Marathon man Thompson aims not to go the distance again

That was the first time, at the fourth attempt, he came back from two sets down to win, defeating Portugal's Joao Sousa, then ranked 39 places higher, 6-7 (2-7) 4-6 6-3 6-2 6-1 in three hours 22 minutes.

Thompson followed that by winning his next five-setter, against then top-20 player Jack Sock in the latter's home grand slam in New York, later that year.

More recently, he's made a habit of it, including a five-set win over Brandon Nakashima at Wimbledon last year.

So when the Sydneysider went two sets down to Pavel Kotov in the opening round of this year's Wimbledon's on Monday, before the first bottles of Pimms had barely been opened on Henman Hill, he did not panic.

Instead, he dug deep, drew on the knowledge he'd been there before, and won in five sets in four hours, six minutes.

That earned him, ironically, a re-match with American Nakashima - and this time he's hoping to get the job done in fewer than five sets.

"It's gonna be tricky as he's a quality player, been playing well on the grass, and did the right thing in wrapping his match up in just under two hours. So he was probably recovering well before I was finished," Thompson said.

"But hopefully I'll learn something from last year. I went down 6-2 6-2 very quickly. I don't want a repeat of how it started then."

The victory over Kotov was Thompson's third successive five-set win, and sixth in his last nine, after losing eight of the first 10.

Musing on his improvement in five-set marathons, the test that marks out the majors from other tournaments, Thompson said: "I think it's more of a mental battle.

"I'm 30 now, the pre-seasons when you're doing so much repetition work to try and get fit and build a base are behind me. I think my base is pretty strong. I played four hours and hadn't really hit the practice courts too much before this tournament."

He is, he said, naturally fit, but has worked on it too - and that Sousa match added belief to fitness.

"At primary school I would always go alright across at the cross country and 800 metres. I really enjoyed it. To this day, I still like running. I was lucky it's probably a little bit natural, but then I've also worked on it.

"Against Souza I lost two tight sets to start the match, then I ended up winning three, two and one, and I just felt like I was on top of the world. It must have been about 36 degrees that day.

"It gave me so much confidence to know that I can come back from any deficit. Obviously, you need to play well, but just to know that the fitness is taken care of is a big win - that you can rely on the tank."

What Thompson has not done yet is the hardest of physical challenges, winning back-to-back five-setters. The three occasions he has been taken the distance twice in succession he has lost the second match.

So on Wednesday (Thursday AEST), he'll be aiming to see off Nakashima, ranked 25 places lower at 65 but with two semi-finals this grasscourt season, well inside the distance.

"I don't really enjoy them too much," he said, of his five-set slogs. "I feel like it's ageing me. There's such a long way home from two sets down. You got to go all day to try and get it back. And there's no room for error."

Australian Associated Press