6 6-2 6-4 6-7(5)
2001 Australian Open: Hyung-Taik 3-6 6-3 6-4 3-6 8-6
2002 Australian Open: Gaudio 4-6 5-7 6-4 6-2 6-4
20002 Davis Cup: Szymanski 3-6 6-3 7-5 3-6 6-4
20002 Davis Cup: De Armas 6-1 6-3 6-7(5) 4-6 6-3
2002 Wimbledon: J.Delgado 6-3 6-2 6-7(6) 4-6 7-5
2002 Wimbledon: Pavel 3-6 3-6 7-6(3) 6-4 6-2
2002 Wimbledon: Clement 3-6 7-5 2-6 7-5 6-3
2002 Wimbledon: Nalbandian 4-6 4-6 6-4 6-4 4-6
2003 Roland Garros: A.Costa 6-4 6-4 3-6 4-6 4-6
2003 Wimbledon: Schalken 2-6 6-3 7-6(3) 6-7(4) 3-6
2003 US Open: Beck 4-6 6-3 7-5 3-6 6-4
2003 Davis Cup: Sabau 6-2 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-3
2003 Davis Cup: Hanescu 6-4 6-7(4) 6-7(5) 7-6(13) 6-3
2005 Davis Cup: Koubek 5-7 4-6 6-4 7-6(5) 7-5
2006 Davis Cup: Mello 7-5 4-6 4-6 7-5 4-6
2006 Roland Garros: Moodie 4-6 7-6(5) 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 6-2
2007 Wimbledon: K.Kim 2-6 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-4
2008 US Open: Yen-Hsun 4-6 6-1 6-4 4-6 3-6
2008 Davis Cup: R.Delgado 3-6 4-6 7-6(2) 7-6(4) 6-4
2009 Davis Cup: Dancevic 3-6 7-5 4-6 7-6(6) 6-1
2009 Wimbledon: Devilder 6-3 4-6 3-6 6-4 5-7
2009 US Open: Wawrinka 4-6 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(3) 6-3
2009 US Open: Istomin 6-2 4-6 6-4 5-7 6-7(4)
2009 Davis Cup: Daniel 6-4 6-4 1-6 2-6 8-6
2010 Davis Cup: Karlovic 2-6 7-5 7-6(2) 3-6 4-6

This time, Nico himself tells the 3 things that allowed him to play long games… and win them. Can those skills be trained?

“The 3 most important things are to be well prepared physically, to be strong mentally and, above all, never to give up a match, no matter what the temporary result is, if you go up or down”

Nicolas Lapentti

So what is the secret? “Everything goes hand in hand… preseasons are always important, being able to do a good base of work, in the physical part, in tennis, and also train the mental part,” he added.

For many other reasons, in order to win a Grand Slam tournament, players are required to win 7 matches in 14 days. Essentially, that means that they need to play a 3-out-of-5 match every other day. And as you may know, 5-set matches can last well over 4 or 5 hours.

So how come tennis players can play for so long at such a high level? Well, besides being in super-human shape and having smooth strokes, it all comes down to their top-notch recovery processes. The top players know how important it is to do everything right before, during, and after a match, and in many cases, they travel with a whole team that helps them to accomplish that.

“You have to be prepared to withstand all the moments of pressure that there may be in a tennis match”, analyzed Lapentti. “In my case, when I was physically well, my head automatically knew that I could endure long matches and that mentality of never giving a match lost, going down two sets to love and continuing to fight, allowed me to turn around matches that were lost and finish them, moving forward.”

“It’s a chain of things that you have to train every day, always give 100%, do it with enthusiasm, so that later you can put it into practice when you’re competing,” he said.

The top players know how important it is to do everything right before, during, and after a match, and in many cases, they travel with a whole team that helps them to accomplish that.