John Robert Isner (born April 26, 1985) is an American professional
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
player. He has been
ranked
A ranking is a relationship between a set of items such that, for any two items, the first is either "ranked higher than", "ranked lower than" or "ranked equal to" the second.
In mathematics, this is known as a weak order or total preorder of ...
as high as world No. 8 in singles and No. 14 in doubles by the
Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour, the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP Champions Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, an ...
(ATP).
Considered one of the best servers ever to play on the
ATP Tour
The ATP Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The second-tier tour is the ATP Challenger Tour and the third-tier is the ITF Men's World Tennis Tour. The equivalent women's organis ...
, Isner achieved his career-high singles ranking in July 2018 by virtue of his maiden
Masters 1000
The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...
crown at the
2018 Miami Open and a semifinal appearance at the
2018 Wimbledon Championships
The 2018 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main tournament began on Monday, 2 July 2018 and ...
. He has also twice reached the quarterfinals at the
US Open in
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
and
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
, the latter of which helped qualify him for an
ATP Finals
The ATP Finals is the season-ending championship of the ATP Tour. It is the most significant event in the annual ATP calendar after the four majors as it features the top-eight singles players and top-eight doubles teams based on their results th ...
appearance later that year. At the
2010 Wimbledon Championships, he played the
longest professional tennis match in history, requiring five sets and 183 games to defeat
Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
in a match which lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes, and was played over the course of three days. Isner holds the record for hitting the ATP's fastest "official" serve ever and third-fastest on record in tennis at during his first-round 2016 Davis Cup match. He has the
most aces in the history of the ATP Tour, having served 13,990, as of November 1, 2022.
Early life
Isner was born on April 26, 1985 in
Greensboro
Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...
,
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
to Robert and Karen Isner. He has two older brothers, Jordan and Nathan.
Isner started playing tennis at the age of 9 and did not take the sport seriously until the age of 11. He played for his high school of
Walter Hines Page Senior High School
Walter Hines Page Senior High School is a public high school in Greensboro, North Carolina commonly referred to as Page High School or simply Page.
History
Walter Hines Page Senior High School opened its doors in September, 1958, under the leader ...
where he helped lead them to a state championship in 2001. He also played in 10 junior tournaments which included the
2002 US Open (losing in the second round to eventual champion
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
) and the 2002
Orange Bowl
The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in th ...
. He also made the finals of a tournament in
Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
,
Oklahoma
Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...
losing to
Brian Baker.
College career
Coming out of high school in 2003 as a heavily sought-after prospect, Isner was recruited by the
University of Georgia Bulldogs
The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...
. He was a dominance in college, compiling a win-loss record of 143–28 in singles and 140–27 in doubles. He was ranked the top tennis player in the country on numerous occasions and won many tournaments. Some highlights from his college career include winning the 2005
NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...
doubles title parterning
Antonio Ruiz-Rosales, winning the 2007 team event against
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
and reaching the 2007 NCAA singles finals where he lost to
Somdev Devvarman
Somdev Kishore Devvarman (born 13 February 1985) is a former professional Indian tennis player. He hit the headlines for being the only collegiate player to have made three consecutive finals at the NCAA, winning back-to-back finals i ...
of
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
in three sets. He ended his college career after his singles final loss and team win in 2007 and turned professional.
Professional career
2007–2008: Turning pro, First ATP final, top 100
![John Isner 2007 US Open](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/John_Isner_2007_US_Open.JPG)
Isner began his professional career in earnest in the summer of 2007. With a world ranking of no. 839, he needed a
wildcard
Wild card most commonly refers to:
* Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games
* Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...
entry into the main draws of every single tournament, even at
Futures level.
He won his first tournament of the summer, the USA F14 Futures, beating the top three seeds along the way. Then, after first-round losses at
Challenger level as well as a tournament at ATP level, he beat five top-300 players and three seeds to win the Lexington Challenger in July and improve his ranking to no. 416 after just one month.
At the following week's tournament at the
Legg Mason Tennis Classic
The Washington Open (known as the Citi Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual hardcourt tennis tournament played at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. The Washington Open is part of the ATP Tour 5 ...
in Washington, D.C., a late withdrawal freed up a wildcard spot, which was given to Isner at the last minute. Isner took full advantage of his good fortune, recording his first wins over top-100 players. He won third-set tiebreakers on five consecutive days, beating no. 73
Tim Henman
Timothy Henry Henman (born 6 September 1974) is a British former professional tennis player. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis. He was the first British man to reach the singles semifinals of Wimbledon since Roger Taylor in the ...
, no. 47
Benjamin Becker
Benjamin Becker (born 16 June 1981) is a German retired professional tennis player who is known for defeating former world No. 1 Andre Agassi in the third round at the 2006 US Open in what was Agassi's last match as a professional player.
Bec ...
, no. 189 qualifier
Wayne Odesnik
Wayne Odesnik (born November 21, 1985) is a South African-born American retired professional left-handed tennis player, with a two-handed backhand. His highest singles ranking was No. 77 in 2009.
Among his biggest upsets were a 2007 win over Iv ...
, no. 12
Tommy Haas
Thomas Mario Haas (; born 3 April 1978) is a German former professional tennis player. He competed on the ATP Tour from 1996 to 2017. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 in May ...
, and no. 54
Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in November 2016. H ...
, to reach the final, where he fell to fellow American
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen Roddick (born 30 August 1982) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is a major champion, having won the 2003 US Open. Roddick reached four other major finals (Wimbledon in 2004, 2005, and 2009, and the US Open ...
. His week raised his ranking to no. 193 in the world after six weeks on the pro tour.
Isner's success in Washington, D.C. earned him wildcard entries into three more ATP tournaments—the Masters 1000 Series event in Cincinnati a week later, New Haven and the US Open. He lost in the first round in Cincinnati to quarterfinalist no. 15
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern (; ; born 2 April 1982) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A three-time Davis Cup champion with Spain Davis Cup team, Spain, Ferrer has won tournaments at all levels on the ATP Tour (ATP Tour 250, ATP 250, ATP Tour ...
. The following week in New Haven, he beat no. 49 Becker a second time, before falling to Ferrer for the second week in a row.
In his US Open début, he defeated the 26th-seeded player, former quarterfinalist
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen (born 23 July 1981) is a Finnish former professional tennis player. His highest ranking of world No. 13, achieved in July 2006, is a Finnish record. He has won two ATP singles titles and five doubles titles in his caree ...
, firing 34 aces along the way. He proceeded to win his second-round match against
Rik de Voest
Rik de Voest (born 5 June 1980) is a former professional South African tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 110 in August 2006. Rik resides in Vancouver, Canada where he pursues a career in real estate.
De V ...
, before losing in the third round to top seed and eventual champion
Roger Federer
Roger Federer (; born 8 August 1981) is a Swiss former professional tennis player. He was ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at No. 1, world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 310 weeks, in ...
. Isner was one of only two players to take a set from Federer in the championship. His US Open performance improved his ranking to no. 144.
After the US Open, Isner continued to play exclusively in North America and finished the year ranked no. 107. That year, Isner was added to the
United States Davis Cup team
The United States men's national tennis team represents the United States in Davis Cup tennis competition, and is governed by the United States Tennis Association.
The U.S. competed in the first Davis Cup in 1900, when a group of Harvard Univer ...
as a practice partner.
Isner's no. 106 ranking in November 2007 was just good enough to get him direct entry into his first
Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
after several players ranked above him dropped out. He was defeated in the first round of the
2008 Australian Open by veteran
Fabrice Santoro
Fabrice Vetea Santoro (born 9 December 1972) is a French retired tennis player. Successful in both singles and doubles, he had an unusually long professional career, with many of his accomplishments coming toward the end of his career, and he is ...
of France. Teamed with Croat
Ivo Karlović
Ivo Karlović (; born 28 February 1979) is a former Croatian professional tennis player. His height of 211 cm (6 ft 11 in) makes him the joint tallest ranked tennis player in history, along with Reilly Opelka. He has won eight ATP sin ...
, who stands half an inch taller (Karlović is currently the joint tallest player on the ATP World Tour alongside
Reilly Opelka
Reilly Opelka (born August 28, 1997) is an American professional tennis player. At 6 feet 11 inches tall, he is tied (with Ivo Karlović) for the tallest-ever ATP-ranked player, and can produce serves that measure over 140 mph. He has been ra ...
), Isner also lost in the first round of doubles.
Isner broke into the top 100 at no. 93 in February with a quarterfinal appearance at an ATP event in San Jose, beating no. 90
Florent Serra
Florent Lucien Serra (born 28 February 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. A right-hander, he won two ATP titles during his career and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 36 in June 2006.
Career Early life and ...
and no. 26 Tommy Haas. He maintained a top-100 ranking in the first three months of the year, beating six players in the top 100, while playing exclusively in events at ATP level. Isner played at his first
French Open
The French Open (french: Internationaux de France de tennis), also known as Roland-Garros (), is a major tennis tournament held over two weeks at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, beginning in late May each year. The tournament and ven ...
and
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, losing in the first round of each. He also played at the US Open, where he lost in the first round. He ended the year ranked no. 144 in the world.
2009: Top 40, first top-10 wins
Isner qualified for the singles draw of the
2009 Heineken Open in Auckland, after winning three consecutive three-set matches in qualifying. His final match saw him bounce back from a 0–3 deficit in the third set to eventually beat Brazilian
Thomaz Bellucci
Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci (born 30 December 1987, in Tietê) is a Brazilian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 21 in July 2010.
