Best Grand Slam result boosts Isner’s profile in US even higher
ATLANTA — For quite a few years, John Isner has been one of the 20 best tennis players on the planet. That distinction comes with a certain level of recognition and respect, underscored in his case by the fact he’s been the best U.S. player on tour since Andy Roddick retired and that he happens to be 6-10.
But Isner has gotten a different reception since he returned to the USA after his run to the Wimbledon semifinals, which ended with a 26-24 loss in the fifth set to Kevin Anderson.
Besides a professional breakthrough after years of struggling in the Grand Slam tournaments, he is now forever the human symbol of marathon matches and the debate over whether tennis’ biggest tournaments should introduce some sort of fifth-set tiebreaker.
“I’m on the ATP council and we have more say with what goes on within the ATP, but the Grand Slams are run by the ITF,” he said. “They may be discussing it; they might not be. I don’t know right now. I think everyone’s opinion has value. You can keep the tradition, that’d be fine. I’d prefer to change it. I think 12-all would be sensible. We’ll see what happens. They can probably name that rule after me if it does change.”
After playing for 6 hours, 36 minutes against Anderson, Isner’s return to competition for the hardcourt season was much easier. Now ranked No. 9 in the world, Isner easily dispatched of Australian Alex De Minaur 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday night in the first round of the Atlanta Open, where he always enjoys a lot of support given his decorated career at the University of Georgia.
But even by that standard, Isner’s reaching a new level of popularity these days. He said he was blown away by the hundreds of people who came out to a promotional event this week at a PGA Tour Superstore just outside of Atlanta.
“It does, this time, feel a little different. It’s very humbling. I hadn’t played that well in Grand Slams, and you go to Wimbledon, it’s our biggest tournament. Even the casual tennis fan is tuning into that event. It’s the lead story in America sometimes. ... And I played well in it and lost in a match that made a lot of headlines.”
Isner already had the distinction of playing in the longest tennis match ever, beating Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set at Wimbledon in 2010.
As of now, the U.S. Open is the only Grand Slam that goes to a fifth-set tiebreak at 6-6, but the Isner-Anderson match has inspired a number of players and commentators to call for some kind of stopping point.
Though it was a tough match to lose, Isner could be set up well for another interesting run at the U.S. Open, where he has lost in the third round in five of the past six years, each time to players ranked lower than him.
This year, Isner, 33, seems to be reaching a new level, including his first Masters 1000 series title at Miami.
“I’m very mature now,” he said. “I know what it takes to bounce back from something like that, and as soon as I got off the plane I worked out actually. I have to keep my body constantly moving, and the more I do that, the quicker I can recover. Just sitting on a couch for days on end would actually make me feel worse.”