John Robert Isner born April 26, 1985 is an American professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high rank of No. 18 on July 5, 2010, and has been as high as the second-ranked American tennis player behind Andy Roddick. His most famous victories were against Roddick in the 2009 US Open, and against Nicolas Mahut at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships where he played the longest ever professional tennis match, which lasted 11 hours and 5 minutes over the course of three days.
Contents
* 1 Collegiate career
* 2 Professional career
o 2.1 2007
o 2.2 2008
o 2.3 2009
o 2.4 2010
o 2.5 2011
* 3 Longest match in history
* 4 Playing style and equipment
* 5 Personal life
* 6 Records
* 7 Career finals
o 7.1 Singles: 8 (3–5)
o 7.2 Doubles: 3 (3–2)
o 7.3 Mixed Doubles
* 8 Singles performance timeline
* 9 Head-to-head record against other players
* 10 References
* 11 External links
Collegiate career
Isner played collegiate tennis at the University of Georgia from 2004 to 2007 and became the school's all-time leader in singles and doubles victories, earning All-American honors each of his four years and leading Georgia to the 2007 NCAA championship.
Professional career
2007
Isner began his professional career in earnest in the summer of 2007. With a world ranking of No. 839, he needed wild card entries into the main draws of every tournament, even at the Futures level.
Returning a shot
He won his first tournament of the fall, the USA F14 Futures, beating the top 3 seeds along the way. Then, after first round losses in an 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 No. 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. Isner took full advantage of his good fortune, recording his first-ever wins over top-100 players. He won third-set tiebreakers on five consecutive days, beating No. 73 Tim Henman, No. 47 Benjamin Becker, No. 189 qualifier Wayne Odesnik, No. 12 Tommy Haas, and No. 54 Gaël Monfils, to reach the final, where he fell to fellow American Andy Roddick. His incredible week raised his ranking to No. 193 in the world after just 6 weeks on the pro tour.
Isner's 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 No. 15 David Ferrer. The following week in New Haven, he beat No. 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, and fired 34 aces along the way. He proceeded to win his second round match vs. Rik de Voest before losing in the 3rd round to top-seed and eventual champion Roger Federer. Isner was one of only two players to take a set off of 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 as a practice partner.
John Isner
John Isner
John Isner
John Isner
John Isner
John Isner
John Isner
John Isner
John Isner