Bellucci used a string of ATP Challenger Tour victories early i ...
in a tiebreaker. In the main draw, Isner beat
Albert Montañés
Albert Montañés Roca (; born 26 November 1980) is a retired professional tennis player from Spain.
He first entered the top 100 in 2001. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 22 in 2010 and has won six singles titles and two ...
and countryman
Robby Ginepri
Robert Louis Ginepri ( ; born October 7, 1982) is a retired American professional tennis player. He won three ATP singles titles in his career and achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 15 in December 2005. Ginepri's best Grand Slam result ...
, before ultimately exiting with a loss in the quarterfinals.
Isner received a wildcard into the
2009 Australian Open, after winning the
United States Tennis Association
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) is the national governing body for tennis in the United States. A not-for-profit organization with more than 700,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds to promote and develop the growth of tennis, ...
's wildcard tournament, beating
Donald Young and
Jesse Levine
Jesse Levine (born October 15, 1987) is an American-Canadian former professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles rank of world No. 69 on October 1, 2012. Levine represented the United States through 2012, and he represented Can ...
along the way. Despite serving 39 aces against his first-round opponent, Slovakia's
Dominik Hrbatý
Dominik Hrbatý (; born 4 January 1978) is a Slovakian former professional tennis player. Hrbatý reached the semifinals of the 1999 French Open – Men's singles, 1999 French Open, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in ...
, he lost in four sets. Isner began working with a new coach,
Craig Boynton
Craig Boynton (born June 19, 1964) is a tennis coach and former player from the United States.
Boynton made his only singles appearance in the Grand Prix circuit at the 1988 U.S. Pro Tennis Championships; he entered the main draw as a qualifier ...
, who had coached former world no. 1
Jim Courier
James Spencer "Jim" Courier (born August 17, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He won four major singles titles, two at the French Open and two at the Australian Open. He was the youngest man to reach the singles finals ...
in the 1990s, in March 2009.
At the 2009
Indian Wells Masters
The Indian Wells Masters, also known as the Indian Wells Open and BNP Paribas Open is an annual tennis tournament usually held in early- and mid-March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California, United States. The owner is La ...
, Isner pulled off a major upset by defeating ninth seed Gaël Monfils. This was Isner's first win over a top-10 player, after four previous defeats. He then went on to defeat former world no. 1
Marat Safin
Marat Mubinovich Safin ( rus, Мара́т Муби́нович Са́фин, , mɐˈrat ˈsafʲɪn, Ru-Marat-Safin.ogg; tt-Cyrl, Марат Мөбин улы Сафин; born 27 January 1980) is a Russian retired world No. 1 tennis player an ...
, before losing to world no. 6
Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro () (born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine inactive professional tennis player. Del Potro's biggest achievement is a major title: the 2009 US Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and the five-time defen ...
in the fourth round.
In April 2009 at the
U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships
The U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships is an annual ATP Tour tennis tournament that started in 1910. It is the last remaining ATP World Tour-level tournament in the United States to be played on clay courts.
The tournament began in 1910 when the ...
in Houston, Texas, at
River Oaks Country Club
River Oaks Country Club is a country club in the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston, Texas. The club has hosted the River Oaks International Tennis Tournament since 1931. It is located at 1600 River Oaks Boulevard, Houston TX 77019.
History
Rive ...
, Isner made it as far as the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by fellow American Wayne Odesnik. Isner qualified for the French Open, but had to withdraw after being diagnosed with
mononucleosis
Infectious mononucleosis (IM, mono), also known as glandular fever, is an infection usually caused by the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Most people are infected by the virus as children, when the disease produces few or no symptoms. In young adult ...
, which caused him to miss Wimbledon as well.
In August 2009, he defeated world no. 7
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
and world no. 18
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champ ...
en route to the semifinals of the
ATP World Tour 500
The ATP 500 tournaments (previously known as the ''ATP World Tour 500'' tournaments, '' ATP International Series Gold'', and ''ATP Championship Series'') are the fourth highest tier of annual men's tennis tournament after the four Grand Slam tou ...
event in Washington, before losing to world no. 5 Andy Roddick. This performance brought him to a career-high ranking of no. 55 and a special exemption into the Masters 1000 Series event in Montreal, where he defeated Jesse Levine, before losing to
Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny (born 25 June 1982), nicknamed "Misha" and "Colonel" by his fans, is a Russian retired professional tennis player who was ranked inside the top 10 and was the Russian No. 1. He achieved a top-10 ranking by the Assoc ...
. He earned a wildcard into the Masters 1000 Series event in Cincinnati, where he defeated world no. 21 Tommy Haas, before losing to world no. 35
Jérémy Chardy
Jérémy Chardy (; born 12 February 1987) is a French inactive professional tennis player. He has won one ATP Tour singles title, in Stuttgart in 2009. His best Grand Slam performance in singles was reaching the quarterfinals of the 2013 Austra ...
in the second round.
![John Isner 2009 US Open](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/John_Isner_2009_US_Open.jpg)
Unseeded and ranked no. 55 in the world entering the US Open, Isner defeated world no. 29
Victor Hănescu
Victor Hănescu (born 21 July 1981) is a former Romanian tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world no. 26.
Professional career
Hănescu attained a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 on 6 July 2009. In a Davis Cup match again ...
in the first round, which was his first win in a Grand Slam tournament since the 2007 US Open, ending a streak of six consecutive defeats. He then advanced to the third round, where he defeated world no. 5 and fellow American Andy Roddick in five sets for his first victory over Roddick, his first victory in a five-set match, and the first time he advanced past the third round of a Grand Slam tournament. He was then defeated in the fourth round by world no. 10 Fernando Verdasco in four sets. His US Open performance brought his ranking to a career-high no. 39.
After playing in Vienna, Basel and at the Paris Masters, Isner finished the year at a career-high no. 34 in the world. He has credited his work with Boynton for helping him get back on track following his disappointing 2008 season.
[
His progress was acknowledged by his peers, as he was voted the ]ATP Most Improved Player
This is a list of all the awards given by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) to players and others of particular distinction during a given season.
Player & Team of the Year
The ATP Player and Team of the Year awards are presently give ...
for 2009,[ATP World Tour Awards](_blank)
. Retrieved February 2, 2010. becoming the tenth American to win the award, and the first since Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former world No. 1 tennis player. He is an eight-time major champion and an Olympic gold medalist, as well as a runner-up in seven other majors.
Agassi is the second of five men to ach ...
in 1998.
2010: First title, longest match in history
Isner began the year at the 2010 Heineken Open in Auckland. Unseeded, he reached his second career ATP final and first since Washington in 2007. In the final, he saved a championship point to defeat 2001 Australian Open finalist Arnaud Clément
Arnaud Clément (; born 17 December 1977) is a French former professional tennis player and Davis Cup captain. Clément reached the final of the 2001 Australian Open and achieved a career-high ranking of world No. 10 in April of that year. Par ...
. The victory in Auckland was Isner's first ATP tour title; after the victory he donated $5,000 of his winnings to aid rescue action for the 2010 Haiti earthquake
A disaster, catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (department), Ouest department, a ...
.
The victory catapulted Isner into the top 30 for the first time and also allowed him to surpass Sam Querrey
Samuel Austin Querrey (; born October 7, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 achieved on February 26, 2018, and won ten ATP singles titles. Known for his powerful serve ...
to become the second-highest-ranked American for the first time, behind only Andy Roddick.[ Isner said he intended to finish the year in the top 20,] and given his ascendency in the world rankings combined with the absence of Roddick and James Blake for the 2010 Davis Cup
The 2010 Davis Cup (also known as the 2010 Davis Cup by BNP Paribas for sponsorship purposes) was the 99th edition of the most important annual tournament among national teams in men's tennis worldwide. In the dramatic final, Serbia defeated Fra ...
season, it became increasingly likely that Isner would qualify to play singles for the United States Davis Cup team
The United States men's national tennis team represents the United States in Davis Cup tennis competition, and is governed by the United States Tennis Association.
The U.S. competed in the first Davis Cup in 1900, when a group of Harvard Univer ...
for the first time in his career.[
After ]Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon (; born 27 December 1984) is a French former professional tennis player. He had a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 6 attained on 5 January 2009. He turned professional in 2002 and won 14 singles titles on the ATP Tour.
...
withdrew, Isner became the final seed for the 2010 Australian Open. In the first round, he defeated world no. 49 Andreas Seppi
Andreas Seppi (born 21 February 1984) is an Italian former professional tennis player.
He reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 on 28 January 2013. He became the first Italian to win a title on all three surfaces.
Tennis car ...
for his first victory at the Australian Open and his first victory at a Grand Slam other than the US Open. He then advanced to the round of 16, before losing to world no. 4 and eventual finalist Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...
.
After the Australian Open, Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe
Patrick William McEnroe (born July 1, 1966) is an American former professional tennis player, broadcaster, and former captain of the United States Davis Cup team.
Born in Manhasset, New York, he is John McEnroe's youngest brother. He won one ...
announced that Isner and Querrey would be first and second singles selections on the United States Davis Cup team's first-round World Group tie in Serbia on indoor clay in March 2010; Isner described the selection as "a dream come true".
Isner next entered the 2010 Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis. Seeded sixth, he made it to the finals, before losing to Sam Querrey. In the doubles event, Isner teamed up with Querrey to win the tournament, defeating the British-Australian pair of Ross Hutchins
Ross Dan Hutchins (born 22 February 1985) is a retired British professional tennis player, known best as a doubles (tennis), doubles player, who achieved a highest doubles ranking of 26. He competed for England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in ...
and Jordan Kerr
Jordan Kerr (born 26 October 1979, in Adelaide) is a retired Australian professional tennis player.
