Facing Isner’s serve – and what Murray can do to overcome it
‘Amazing anticipation’ will be required to neutralise the big-serving American capable of firing down 157mph bombs
How do you return the serve of John Isner, Andy Murray’s next opponent? It is a conundrum that Murray has solved brilliantly in the past, judging by an 8-0 head-to-head record. And yet, having faced this fearsome weapon myself, I genuinely have no idea how he does it.
In 2018 I nipped down to Lyon for a participation feature, in which the 6ft 10in Isner fired his 157mph siege gun at me. Well, in fact he was serving at only 75 per cent, so we can probably dial that figure down to 120-odd mph. But the ball still took a fist-sized chunk out of the clay when it landed, before singeing my eyebrows on its way to the back fence.
And then there was his kick serve, which is delivered with a wristy flick to impart top-spin. The same twisting motion, in which Isner moves his wrist like a man reaching up to turn a door handle, also makes the ball bounce to the receiver’s left off the court, like a Shane Warne googly kicking out of the rough.
To my enormous gratification, I was able to chip a few of Isner’s fast balls back into play with a sort of ping-pong chopping motion. I was simply reflecting his own pace rather than trying to take a swing at this fuzzy yellow blur.
But the only reason I could manage it was that Isner – who is one of the most charming people in the locker-room – had told me where the ball was going in advance. He was standing in the advantage court and pinging his favourite serve out flat and wide towards my backhand, probably realising that it would give me the best chance of making a return.
Once I had become accustomed to the pace and bounce – which, in another cricketing analogy, makes you feel as if you are facing the West Indian pace quartet of the Eighties – Isner caught me out by firing the next ball in a different direction.
When he aimed one down the “T” in the middle of the court, this was the moment at which I began to appreciate the true scale of the task I faced.
I had backed off several metres from the baseline to give myself time to sight Isner’s ball. Which was fine, as long as I knew where it was going. But there was a major disadvantage to this position.
If you imagine Isner’s serving options as a giant slice of pie, then you might be able to see the problem. The further you are from the pointy end of the slice, the wider the area you have to cover. And that ball down the “T” felt like it landed in a different postcode from his flat serve out wide.
So how does Murray do it? He stands much closer in, to give himself a better chance of mastering the angles – even though this gives him only the tiniest fraction of a second to react. Then he throws himself left or right like a goalkeeper, not only trying to get his racket on the ball but looking to return it in the most awkward position as Isner rumbles forward to the net.
Murray’s other key skill is reading those little signals – ball toss, body language, wrist position – that give a hint as to Isner’s intentions. As Isner himself put it during Monday night’s press conference: “He [Murray] is much harder to ace because his anticipation is just amazing.” It was a nice tribute from the 37-yearold American, which was only slightly spoiled by his next reference to Murray as “one of England’s best-ever players”.
Their meeting – a first since the Paris Masters final in 2016 – will feel like a two or three-hour penalty shoot-out, as Murray leaps this way and that in search of the four successful returns that could earn him a crucial break of serve. Rather him than me.