The 32-year-old South African, who came back from two sets and match point down in his quarter-final against Switzerland's defending champion Roger Federer, said after his  7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 4-6, 26-24 victory on Centre Court: "I hope this is a sign for Grand Slams to change.

"For us to be out there for that length of time.

"I really hope we can look at this, because at the end you don't feel great.

"I have to recover as much as I can for the final now.

"It will take time to process it but I'm in the final of Wimbledon and that's a dream come true."

Tim Henman, Britain's former number one and a Wimbledon semi-finalist himself, said during the BBC coverage: "It's going to be incredibly challenging for Kevin Anderson in the final and I think it will be on the agenda for Wimbledon to discuss after the Championships."

Three-times Wimbledon champion John McEnroe commented on BBC: "I hope this magnificent effort by these two experienced and very fit professionals allows the powers that be to make a change. 

"For them and for those players coming up."

This was the second longest match in Grand Slam history after the one contested, famously, by Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut in the Wimbledon 2010 first round.

That finished 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68 to Isner - a result which took 11 hours and five minutes of play to be determined, and was played over three days on the grass at the All England Club.

The longest previous Wimbledon semi-final was the 2013 meeting between Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Pietro of Argentina, which lasted 4 hours 44 minutes.

As the match approached its sixth hour it was announced that the second men's singles semi-final between Djokovic and Rafael Nadal would be played under the Centre Court roof.

As each of these giant men managed to hold their serve in a seemingly unending sequence in the final set, where tiebreaks do not apply, a voice came from the crowd: "Come on someone!" 

Isner - a year older than Anderson and, at 6ft 10, one of few players on the Tour taller than his 6ft 8in opponent - had already surpassed his previous best showing in a Grand Slam event, a quarter-final appearance at the 2011 US Open.

Now he has been part of another piece of Wimbledon history, and perhaps, given the tone of debate around the match, an enduring one. 

Although that may be of small comfort to him right now.

The Djokovic v Nadal semi-final proved worth waiting for however.

Djokovic took the first set 6-4, Spain's Nadal the second 6-3, and then the two became locked in a towering tie-break in the third that took the match beyond its designated curfew time of 11pm.

The Serbian survived two set points against him before summoning the will to take the set 7-6 (11-9), with the match resuming tomorrow morning.