Kerr reached a career high ATP singles ranking of World No. 356, which he achieved on 7 August 2000. Additionally, he reached a career high ATP ...
.
Prior to the Davis Cup tie, Isner competed at the 2010 Abierto Mexicano Telcel Championships, an ATP World Tour 500
The ATP 500 tournaments (previously known as the ''ATP World Tour 500'' tournaments, '' ATP International Series Gold'', and ''ATP Championship Series'') are the fourth highest tier of annual men's tennis tournament after the four Grand Slam tou ...
event on clay, where he was the fifth seed. He lost in the first round to Simon Greul
Simon Greul (; born 13 April 1981) is a retired German male tennis player. His career high rank was No. 55, achieved on 22 March 2010.
Career
His major breakthrough was at the 2006 Nasdaq-100 Open, where after beating Adrián García and Ricar ...
. Despite the loss, Isner following the tournament moved into the top 20 for the first time.
Isner appeared in the first round of the 2010 Davis Cup, where the United States was up against Serbia. In his two singles matches, he faced Serbia's team of world no. 2 Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl, Новак Ђоковић, translit=Novak Đoković, ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked world No. 1 for a record total 373 weeks, and has finished as the year-end No. 1 ...
and world no. 35 Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki ( sr-Cyrl, Виктор Троицки, ; born 10 February 1986) is a Serbian former professional tennis player. He won his first ATP singles title at the 2010 Kremlin Cup, and his second and third ATP singles titles at the 2015 a ...
. He lost the first singles match against Troicki, but bounced back by winning the doubles match with Bob Bryan
Robert Charles Bryan (born April 29, 1978) is an American former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. He has won twenty-three Grand Slam titles: 16 in men's doubles and 7 in mixed doubles. He turned professional in 1998. With his twin ...
, as a replacement for food-poisoned Mike Bryan
Michael Carl Bryan (born April 29, 1978) is an American former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. With his twin brother Bob, he was the world's top doubles player for more than nine years, first achieving the top ranking in Septemb ...
. In his second singles match, he lost to Djokovic, which enabled Serbia to defeat the United States.
At the 2010 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, he was seeded 15th and advanced to the fourth round, before losing to world no. 2 and defending champion Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal Parera (, ; born 3 June 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 2 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). He has been ranked List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis ...
.
Afterwards, he appeared as the 17th seed at the second Masters 1000 Series event of the season—the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. He advanced to the third round, before losing to 12th seed Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat (; born 12 February 1980) is a Spanish former world No. 1 tennis player. He won the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year became the 21st player to hold the top ranking, which he h ...
.
Isner began the clay-court season with an opening-round loss to world no. 89 Xavier Malisse
Xavier Malisse (born 19 July 1980) is a former Belgian professional tennis player. Born in the north-western Flemish city of Kortrijk and nicknamed ''X-Man'', he is one of only two Belgian men (the other being David Goffin) to have been ranked i ...
at the U.S. Men's Claycourt Championship, followed by a round of 32 showing at his first-ever Internazionali BNL d'Italia
The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
, where he defeated Horacio Zeballos
Horacio Zeballos Jr. (; born 27 April 1985) is an Argentine professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 39 achieved in March 2013 and his career-high doubles ranking is world No. 3 achieved in September 2019. In dou ...
, before losing to Thomaz Bellucci. However, he teamed with Querrey to reach the doubles final in Rome, before losing to Bob and Mike Bryan; his doubles performance raised his doubles ranking to the top 30 for the first time.
His next tournament was the 2010 Serbian Open, where he was the second seed behind defending champion, tournament host and world no. 2 Djokovic. Isner advanced to the first clay-court final of his career, third final of the year, and fourth final of his career. In the final, he lost to Querrey, despite having a match point; this was the second consecutive final Isner lost to Querrey after serving for the championship. However, Isner's finals performance improved his ranking to a career-high no. 19.
Isner's next tournament was his debut appearance at the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
The Madrid Open ( es, Masters de Madrid, link=no), currently sponsored by Mutua Madrileña and known as the Mutua Madrid Open, is a joint men's and women's professional tennis tournament, held in Madrid, during early May. The clay-court event is ...
. Seeded thirteenth, he advanced to the round of 16, before losing to world no. 3 and eventual champion Nadal.
Isner then played at the 2010 French Open
The 2010 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 114th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 23 May through ...
; his ranking assured his first direct seed into a Grand Slam event. Seeded 17th, he defeated Andrey Golubev
Andrey Golubev ( rus, Андре́й Алекса́ндрович Го́лубев; born July 22, 1987) is a Kazakh professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 33, achieved on 4 October 2010 and his doubles ranking i ...
in the first round for his first singles victory at the French Open. He advanced to the third round, before losing to the no. 15 seed and eventual semifinalist Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych (; born 17 September 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His most notable achievement was reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, causing consecutive upsets by defeating top seed and six-time champ ...
. In doubles, he and Querrey were the 12th seeds, but withdrew prior to the start of the tournament after Querrey's first-round loss in singles.
Despite being ranked no. 19 in the world entering Wimbledon, Isner was seeded 24th by the tournament committee due to his lack of experience on grass, but was moved up to 23rd following the withdrawal of Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štěpánek (; born 27 November 1978) is a Czech former professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking was world No. 8 and best doubles ranking was world No. 4. Štěpánek's biggest achievements are reaching two Masters 1000 ...
. In the first round, Isner played Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
in the longest match in tennis history, prevailing 6–4, 3–6, 6–7, 7–6, 70–68. However, fatigued and having little time to recover his energy, Isner was beaten by Thiemo de Bakker
Thiemo Carsten Jannick de Bakker (born 19 September 1988) is a Dutch professional tennis player. Considered a top prospect of his generation as a junior, he also made an impressive breakthrough as a young pro, reaching a career-high ranking in ...
in the second round, 0–6, 3–6, 2–6, having served no aces. He also pulled out of the doubles, where he and Querrey had been 12th seeds. Despite having been eliminated in the second round, Isner's total of 113 aces were more than any other player throughout the championship. His Wimbledon performance brought his ranking to a career-high no. 18 in the world.
Isner's next tournament was the 2010 Atlanta Tennis Championships, where he played doubles with James Blake and reached the semifinals. In singles, Isner was second seed and made it to his fourth final of the year, before losing to Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
, which dropped his career record in finals to 1–4 (0–4 against Americans).
Isner next competed at the 2010 Legg Mason Tennis Classic, the ATP World Tour 500 series event in Washington, D.C. and site of his breakthrough performance in 2007. Isner was to also compete in the doubles with Sam Querrey, but withdrew due to shoulder concerns. Seeded fifth in singles, Isner made it to the round of 16, before losing to Xavier Malisse.
Isner next played at the 2010 Cincinnati Masters, where he was unseeded. After defeating Łukasz Kubot
Łukasz Kubot (; born 16 May 1982) is a Polish professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a two-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2014 Australian Open with Robert Lindstedt, as well as the 2017 W ...
in the first round, he faced 2002 Wimbledon finalist and 2005 Tennis Masters Cup champion David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian (; born 1 January 1982) is an Argentine retired professional tennis player who played on the ATP Tour from 2000 until his retirement in 2013. He reached the highest ranking in singles of world No. 3 in March 2006. Nalban ...
, but was forced to retire up a break at 5–4 in the first set after injuring his right ankle. Although Isner was found to have suffered ligament damage to the ankle, he chose not to withdraw from the US Open singles tournament.
At the 2010 US Open, Isner was 18th seed and defeated Frederico Gil
João Frederico Limpo Franco Gil (born 24 March 1985), known as Fred Gil (), is a retired Portuguese professional tennis player, who currently competes in the ITF Men's Circuit. He is ranked no. 432 in the world by the Association of Tennis Prof ...
in the first round. After the match he revealed that although the initial diagnosis was a right ankle ligament tear, a second opinion revealed that the damage was a strain and not a tear, and he declared his ankle 90% healed. He then advanced to the third round, before losing to 12th seed and 2006 US Open semifinalist Mikhail Youzhny. The loss dropped Isner out of the top 20 and from the no. 2 to the no. 4 ranked American player. Due to his ankle injury, he chose not to compete in doubles.
Following the US Open, Isner participated with Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey in the Davis Cup tie against Colombia, winning the doubles match with Fish as his partner. The United States won the tie 3–1 to remain in the 2011 Davis Cup World Group
The World Group was the highest level of Davis Cup competition in 2011. The first round losers went into the Davis Cup World Group Play-offs and the winners progress to the quarterfinals. The quarterfinalists were guaranteed a World Group spot ...
. Isner was next granted a wildcard to participate at the 2010 China Open, his first time competing in Beijing. In doubles, he teamed with Querrey, losing in the first round to Bob and Mike Bryan. In singles, Isner was unseeded, but made it to the semifinals, before losing to world no. 2 and defending champion Novak Djokovic. Isner next competed at the 2010 Shanghai Masters, where, unseeded, he made it to the second round, losing to world no. 3 and reigning Australian Open champion Roger Federer in their first meeting since the 2007 US Open.
2011: Hopman Cup champion, first Major quarterfinal, two titles
Isner began the year by teaming with Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Bethanie Mattek-Sands ( Bethanie Lynn Mattek; born March 23, 1985) is an American professional tennis player. She has won nine Grand Slam titles (five in women's doubles and four in mixed doubles), and an Olympic gold medal, and is a former wo ...
to win the mixed doubles
Mixed doubles or mixed pairs is a form of mixed-sex sports that consists of teams of one man and one woman. This variation of competition is prominent in curling and racket sports, such as tennis, table tennis and badminton (where it is known as ...
