Isner to return to Classic
American giant John Isner will be back at the ASB Classic in January, making his seventh appearance at the Auckland tournament.
The tennis world No 16 confirmed yesterday that he’ll be lining up again next year, looking for his third ATP title in New Zealand.
The 32-year-old has lost in the quarterfinals at the Classic for the past two years, but he’s always a player who provides value for money in Auckland.
Since his first appearance at the tournament in 2009, he has played 21 matches at the event, winning 17 of them. Sixteen of his matches have gone to three sets and he’s played 24 tiebreaks.
He makes the most of his ability in the rest of his game and while he’s never going to out-rally the very best players, he always puts up a fight.
Isner has won two tournaments this year, in Newport and Atlanta. At the former he became the second player to win an ATP tournament without facing a break point since records began in 1991. The other was Tommy Haas in Memphis in 2007.
He has become a regular at the Classic, the same way David Ferrer has and feels playing at it is the best way to prepare for the Australian Open.
‘‘Auckland will always hold a special place in my heart,’’ Isner said.
‘‘It’s where I won my first ATP title. I love Auckland, I’ve always played well there and I can’t wait to get back there in 2018.’’
For Classic tournament director Karl Budge, confirming Isner’s return is another box he can tick, as he’s a quality player to have in the draw for any ATP tournament.
‘‘He obviously loves playing here and we are pretty happy about that,’’ Budge said.
‘‘He is an entertaining guy with mass- ive weapons.
‘‘When that serve fires up it is pretty impressive. We might throw down a challenge to see if he can crack 240kmh this year.
‘‘He has done it abroad before so maybe we can rally him up for one of his best here!’’
‘‘He will be in and around that top ten mark at the end of the year which is obviously great for the ASB Classic. We want top ten talent and it still remains unknown if the big fella will be our top seed for 2018,’’ said Budge.
Isner is currently playing at the Shanghai Masters and is expected to climb to 13 in the world when the rankings are updated again on Monday.
‘‘He will be in and around that top 10 mark at the end of the year which is obviously great for the ASB Classic,’’ Budge said.
‘‘We want top 10 talent and it still remains unknown if the big fella will be our top seed for 2018.’’