John Isner

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John Isner

Country	United States
Residence	U.S.A., N.C. U.S.A
Date of birth	April 26, 1985 (1985-04-26) (age 24)
Place of birth	Greensboro, NC, United States
Height	2.05 m (6 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Weight	107 kg (240 lb)
Turned pro	2007
Plays	Right-handed; two-handed backhand
Career prize money	$537,345
Singles
Career record	28–30
Career titles	0
Highest ranking	No. 81 (April 14, 2008)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	1st (2008, 2009)
French Open	1st (2008)
Wimbledon	1st (2008)
US Open	3rd (2007)
Doubles
Career record	15–19
Career titles	1
Highest ranking	No. 75 (May 18, 2009)
Last updated on: April 13, 2009.

John Isner (born April 26, 1985, in Greensboro, North Carolina) is an American professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high rank of # 81 on April 14, 2008.

Contents 1 College career 2 Professional career 2.1 Playing style & equipment 2.2 2007 2.3 2008 2.4 2009 3 Personal life 4 Doubles 4.1 Doubles wins (1) 5 References 6 External links

[edit] College career

Isner had a highly successful college career at the University of Georgia from 2003 to 2007. As a freshman, he was runner-up for the NCAA doubles title before winning it as a sophomore.

He led Georgia to the status of team runner-up in the NCAA championship in 2006 before leading them to the championship in 2007. With Isner at the # 1 singles position and playing doubles, Georgia lost just one match in his final 2 years. In March 2007, having been undefeated in his prior 46 matches, he lost to 5' 9", 145 pound Jesse Levine, a freshman at University of Florida, in his only regular-season match loss all season.[1][2] Isner spent most of 2007 ranked # 1 in NCAA singles play, finishing # 2 behind NCAA Singles champion Somdev Devvarman of The University of Virginia.^[1]

[edit] Professional career

[edit] Playing style & equipment

This section of a biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2009) (Find sources: John Isner – news, books, scholar)

Isner is known for his booming serve which is attributed, at least in part, to his 6' 9" height. Commentators have also praised his composure during matches, as displayed during his five consecutive 3rd-set tiebreaker wins in Washington, which were marked by his ability to bring out huge serves when it mattered most. Additionally he is known to back up his huge serves with approaches to the net, though he does not strictly serve-and-volley. Isner has been compared to 6' 10" Croatian Ivo Karlović.

He is sponsored by Nike and Prince for his attire and racquets respectively.

[edit] 2007

Isner began his professional career in earnest in the summer of 2007. With a world ranking of # 839, he needed wild card entries into the main draws of every tournament, even at the Futures level.^[2]

He won his first tournament of the summer, the USA F14 Futures, beating the top 3 seeds along the way. Then, after first round losses in a Challenger-level and an ATP-level tournament, he beat 5 top-300 players and 3 seeds to win the Lexington challenger in July to improve his ranking to # 416 after just one month.

At the following week's tournament at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C., Fernando González's late withdrawal freed up a wild card spot, which was given at the last minute to Isner.^[3] Isner took full advantage of his good fortune, recording his first-ever wins over top-100 players. He won 3rd-set tiebreakers on 5 consecutive days, beating # 73 Tim Henman, # 47 Benjamin Becker, # 189 qualifier Wayne Odesnik, # 12 Tommy Haas, and # 54 Gaël Monfils, to reach the final. He fell 6–4, 7–6 to Andy Roddick in the final, but his incredible week raised his ranking to # 193 in the world after just 6 weeks as a pro.

His Washington success earned him Wild Card entries into three more ATP tournaments: the Masters Series event in Cincinnati a week later, New Haven, and the US Open. He lost in the first round in Cincinnati to quarterfinalist # 15 David Ferrer. The following week in New Haven, he beat # 49 Becker a second time before falling to Ferrer for the 2nd week in a row.