Hopman Cup
The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
for the United States, defeating Belgium's Justine Henin
Justine Henin (; born 1 June 1982) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. She spent a total of 117 weeks as the world No. 1 and was the year-end No. 1 in 2003, 2006 and 2007. Henin, coming from a country with limited success in te ...
and Ruben Bemelmans
Ruben Bemelmans (; born 14 January 1988) is a Belgian former professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP ranking of world No. 84 in singles, achieved on 28 September 2015, and world No. 128 in doubles, achieved on 1 October 2012. Beme ...
.
Following his win in Perth, Isner returned to Auckland to defend his ATP title at the 2011 Heineken Open. After a bye in his first round, the third seed faced Dutchman and world no. 52 Robin Haase
Robin Haase (; born 6 April 1987) is a Dutch professional tennis player.
He reached his career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 33 in July 2012, and has won two singles titles, at the Austrian Open in both 2011 and 2012. Haase also reac ...
. Isner defeated Haase to go through to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by David Nalbandian in straight sets.
Isner next played at the 2011 Australian Open He entered the tournament seeded 20th and received a tough draw, including Radek Štěpánek, Marin Čilić
Marin Čilić (; born 28 September 1988) is a Croatian professional tennis player. Čilić has won 20 ATP Tour singles titles, including a major at the 2014 US Open. He was also runner-up at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and the 2018 Austral ...
, and Rafael Nadal. Isner came up against French world no. 69 Florent Serra
Florent Lucien Serra (born 28 February 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. A right-hander, he won two ATP titles during his career and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 36 in June 2006.
Career Early life and ...
, whom he easily defeated. Isner then faced Štěpánek in the second round where he would progress into the third round, rallying to ultimately win the match after losing the first set. He next faced fellow top 20 player Marin Čilić. The match went to five sets, with Čilić emerging as the eventual winner.
At the 2011 French Open, Isner was drawn against top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal. Isner took a two-sets-to-one lead against Nadal, who had never played a five-set match at Roland Garros before. Nadal went on to win the title.
In the 2011 Wimbledon men's singles draw, Isner was paired against Mahut in the first round, a rematch of the world's longest match from the previous year's tournament. Isner won in straight sets. However, he lost in the second round to the 16th seed Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ch ...
in four sets, dropping his 2011 record to 11–14.
Isner then accepted a last-minute wildcard to participate in the 2011 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, replacing compatriot and defending champion Mardy Fish, who was chosen to play in the Davis Cup for the United States during that weekend. Isner was the top seed and defeated Karol Beck
Karol Beck (born 3 April 1982) is a male former tennis player from Slovakia, who turned professional in 2001. His career-high singles ranking is World No. 36, achieved in August 2005. Beck reached the fourth round of the 2004 US Open and the qu ...
, Arnaud Clément, Alex Bogomolov Jr., and Tobias Kamke
Tobias Kamke (born 21 May 1986) is a German former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 64 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in January 2011. In 2010, Kamke was awarde ...
without dropping a set, to reach his first career grass-court final. In the final, he defeated Olivier Rochus
Olivier Rochus (; born 18 January 1981) is a retired Belgian tennis player. He is the younger brother of Christophe Rochus, also a former top-40 tennis player.
Rochus won two singles titles in his career and in 2004 won the French Open doubles ...
to become the first top seed in 35 years to win the event. The title was his first of 2011 and second of his career, and ended a three-match losing streak in finals. The championship raised Isner's world ranking from no. 48 to no. 36.
Isner next played in the 2011 Atlanta Tennis Championships, where he was the third seed. He defeated James Blake, Lu Yen-hsun
Lu Yen-hsun (; born 14 August 1983) is a Taiwanese retired professional tennis player, who goes by the nickname Rendy Lu.
He won the most titles on the ATP Challenger Tour in tennis history. His favorite surface is hardcourt, though several of ...
and Gilles Müller
Gilles Müller (; born 9 May 1983) is a former professional tennis player from Luxembourg. He is a two-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist and the most successful male tennis player in the history of his country. Müller won two titles on the ATP Wo ...
to reach his second consecutive tour final. In the final, he faced Mardy Fish in a rematch of the 2010 final. Isner was ultimately defeated by Fish. He then reached the semifinals of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, defeating Tobias Kamke, James Blake and Viktor Troicki before losing to Gaël Monfils.
At the Rogers Cup
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
, Isner defeated Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis ( el, Μάρκος Παγδατής, ar, ماركوس بغداتيس; ; born 17 June 1985) is a Cypriot former professional tennis player. He was the runner-up at the 2006 Australian Open and a semifinalist at the 2006 Wimble ...
, but lost to Troicki in the second round. Isner won the Winston-Salem Open
The Winston-Salem Open is a men's professional tennis tournament played on the ATP Tour at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in the United States. It made its debut at Winston-Salem in 2011 and is part of the 250 tier of ev ...
as the fourth seed, defeating Dudi Sela
David "Dudi" Sela ( he, דודי סלע; born 4 April 1985) is an Israeli professional tennis player. He reached a career-high singles ranking of World No. 29 in July 2009.
Sela won the French Open 2003 junior doubles title. Representing Israel ...
, Jarkko Nieminen, Baghdatis and Andy Roddick in the semifinals, before defeating Julien Benneteau
Julien Henry Guy Benneteau-Desgrois (; born 20 December 1981) is a French retired professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is ATP world no. 25, which he reached in November 2014. He formerly resided in Boulogne-Billancourt and ...
in the final.
At the 2011 US Open, Isner defeated Marcos Baghdatis, Robby Ginepri, Alex Bogomolov Jr. and Gilles Simon on the way to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. There, he was defeated by Andy Murray.
Isner reached the semifinals at the Masters 1000 Series event in Paris, where he held three match points before losing to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The result brought him back into the top 20. He would finish the year ranked no. 18, his second consecutive year-end top 20 ranking and his highest year-end ranking to date.
2012: First Masters final & Top 10 debut, two titles
Isner defeated David Nalbandian in the second round of the 2012 Australian Open
The 2012 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 16 to 29 January 2012. It was the 100th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. The tournamen ...
in a five-set match, but was defeated in the third round by Feliciano López
Feliciano López Díaz-Guerra (; born 20 September 1981) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world No. 12 in March 2015 and doubles ranking of world No. 9 in November 2016.In 2005, López was t ...
. He beat world no. 3 Roger Federer in Switzerland in the first round of the Davis Cup, as well as beating Marco Chiudinelli
Marco Chiudinelli (born 10 September 1981) is a retired tennis player from Switzerland. A member of Switzerland's winning 2014 Davis Cup squad, he reached his highest singles ranking of 52 in February 2010 during a career that was often hindere ...
in another singles rubber, to help propel the United States to victory over the Swiss.
He then reached the final of the 2012 Indian Wells Masters by beating world no. 1 Novak Djokovic in three sets in the semifinals, before being defeated by Federer in straight sets in the final. Isner also reached the doubles final of the same tournament, partnering Sam Querrey. As a result he reached the top 10 in singles on 19 March 2012.
In the Davis Cup quarterfinals against France, Isner defeated Gilles Simon in the first live rubber of the tie in straight sets. Two days later, Isner clinched the tie and propelled the United States into the semifinals by defeating French no. 1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (; born 17 April 1985) is a French former professional tennis player. He was ranked as high as world No. 5 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in February 2012. Tsonga won 18 singles titles on th ...
in four sets.
A week before Roland Garros, he was the top seed at the 2012 Open de Nice Côte d'Azur, but was upset by Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko ( rus, Никола́й Влади́мирович Давыде́нко ; born 2 June 1981) is a Ukrainian-born Russian former professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 3 i ...
in the quarterfinals.
At the 2012 French Open
The 2012 French Open (also known as Roland Garros, after the famous French aviator) was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 116th edition of the French Open, and took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 27 May until 11 ...
, he defeated Rogério Dutra da Silva Rogério ( uˈʒɛɾiuor oˈʒɛɾiu is a Portuguese male given name, and a variant of the first name Roger. It may refer to:
* Rogério Fidélis Régis, or simply Rogério (1976), Brazilian footballer
* Rogério Lourenço (1971), Brazilian f ...
in the first round before being defeated by wildcard Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu (; born 12 January 1982) is a French former professional tennis player. He won four singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best singles performance in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament was reaching the semifinals of the ...
in the second round: 6–7, 6–4, 6–4, 3–6, 18–16 in the second-longest-ever Roland Garros match at 5 hours and 41 minutes.
At the 2012 Wimbledon Championships
The 2012 Wimbledon Championships was a tennis tournament played on grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London in the United Kingdom. It was the 126th edition of the The Championships, Wimbledon, Wimbledon C ...
, he was the eleventh seed. However, he was upset by 73rd-ranked Alejandro Falla
Alejandro Falla Ramírez (; born 14 November 1983) is a retired professional male tennis player from Colombia. The left-hander turned pro in 2000 and achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 48 in July 2012. At the 2006 Wimbledon t ...
in five sets, being eliminated in the first round. If he had won this match, he would have gone on to face Mahut for the third straight year. He beat Mahut at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships
The Infosys Hall of Fame Open is an international tennis tournament that has been held every year in July since 1976 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, the original location of the U.S. National Championships. The ...
in July, on his way to winning the championship for the second consecutive year.
