Big-hitter Isner powers past Raonic to set up a clash of the titans
No matter the boom-boom-boom nature of these two players’ games, the fastest servers in the business and ace-accumulators supreme, not even their heaviest thwack was ever going to cause as much of a tremor as the shock waves that had rippled round Wimbledon following Roger Federer’s exit.
American John Isner will play Federer’s conqueror, 6ft 8in Kevin Anderson, after powering through against a hobbling Milos Raonic to reach his first ever grand slam semi-final, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 6-3. With Isner standing at 6ft 10in, the Land of the Giants comes to Wimbledon tomorrow.
The arrival of Isner and Raonic on Court No 1 came close to doubling the attendance as everyone sought respite after the Federer upset. It did not take the pair long to find their range, even though they had been hanging around in the locker rooms since the Swiss superstar’s failed match point in mid-afternoon.
It was perhaps payback time against Isner following his marathon match of three days’ duration against Nicolas Mahut in 2010, the American eventually prevailing in the fifth set, 70-68.
Isner, 33, is king of the tie-break with 22 victories in 2018, and ought perhaps to have been recruited by Gareth Southgate for advice about winning shoot-outs.
If it was artistry and nuance that you wanted, then this court on a billowy summer’s evening was not the place for you. If, however, you could marvel at the ferocity of a serve delivered with precision, then you were in the right place, even if the line officials had every right to request cricketers’ boxes and breast-padding for protection.
They certainly had every right for danger money to be added to their stipend. This was heavy metal tennis, strident and unrelenting. The symphonies were being played elsewhere at Wimbledon.
The arena did fill up slightly as tickets were circulated among the gathering Wimbledon throng, but it never came close to a capacity audience.
Isner’s prowess at the tie-break was not enough for him to hold off another accomplished practitioner, with Ranoic taking the first set, 7-6, with five points conceded. As an indicator of how clipped the whole affair was, there were only 23 strokes in the tie-break including the serve itself. The longest rally within it was five points.
It is tennis for the aficionado or the partisan, but not for the neutral. Of course, just as Martin Johnson’s England were correct never to apologise for using their driving maul to subdue opponents, so these players have every right to beat opponents into submission through the serve. But they need far more variety to challenge the greats.
The first two sets went to script, Raonic taking the first on a tiebreak, Isner the second. And then, glory be, there was a break of serve in the third enabling the American to take the honours 6-4, Raonic feeling the effects of a thigh problem that needed strapping near the end of the first set. It was to impede him more and more as Isner, still to be broken in the tournament, came home in the fourth set.