In his US Open debut he defeated the 26th-seeded player, former quarterfinalist Jarkko Nieminen, 6 (4)-7, 7–6 (4), 7–6 (5), 6–4, firing 34 aces along the way. He proceeded to win his second round match vs. Rik de Voest 6–3, 6–3, 7–6 (4), before losing in the 3rd round to the top-seeded Roger Federer 6–7 (4), 6–2, 6–4, 6–2. Isner aced Federer 18 times, and finished with 66 aces for the tournament. His US Open performance improved his ranking to # 144.

After the US Open, Isner continued to play exclusively in North America, but he came back down to earth while playing in seven Challenger-level events. He lost to a lower-ranked player for the first time as a pro at his very next tournament, and 6 of his 7 losses during this time were to lower-ranked players. He still had moderate success against lower-level competition, making 3 semifinals and also winning two doubles titles. He made the semifinals in the Calabasas, USA Challenger, losing to Robert Kendrick 6–4, 3–6, 6–7 (3). He made the quarterfinals in the Rimouski, Canada Challenger, losing to Ilia Bozoljac 6–7 (4), 6–7 (2), and he made the semifinals of the Louisville, USA Challenger, losing to Matthias Bachinger 7–5, 6–7 (3), 6–7 (4). In November he made it to the semifinals in the JSM Challenger, losing to Jesse Levine 7–6 (5), 6–3. His Challenger results helped him continue his rise up the ATP charts, and he finished 2007 ranked #107.

In 2007, Isner was added to the US Davis Cup team as a practice partner.

[edit] 2008

Isner's # 106 ranking in November, 2007 was just good enough to get him direct entry into his first Australian Open, after several players ranked above him dropped out.^[4] But he was defeated in the first round of the 2008 Australian Open by wily tour veteran Fabrice Santoro of France 6–2, 6–2, 6–4. Teamed with Croat Ivo Karlović (the tallest player on the ATP tour), Isner also lost in the first round of doubles.

Isner broke into the top-100 at # 93 in February with a quarterfinal appearance at the ATP stop in San Jose, beating #90 Florent Serra and #26 Tommy Haas. He firmly established himself as a top-100 player in the first 3 months of the year, beating 6 players in the top-100 while playing exclusively in ATP-level events.

[edit] 2009

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 in a tie-break. In the main draw, Isner beat Albert Montanes and countryman Robby Ginepri before bowing out in the quarter-finals.

Isner received a wild card entry into the 2009 Australian Open after winning the United States Tennis Association's wildcard tournament, beating Donald Young and Jesse Levine along the way.^[5] However, despite serving 39 aces against his first-round opponent, Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty, he was downed in four sets.

At the 2009 Indian Wells tournament, Isner pulled off a major upset by defeating the number 9 seed, rising French player and junior superstar Gaël Monfils. Isner rallied back after falling in the first set to defeat Monfils 6-7, 6-1, 6-4. He then went on to defeat former world # 1 Marat Safin 6-4, 6-4, before losing to world # 6 Juan Martin Del Potro in the fourth round, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3).

In April 2009 at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas at River Oaks Country Club, Isner made it as far as the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by fellow American Wayne Odesnik in a 5-7, 6-3, 6-7 (5) marathon of 2:37.[3]

Isner was given a wildcard into the French Open but had to withdraw after being diagnosed with mononucleosis.

[edit] Personal life

Isner has two older brothers, Nathan and Jordan. Isner started playing tennis seriously at age 11 under the tutelage of Oscar Blacutt and Rob Stephens at the Carolina Tennis Academy. He is a graduate of Walter Hines Page High School and the University of Georgia, where he majored in Communications. He currently resides in Tampa, Florida where he trains at the Saddlebrook Academy alongside American pros such as James Blake and Mardy Fish.

[edit] Doubles

Legend (Singles)

Grand Slam (0)

Tennis Masters Cup (0)

ATP Masters Series (0)

ATP Tour (1)

[edit] Doubles wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents in the final	Score
1.	July 7, 2008	Newport, United States	Grass	Mardy Fish	Rohan Bopanna Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi	6–4, 7–6

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: John Isner

• John Isner at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• "Biofile: The John Isner Interview," 8/2/07
• "Interview: John Isner Captures Attention of U.S. Tennis Fans," 8/5/07