Isner reached the semifinals at the 2012 Atlanta Tennis Championships, losing to Andy Roddick. Isner then defeated Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), wh ...
in the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup, but subsequently lost to Richard Gasquet
Richard Gabriel Cyr Gasquet (; born 18 June 1986) is a French professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 7, attained on 9 July 2007. He has won a total of 15 singles titles on the ATP Tour. His best performances ...
for a place in the final.
Isner was chosen to be on special London 2012
The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
Coke cans. He lost in the quarterfinals of the Olympics
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
to eventual runner-up Roger Federer. In the men's doubles draw, he and Andy Roddick did not progress beyond the first round.
Isner won his second title of the year at the 2012 Winston-Salem Open
The 2012 Winston-Salem Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 44th edition of the Winston-Salem Open, and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series of the 2012 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Wake Forest Unive ...
, defeating Tomáš Berdych in the final. It was the second consecutive year that he won the title in Winston-Salem. At the 2012 US Open, he lost in the third round to Philipp Kohlschreiber
Philipp Eberhard Hermann Kohlschreiber (; born 16 October 1983) is a German former professional tennis player. The right-hander won eight singles and seven doubles titles on the ATP World Tour and made the quarterfinals at the 2012 Wimbledon Cha ...
.
2013: Second Masters final, two titles
Isner was seeded first in Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, but he lost in the second round to Ryan Harrison
Ryan Harrison (born May 7, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. Harrison has won one career ATP title in singles at the 2017 Memphis Open to go along with four in doubles, including the 2017 French Open.
Before turning 16, Harriso ...
in straight sets. He did not appear at the 2013 Australian Open the following week because of a bone bruise in his right knee.
Isner won his sixth ATP title and first on clay, defeating Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro Sánchez (; born 21 August 1985 in Murcia, Spain) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. He reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 2008, 2010 and 2012 (losing each time to Rafael Nadal, the eventual ch ...
in the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships final in Houston. At the Monte Carlo Masters, he was eliminated in the first round. He also made early exits in Madrid and Rome.
At the 2013 French Open
The 2013 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 117th edition of the French Open and the second Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Stade Roland Garros from 26 May to 9 June. It consisted of e ...
, Isner recovered from two sets down in his first-round match to beat Ryan Harrison in five sets. The next day, Isner once again recovered from two sets down to level the match, this time against Tommy Haas, saving a record 12 match points in the fourth set. However, Isner then let a lead slip and failed to convert a match point of his own and Haas eventually won the fifth set.
At the 2013 Topshelf Open in 's-Hertogenbosch, Isner bowed out in the first round, defeated by young Russian Evgeny Donskoy
Evgeny Evgenyevich Donskoy ( rus, Евге́ний Евге́ньевич Донско́й, , ɪ̯ɪvˈɡʲenʲɪɪ̯ dɐnˈskoɪ̯; born 9 May 1990) is a Russian professional tennis player. His career-high ATP singles ranking is world No. 65, ...
.
At Wimbledon, Isner was injured and had to retire during his second-round match against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino
Adrian Mannarino (born 29 June 1988) is a French professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 22, attained on 19 March 2018. He won his first ATP Tour singles title at the 2019 Rosmalen Open on grass. He is c ...
, after avenging himself on Donskoy in the first round.
In July, Isner won his second title of the year and his first in Atlanta, after appearing twice before in the final. He defeated Kevin Anderson in the final in a three-set tiebreaker match, which was billed as the tallest final in ATP history, their combined heights adding up to 13 feet, 6 inches.
In Washington, he reached the final and lost to Juan Martín del Potro after winning the first set. At the 2013 Rogers Cup in Montréal, Isner lost in the first round to the Canadian no. 2 Vasek Pospisil
Vasek Pospisil ( ; cs, Vašek Pospíšil, ; known in born June 23, 1990) is a Canadian professional tennis player. Pospisil has a career-high world singles ranking of No. 25, and No. 4 in doubles. Along with partner Jack Sock, he won the 2014 ...
, who went on to reach the semifinals. He won the first set but then lost two consecutive tiebreakers.
During a busy summer, he reached another final in Cincinnati, beating Richard Gasquet and then three top-10 players in a row, first Milos Raonic, then Novak Djokovic, followed by a maiden triumph over Juan Martín del Potro in the semifinals. He lost to Rafael Nadal in his second Masters 1000 final and subsequently pulled out of the tournament in Winston-Salem. At the 2013 US Open he beat Gaël Monfils in the second round but lost for the second consecutive year to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round.
2014: Eighth and ninth ATP titles
Isner started his season at the 2014 Hopman Cup with countrywoman Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in t ...
, beginning strong with a win over Spain. However, the pair then lost their next two ties against France and the Czech Republic, respectively.
One week later, he won the 2014 Heineken Open
The 2014 Heineken Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 39th edition of the Heineken Open, and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2014 ATP World Tour. It took place at the ASB Tennis Centre in Auckl ...
, defeating Lu Yen-hsun
Lu Yen-hsun (; born 14 August 1983) is a Taiwanese retired professional tennis player, who goes by the nickname Rendy Lu.
He won the most titles on the ATP Challenger Tour in tennis history. His favorite surface is hardcourt, though several of ...
in the final in two tiebreaker sets. At the 2014 Australian Open
The 2014 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park between 13 and 26 January 2014. It was the 102nd edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam tournament of the year. The tournament consisted of event ...
, he faced Martin Kližan
Martin Kližan (; born 11 July 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. The winner of the 2006 French Open boys' singles title, Kližan turned pro in 2007 and had a career-high singles ranking of world No. 24, achieved on 27 April ...
in the first round, but after losing the first two sets, he ultimately retired due to an ankle injury.
Isner then reached the semifinals of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships
The Delray Beach Open is an ATP World Tour 250 series men's professional tennis tournament held each year in Delray Beach, Florida, United States, and played on hard courts. It was previously known as America's Red Clay Championships, Citrix Ten ...
, losing to eventual champion Marin Čilić in straight sets.
At the 2014 Indian Wells Masters
The 2014 BNP Paribas Open (also known as the 2014 Indian Wells Masters) was a professional tennis tournament that was played at Indian Wells, California, in March 2014. It was the 41st edition of the men's event (26th for the women), known as the ...
, Isner received a bye into round two, after which he defeated Nikolay Davydenko, Lu Yen-hsun, Fernando Verdasco and Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis (, born 30 August 1988, nicknamed "Lord", "The Gull" or "Ernie") is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schütt ...
en route to the semifinals, where he would face Novak Djokovic in a rematch of their 2012 semifinal. However, this time Isner lost in three sets. The semifinal run in Indian Wells did, however, secure him a return to the top 10.
At the Miami Masters
The Miami Open (also known as the Miami Masters, and currently branded as the Miami Open presented by Itaú for sponsorship reasons) is a tennis tournament held at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. It is part of the men's ATP Tour Mas ...
, Isner again received a bye into round two, where he faced and beat Donald Young. He then defeated Nicolás Almagro in the third round, only to lose to Tomáš Berdych in the fourth round.
In Houston, he was defending a title, but lost his first match in the second round to Dustin Brown. With the points he lost, he slipped out of the top 10 to a ranking of no. 11.
In Madrid, he teamed up with Tomáš Berdych in the doubles draw. In singles, he made it to the third round, where he lost to David Ferrer. He was eliminated in the first round at the Rome Masters.
In Nice the week before the French Open, he made it to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by Argentine Federico Delbonis
Federico Delbonis (; born 5 October 1990) is an Argentine professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 33 achieved on 9 May 2016. He also has a career-high doubles ranking of No. 110 achieved on 22 July 2019.
Pro ...
. At Roland Garros, he reached the fourth round, where he lost to Berdych. He did not play a grass tune-up tournament before Wimbledon.
At the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, Isner reached the third round, where he lost to Feliciano López in four sets with three tiebreakers.
In Newport, Isner made it to the quarterfinals, where he lost to Jack Sock
Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...
. However, he got revenge in the semifinals in Atlanta a couple of weeks later and went on to win the tournament, his ninth, with a win over Dudi Sela.
At the US Open, Isner reached the third round, where he lost to Philipp Kohlschreiber for the third consecutive year.
Isner hired Justin Gimelstob
Justin Jeremy Gimelstob (born January 26, 1977) is a retired American tennis player. Gimelstob has been a resident of Morristown, New Jersey, and as of 2009 lived in Santa Monica, California.
He was the top-ranked boy in his age group at the a ...
as his new coach at the end of the 2014 season.
2015: Second Hopman final, tenth title
Isner started the season slowly, making the third round of the Australian Open and having only a quarterfinal showing in Memphis before making it into the semifinals in Miami with three wins in a row defeating Grigor Dimitrov
Grigor Dimitrov ( bg, Григор Димитров, ; born 16 May 1991) is a Bulgarian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on ...
, Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori
is an inactive Japanese professional tennis player. He is the second male Japanese player to have been ranked in the top 5 in singles (after Jiro Sato), and the only one to do so in the Open Era. Nishikori first reached his career-high singles ...
. He lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
He lost to Djokovic again in straight sets in Indian Wells in the third round after defeating qualifier Jürgen Melzer
Jürgen Melzer (born 22 May 1981) is an Austrian former professional tennis player. Melzer reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 in April 2011, and a doubles ranking of world No. 6 in September 2010. He has a younger brother, Geral ...
in the second round. In Monte Carlo, he lost to Rafael Nadal in the third round. He made the quarterfinals in Madrid, where he lost to Tomáš Berdych. In Nice, he made the semifinals, losing to Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem (; born 3 September 1993) is an Austrian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals, which he first achieved in March 2020. He is the second-highest r ...
.
At Roland Garros, he lost to Jérémy Chardy in the second round. On grass, he made the quarterfinals in Queen's and the third round of Wimbledon, where he lost to then-world no. 9 Marin Čilić in five sets after two days of play, 10–12 in the decider.
Isner lost in the first round in Newport to eventual champion Rajeev Ram
Rajeev Ram ( ; born March 18, 1984) is an American professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
Ram is a five-time major champion, having won the 2020 Australian Open, the 2021 US Open, and the 2022 US Open in men's d ...
. He successfully defended his title in Atlanta in July to win his 10th ATP Tour title and third in a row at the tournament, defeating Marcos Baghdatis in the final in straight sets. The following week, he reached the final of the 500 tournament in Washington, D.C., losing in the final to Kei Nishikori. He also reached the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup in Montréal, losing in three tiebreakers to Jérémy Chardy. However, the following week in Cincinnati, he bowed out in the first round against Sam Querrey. He then skipped Winston-Salem, his home tournament, the week before the US Open.
At the US Open, Isner advanced to the fourth round, losing to Federer in straight sets. It was his best Grand Slam result of the year. He reached the third round in Shanghai, losing to Andy Murray in three sets before reaching his third Masters quarterfinal of the year in Paris, after beating Federer in three sets. Isner finished the year at world no. 11, his best year-end ranking to date.
2016: Third Masters final, seventh consecutive top 20 finish
Isner started his season in Auckland
Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...
and reached the quarterfinals, losing to the eventual champion Roberto Bautista Agut
Roberto Bautista Agut (; born 14 April 1988) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in singles, which he first achieved on 4 November 2019.
Bautista A ...
. At the 2016 Australian Open, he reached the fourth round for the first time in six years, defeating Spaniards Marcel Granollers
Marcel Granollers Pujol (; ; born 12 April 1986) is a Spanish professional tennis player. He reached his career-high singles ranking of world No. 19 in July 2012, and his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 in February 2013. Granollers h ...
and Feliciano López before losing to David Ferrer in straights sets. Instead of playing the US spring hardcourt tournaments, Isner decided to play two clay court tournaments in South America, losing his first match in both to Dušan Lajović and Guido Pella
Guido Pella (; born 17 May 1990) is an inactive Argentine professional tennis player. In August 2019, Pella reached his career best world No. 20 in singles. In July 2019, he peaked at No. 55 in doubles.
Personal life
His father, Carlos, taught ...
, respectively. In the first round of the 2016 Davis Cup, Isner defeated Bernard Tomic
Bernard Tomic (; hr, Bernard Tomić, ; born 21 October 1992) is an Australian professional tennis player whose career-high ranking was world No. 17. As a junior, Tomic enjoyed a successful career in which he won an Orange Bowl title and two ju ...
and Sam Groth
Samuel Groth OLY, Member of Parliament#Australia, MP (born 19 October 1987) is an Australian politician and a former professional tennis player. Sitting as a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Groth represents the Liberal Party of Aus ...
to help upset Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
3–1 and move the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
into the quarterfinals against Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
.
Isner reached the fourth round at the BNP Paribas Open for the third year in a row, where he lost to Kei Nishikori. He was then upset early at the 2016 Miami Open
The 2016 Miami Open presented by Itaú (also known as 2016 Miami Masters) was a professional men and women's tennis tournament being played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 32nd edition of the Miami Open, and was part of the Masters 1000 cate ...
by Tim Smyczek
Timothy Smyczek ( ; ; born December 30, 1987) is an American former professional tennis player. He made three quarterfinals on the main tour as well as the semi-finals of Newport in 2018. Additionally he won seven Challenger titles. He achieved ...
. Despite missing most of the clay season, only playing the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships and the Geneva Open
The Geneva Open is an ATP Tour (formerly Grand Prix) affiliated tennis tournament that was held annually from 1980 to 1991 in Geneva, Switzerland on clay courts.
In November 2014 the ATP announced that the Düsseldorf tournament would be moved to ...
, Isner reached the fourth round of the 2016 French Open for only the second time in his career, losing to eventual finalist Andy Murray in straight sets. Isner's season continued with early losses in both grass tournaments he played, losing to Gilles Müller at the 2016 Aegon Championships
The 2016 Aegon Championships, also known as the Queen's Club Championships, was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 114th edition of those championships and part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2016 ATP W ...
in addition to a marathon match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships
The 2016 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tennis tournament which took place at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main draw commenced on 27 June 2016 and concluded on ...
.
Isner started the US Open Series
The US Open Series is the name given by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to a series of North American professional tennis tournaments leading up to and including the US Open. It is part of the "North American hard court season". Emira ...
with a disappointing loss in the second round of the 2016 Rogers Cup to Ryan Harrison. Isner rebounded by reaching his first final of the season and his fourth consecutive final at the Atlanta Open, losing in straight sets to Nick Kyrgios
Nicholas Hilmy Kyrgios ( ; born 27 April 1995) is an Australian professional tennis player. In singles, Kyrgios' career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 13 was achieved on 24 October 2016. He has won seven ATP Tour singles titles, includin ...
. Isner skipped the Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...
due to it lacking ranking points and prize money, electing to focus on the summer hardcourt tournaments of the US Open Series. After Isner lost in straight sets in the second round to Milos Raonic and Steve Johnson reached the quarterfinals in Cincinnati, Isner lost the title of the top-ranked American man for the first time in three years. Although he regained it in the following week, Johnson took it back again following the 2016 US Open, after Isner was unable to defend his fourth-round points, losing in the third round to Kyle Edmund
Kyle Steven Edmund (born 8 January 1995) is a South African born-British professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 14 and was the top-ranked male British tennis player from March 2018 through October 2019.
E ...
in four sets.
Isner teamed up with Jack Sock to win his second Masters doubles title and fourth overall doubles title at the 2016 Shanghai Masters. Unseeded at the final regular tournament of the season, Isner would prevail against seeded players David Ferrer and Marin Čilić to reach his third Masters final and second final of the season at the 2016 BNP Paribas Masters
The 2016 BNP Paribas Masters was a professional men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 44th edition of the tournament, and part of the World Tour Masters 1000 category of the 2016 ATP World Tour. It took place at the P ...
in Paris. His semifinal victory allowed him to again finish the year as the no. 1 American for the fifth consecutive year and inside the top 20 for the seventh consecutive season. In the final, Isner lost to the newly crowned world no. 1 Andy Murray, thus leaving him titleless in singles for the first time since 2009.
2017: Eleventh and twelfth ATP titles
Isner reached the quarterfinals at the 2017 ASB Classic, the 2017 Memphis Open and the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships. He reached the semifinals in Rome at the Italian Open, where he was defeated by eventual champion Alexander Zverev. At the French Open, Isner started strongly, defeating Jordan Thompson and Paolo Lorenzi
Paolo Lorenzi (; born 15 December 1981) is an Italian former professional tennis player. Lorenzi was coached by Claudio Galoppini.
Tennis career
Lorenzi reached his first ATP World Tour final at the age of 32, in São Paulo. Here, at the 2014 B ...
in the first and second rounds, respectively. However, he fell in the third round to Karen Khachanov
Karen Abgarovich Khachanov (russian: Каре́н Абга́рович Хача́нов; born 21 May 1996) is a Russian professional tennis player. Khachanov has won four ATP Tour singles titles, including a Masters 1000 title at the 2018 Paris ...
in four sets.
Isner competed at the 2017 Wimbledon Championships
The 2017 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. The main draw matches commenced on 3 July 2017 and concluded on 16 July 20 ...
, where he defeated qualifier Taylor Fritz
Taylor Harry Fritz (born October 28, 1997) is an American professional tennis player. He has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 8 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on October 10, 2022, and a doubles ranking of w ...
in the first round before losing to Dudi Sela in five sets. At the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Isner defeated qualifier Matthew Ebden
Matthew Ebden (born 26 November 1987) is an Australian professional tennis player.
He is a two-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam champion, having won the 2022 Wimbledon Championships – Men's doubles, 2022 Wimbledon Championships in men's ...
6–3, 7–6 in the final to win his first singles title of the year.
Isner won the Atlanta BB&T Open on July 30, defeating fellow countryman Ryan Harrison 7–6, 7–6 in two evenly contested tiebreak sets. Isner claimed this title for the fourth time out of seven finals.
2018: First Masters title, maiden Grand Slam semifinal, world No. 8
Isner failed to win a match throughout January 2018, losing in the round of 16 at the Auckland Open and in the first round of the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
to Matthew Ebden
Matthew Ebden (born 26 November 1987) is an Australian professional tennis player.
He is a two-time Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam champion, having won the 2022 Wimbledon Championships – Men's doubles, 2022 Wimbledon Championships in men's ...
. However, 2018 proved to be Isner's most successful year in terms of Grand Slam results.
He won the 2018 Indian Wells doubles title with his partner Jack Sock
Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...
, defeating the Bryan Brothers
The Bryan brothers, identical twin brothers Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, are retired American professional doubles tennis players and the most successful duo of all time. They were born on April 29, 1978, with Mike being the elder by two minutes. ...
in two tiebreak sets. Isner then played at the Miami Open, where he won his first Masters 1000 title, defeating Alexander Zverev in the final. With this win, Isner returned to his career-high ranking of world No. 9.
Isner reached the fourth round of the French Open. At Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, he advanced to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 2011 US Open. In the quarterfinal, Isner defeated Milos Raonic
Milos Raonic (; sr, Милош Раонић, Miloš Raonić, ; born December 27, 1990) is a Canadian inactive professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), wh ...
in four sets to advance to the first Grand Slam semifinal of his career, but he lost to South African Kevin Anderson in five sets, 7–6, 6–7, 6–7, 6–4, 26–24. At six hours and 36 minutes, the match was the fourth-longest match in history and the second-longest at a Grand Slam tournament after Isner's first-round defeat of Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut (; born 21 January 1982) is a French professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having completed the career Grand Slam with victories at the ...
in 2010, also at Wimbledon. Analysts credited Isner's aggressive return style and strong serve-and-volley
Serve-and-volley is a style of play in tennis where the player serving moves quickly towards the net after hitting a serve, to attempt to hit a volley afterwards. In the serve-and-volley playstyle, the server attempts to hit a volley (a shot whe ...
game for his success in 2018 at Wimbledon.
Isner won the 2018 Atlanta Open, defeating Ryan Harrison 5–7, 6–3, 6–4. This was Isner's fifth title at Atlanta. At the US Open, Isner reached his second quarterfinal at a Slam in 2018 before losing to Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro () (born 23 September 1988) is an Argentine inactive professional tennis player. Del Potro's biggest achievement is a major title: the 2009 US Open, where he defeated Rafael Nadal in the semifinals and the five-time defen ...
. Following the birth of his first child, Isner skipped the Asian portion of the tour. He reached the semifinal at Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
but lost to qualifier Ernest Gulbis. At Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, he lost to Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in November 2016. H ...
in the second round.
2019: Fifth Masters final, tenth consecutive top 20 finish
Isner reached the final of the 2019 Miami Open, where he lost to Roger Federer. He finished the year ranked No. 19, his tenth consecutive top 20 finish.
2020: Sixth Australian Open third round, COVID-19 season
Isner opened the 2020 season by reaching the 2020 ASB Classic semifinals before falling to eventual champion Ugo Humbert
Ugo Humbert (; born 26 June 1998) is a French professional tennis player. He has achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 25 on 21 June 2021. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of No. 361 achieved on 14 October 2019.
Humbert ...
6–7, 4–6. In the Australian Open
The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Th ...
, he reached the third round before retiring with a foot injury during the second set against former champion Stan Wawrinka
Stanislas "Stan" Wawrinka (; born 28 March 1985) is a Swiss professional tennis player. He reached a career-high Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles ranking of world No. 3 for the first time on 27 January 2014. His career highlight ...
.
Isner advanced to the semifinals of the Mexican Open before the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
halted the ATP tour until the Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Masters or Cincinnati Open (branded as the Western & Southern Open for sponsorship reasons) is an annual outdoor hardcourt tennis event held in Mason, Ohio near Cincinnati. The event started on September 18, 1899, and is the olde ...
, where Inser lost in the third round to Stefanos Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas ( gr, Στέφανος Τσιτσιπάς, ; born 12 August 1998) is a Greek professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on 9 ...
in straight sets.
2021: Sixth Atlanta title, thirteenth Masters semifinal, out of and return to top 30
In April, Isner was not able to defend his points from the previous final at the 2021 Miami Open
The 2021 Miami Open was a professional hardcourt tennis tournament played from March 23 to April 4, 2021, on the grounds of Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. The 36th edition of the Miami Open, it was a Masters 1000 event on the 202 ...
and fell from the top 30 for the first time in 10 years. Even though he reached the quarterfinals at the 2021 Mutua Madrid Open
The 2021 Madrid Open (sponsored by Mutua) was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts at the Park Manzanares in Madrid, Spain from 29 April – 9 May 2021. It was the 19th edition of the event on the ATP Tour and 12th o ...
, Isner still remained out of the top 30. The drop in the rankings marked the first time that no American men were ranked in the top 30 since computerized tennis rankings were introduced in 1973.
At the 2021 French Open
The 2021 French Open was a major level tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 30 May to 13 June 2021, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. The qualifiers too ...
, Isner reached the third round, losing to eventual finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas
Stefanos Tsitsipas ( gr, Στέφανος Τσιτσιπάς, ; born 12 August 1998) is a Greek professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved on 9 ...
in four sets.
In July 2021, Isner won his sixth ATP doubles title at the 2021 Los Cabos Open, partnering with Hans Hach Verdugo
Hans Hach Verdugo (born 11 November 1989) is a Mexican tennis player.
Hach Verdugo has a career high ATP doubles ranking of World No. 60 achieved on 11 July 2022. He has a career high singles ranking of World No. 528 achieved on 20 July 2015. ...
as wild-card entries.
At the 2021 Atlanta Open, Isner defeated Brandon Nakashima
Brandon Nakashima (born August 3, 2001) is an American professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 43 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved on 17 October 2022. On the same day, he ...
to win a record sixth title in his ninth finals appearance at the event.
At the Canadian Open, Isner reached the semifinals, defeating many seeded players such as 13th seed Cristian Garín
Cristian Ignacio Garín Medone (; born 30 May 1996) is a Chilean professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 17 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) in singles, which he first achieved on 13 September 2021, ...
, 4th seed Andrey Rublev
Andrey Andreyevich Rublev (russian: Андрей Андреевич Рублёв; born 20 October 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 5 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (AT ...
and 11th seed Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils (; born 1 September 1986) is a French professional tennis player. He has been ATP rankings, ranked as high as world No. 6 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he achieved in November 2016. H ...
. He lost in the semifinals to top seed Daniil Medvedev
Daniil Sergeyevich Medvedev (russian: Даниил Сергеевич Медведев; born 11 February 1996) is a Russian professional tennis player. He is currently ranked world No. 7 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), and was ...
in straight sets. Isner's performance at the tournament elevated him to No. 26 on August 16, 2021.
2022: Historic "Sunshine double" Masters doubles titles, top 15 in doubles, and aces record
Isner partnered with Jack Sock
Jack Sock (born September 24, 1992) is an American professional tennis player. He has won four career ATP singles titles and 17 doubles titles, and has career-high rankings of world No. 8 in singles (on 20 November 2017) and world No. 2 in dou ...
in doubles at Indian Wells and they won the title, beating Santiago González and Édouard Roger-Vasselin
Édouard Roger-Vasselin (; born 28 November 1983) is a French professional tennis player who primarily specialises in doubles.
He won his first Grand Slam title at the 2014 French Open, winning the men's doubles partnering Julien Benneteau, a ...
in the final. Isner next partnered with Hubert Hurkacz
Hubert Hurkacz (; born 11 February 1997) is a Polish professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 9 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), which he first achieved in November 2021, making him the highe ...
for the 2022 Miami Masters and defeated reigning 2022 Australian Open
The 2022 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022. It was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, the 54th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the ye ...
champions Thanasi Kokkinakis
Athanasios "Thanasi" Kokkinakis ( ; born 10 April 1996) is an Australian professional tennis player and a doubles specialist. He has been ranked as high as world No. 69 in singles by the ATP, which he first achieved on 8 June 2015. He has won ...
and Nick Kyrgios
Nicholas Hilmy Kyrgios ( ; born 27 April 1995) is an Australian professional tennis player. In singles, Kyrgios' career-high ATP singles ranking of world No. 13 was achieved on 24 October 2016. He has won seven ATP Tour singles titles, includin ...
in the semifinals and then the sixth-seeded Wesley Koolhof
Wesley Koolhof (; born 17 April 1989) is a Dutch professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 in doubles on 7 November 2022.
He has won 14 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, mos ...
and Neal Skupski
Neal Skupski (born 1 December 1989) is a British professional tennis player who specialises in doubles. He achieved his career-high doubles ranking of world No. 1 on 14 November 2022.
He is a two-time Grand Slam champion in mixed doubles, havi ...
in the final. By doing so, Isner became the second man in history (after Jakob Hlasek
Jakob Hlasek ( cz, Jakub Hlásek; born 12 November 1964) is a Swiss former professional tennis player of Czech origin. He won a major doubles title at the 1992 French Open, partnering Marc Rosset.
Career
The major highlights of Hlasek's career c ...
in 1989) to win the elusive Sunshine Double. The title was Isner's fifth ATP Masters 1000
The ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (previously known as ATP Masters Series) is an annual series of nine tennis tournaments featuring the top-ranked players on the ATP Tour. The series' events have been held in Europe and North America since the ...
doubles title and eighth overall.
At the 2022 Italian Open, Isner partnered with Diego Schwartzman
Diego Sebastián Schwartzman (, ; born 16 August 1992) is an Argentine professional tennis player. He has won four ATP singles titles and reached his career-high singles ranking of world 8 in October 2020. As a clay court specialist, his be ...
to defeat Andrey Golubev
Andrey Golubev ( rus, Андре́й Алекса́ндрович Го́лубев; born July 22, 1987) is a Kazakh professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is world No. 33, achieved on 4 October 2010 and his doubles ranking i ...
and Máximo González
Máximo González Mereira (; born July 20, 1983, in Tandil) is an Argentine professional tennis player. His career-high singles ranking is World No. 58, achieved in July 2009 and his career-high doubles ranking is World No. 22 achieved on 22 Apr ...
in the semifinal, becoming the first player to reach three Masters 1000 doubles finals with three different partners in the same year. As a result of this run, he reached the top 20 in doubles on May 16, 2022. At the 2022 French Open
The 2022 French Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was held at the Stade Roland Garros in Paris, France, from 22 May to 5 June 2022, comprising singles, doubles and mixed doubles play. Junior and wheelchair ...
, Isner lost in the third round to qualifier Bernabe Zapata Miralles in five sets after more than three hours of play.
At the 2022 Wimbledon Championships
The 2022 Wimbledon Championships was a Grand Slam (tennis), Grand Slam tier tennis tournament that took place at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom. Novak Djokovic successfully defended his gentleme ...
, Isner served 54 aces in a five-set win over Enzo Couacaud
Enzo Couacaud (born 1 March 1995) is a French professional tennis player. He has a career high singles ranking of world No. 155, which he achieved on 14 February 2022 and a doubles ranking of world No. 188 achieved on 8 March 2021.
Career 2015: ...
and 36 more in defeating Andy Murray
Sir Andrew Barron Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 41 weeks, and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray h ...
in four sets. In his third-round match against Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (; ; born 16 August 2001) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on 1 November 2021, and world No. 124 in doubles, achieved on 2 ...
, Isner passed Ivo Karlovic
Ivo is a masculine given name, in use in various European languages. The name used in western European languages originates as a Normannic name recorded since the High Middle Ages, and the French name Yves is a variant of it. The unrelated So ...
's record of 13,728 career aces. In the match again Sinner, Isner hit 24 aces and became the fifth man to reach 1000 aces at Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
. Isner lost his match against Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner (; ; born 16 August 2001) is an Italian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 9 by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), achieved on 1 November 2021, and world No. 124 in doubles, achieved on 2 ...
in straight sets.
At the 2022 US Open, Isner withdrew from his second round match with a wrist injury. Isner won his first round match against Federico Delbonis
Federico Delbonis (; born 5 October 1990) is an Argentine professional tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 33 achieved on 9 May 2016. He also has a career-high doubles ranking of No. 110 achieved on 22 July 2019.
Pro ...
with 19 aces, but fractured his left wrist during the match.
Isner returned to competition at the 2022 Rolex Paris Masters – Singles. He advanced to the second round where he lost to Andrey Rublev
Andrey Andreyevich Rublev (russian: Андрей Андреевич Рублёв; born 20 October 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as high as world No. 5 in singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (AT ...
in straight sets.
Longest matches in Grand Slam history
Isner has also earned a reputation for competing in extremely even, long duration matches and holds the unique distinction of having been a competitor in the longest and second-longest matches in a major tournament in history. The first was the now-legendary opening-round match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships when Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut in 11 hours and 5 minutes in a match played over three separate days. The second-longest match in major tournament history was Isner's loss to South African Kevin Anderson in the first men's semifinal at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships.
The longest match in history: Isner v Mahut, June 22–24, 2010
At the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, Isner faced qualifier
In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...
Nicolas Mahut in the first round. Isner won the match 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7–9), 7–6(7–3), 70–68.
The final set alone was longer than the previous longest match.
In the match, Isner set the record for the most aces served in a match, breaking Ivo Karlović's record of 78; Mahut passed the old mark as well. Isner set a new record of 113 aces, ahead of the 103 aces served by Mahut.
The first four sets were played on June 22. At 21:13 BST on June 23 the match was suspended due to darkness for a second day at 59–59 in the fifth set. The match resumed on June 24, at 15:30 BST, starting the third day of the match. Overall, the match lasted eleven hours and five minutes. Isner also set the record for the most games won in a Wimbledon match with 92.
The match brought Isner a measure of fame, particularly in the United Kingdom and his native United States. He had guest appearances on ''Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
'' and the ''Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
'', and threw the ceremonial first pitch at a New York Yankees
The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...
game in Yankee Stadium
Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.
Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...
. He and Mahut won the 2010 ESPY Award
An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN (as of the 2017 ESPY Awards the latter still airs them in the form ...
for Best Record-Breaking Performance in sport.
The second-longest match: Isner v Anderson, July 13, 2018
This match saw Isner face similarly big-serving Kevin Anderson of South Africa. The match is the longest tennis match ever in the second week of a Grand Slam tournament, both by time and number of games played. It is also the longest-ever match on Centre Court
Centre Court is a tennis court at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (also known as the All England Club) and is the main court used in The Championships at Wimbledon, the third annual Grand Slam event of the tennis calendar. It is con ...
, and the fourth-longest tennis match of all time.
The first three sets were all decided by tiebreakers, the first going to Anderson and both the second and third going to Isner. In the fourth set Anderson exploited an opening and broke Isner's serve to make the score 7–6, 6–7, 6–7, 6–4 going into a fifth set in which Anderson seemed to have gained significant momentum from his service break. The fifth quickly became a battle of services as both players began to tire. At 16–17 it began to rain, leading to speculation of a delay to close the Centre Court roof, but the rain stopped during the crossover break. Isner endured a shaky mistake which permitted Anderson to get back in the game to 40–30 from 40–0 down, but Isner forced Anderson to miss the next backhand return and held serve. At 24–24, Anderson built up a 0–40 lead and while Isner got back two of those points to bring the score to 30–40, Anderson broke Isner on his third break point of the game, and served out to win the match in 6 hours and 36 minutes, with the scoreline reading 7–6, 6–7, 6–7, 6–4, 26–24.
Playing style and equipment
Isner has an extremely powerful and consistent serve, thanks in part to his 6-foot-10½-inch height which makes him the third-tallest player on tour behind Ivo Karlović and Reilly Opelka. Commentators have also praised his composure; in five consecutive third-set tiebreaker wins in Washington, D.C., he delivered huge serves when it mattered most. Isner also has a very powerful forehand, which he uses in tandem with his serve. Isner will often go for one-two points: a big serve followed up by a big forehand. He is also known to back up his serves with approaches to the net, though he does not strictly serve-and-volley
Serve-and-volley is a style of play in tennis where the player serving moves quickly towards the net after hitting a serve, to attempt to hit a volley afterwards. In the serve-and-volley playstyle, the server attempts to hit a volley (a shot whe ...
. Isner's movement around the court is hampered by his body and he is hurt by players that move him around the court. Isner's fitness has improved considerably throughout the years, as he displayed during his win in the longest tennis match ever at Wimbledon against Nicolas Mahut.
Because of his style of play, that consists of a big, consistent serve, he often ends up winning a great majority of his service games. But at the same time, due to poor movement around the court, he often finds it difficult to break the opponent's serve, especially those players that move him around the court. This often finds him involved in long matches where each player continues holding serve until the set reaches the tiebreak. At Grand Slams with no fifth-set tiebreaks, his matches could extend very long: he played in the two longest Slam matches during the 2010 and 2018 Wimbledon Championships. In 2022 all slams adopted 10-point fifth-set tiebreakers, so these records may stand until the rule is again changed.
As of January 2012, Isner was sponsored by Lacoste
Lacoste S.A. is a French company, founded in 1933 by tennis player René Lacoste, and entrepreneur Mangkha. It sells clothing, footwear, sportswear, eyewear, leather goods, perfume, towels and watches. The company can be recognised by its gree ...
and Prince
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...
for his attire and rackets, respectively. His attire carried through most of 2015. He switched his attire to FILA
Fila Holdings Corp. is a sportswear brand of shoes and apparel. The company was founded by Ettore and Giansevero Fila in 1911 in Coggiola, near Biella, Piedmont, Italy. In 2003, it was sold to United States-based Sports Brand International. Sub ...
in 2016 at the Australian Open.
Coaches
Isner's first coach was Craig Boynton
Craig Boynton (born June 19, 1964) is a tennis coach and former player from the United States.
Boynton made his only singles appearance in the Grand Prix circuit at the 1988 U.S. Pro Tennis Championships; he entered the main draw as a qualifier ...
, who worked with him from 2009 to 2012 and helped develop his style of play. Isner and Boynton split over reportedly mutual agreement. Isner then hired Mike Sell, who helped him to significant success, such as defeating Roger Federer, David Nalbandian and Novak Djokovic. During his time with Sell, Isner's ranking stayed around no. 10 in the world. After parting from Sell in 2014, Isner teamed with Justin Gimelstob and worked with him until April 2016. With Gimelstob, Isner's ranking stayed around 10, until 2016, where he dropped to 17. As of 2018, he is currently working with coaches Rene Moller and David Macpherson.
Personal life
While at the University of Georgia
, mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things."
, establ ...
, Isner majored in speech communication
Speech is a human vocal communication using language. Each language uses phonetic combinations of vowel and consonant sounds that form the sound of its words (that is, all English words sound different from all French words, even if they are th ...
. He resided in Tampa, Florida
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...
, where he trained at the Saddlebrook Academy alongside other American tennis pros such as James Blake and Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish (born December 9, 1981) is an American former professional tennis player. He was a hardcourt specialist. He is one of several American tennis players who rose to prominence in the early 2000s.Fish won six tournaments on the mai ...
. Currently, he resides in Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
, Texas.
Isner married Madison McKinley, a jewelry designer, on December 2, 2017, in Bluffton, South Carolina
Bluffton is a town in southern Beaufort County, South Carolina, Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. The population as of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census was 27,716, an increase of over 120% since 2010, making it one of the fa ...
. They have three children.
Career statistics
Grand Slam tournament performance timeline
''Current through the 2022 US Open.''
Significant finals
Masters 1000 finals
Singles: 5 (1 title, 4 runner-ups)
Doubles: 8 (5 titles, 3 runner-ups)
Records
* These records were attained in the Open Era
The racket sport traditionally named lawn tennis, invented in Birmingham, England now commonly known simply as tennis, is the direct descendant of what is now denoted real tennis or royal tennis, which continues to be played today as a separate sp ...
of tennis.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Isner, John
1985 births
American male tennis players
Georgia Bulldogs tennis players
Hopman Cup competitors
Living people
Olympic tennis players of the United States
Sportspeople from Greensboro, North Carolina
Tennis players from Tampa, Florida
Tennis people from North Carolina
Tennis players at the 2012 Summer Olympics