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2008-02-22 18:04:00
Unless you follow the ATP Challenger Series religiously like me, you probably thought summer sensation John Isner fell off the face of the earth in between last season's U.S. Open and the 2008 Australian Open.
Well, he didn't exactly fall off the face of the earth, but he didn't set the world on fire with his tennis either. The towering 6'9'' American played a whopping seven Challenger events--all in the United States and Canada--and while his results were decent, he won none of them and didn't even reach one final.
Isner resurfaced in Australia, where he drew a horrible first-round matchup with Fabrice Santoro. Sure it would have been worse to play, say, Roger Federer in the opening round, but the Magician is not someone you want to face if you're a 6-9'' monster who relies on blowing opponents off the court with overpowering serves. Isner lost in straight sets to Santoro and was then sidelined with a foot injury up until this week's SAP Open in San Jose, California.
Now Isner is back, and back with a vengeance. He pulled off a routine and expected win over Florent Serra in the first round and then met Tommy Haas in the second. Haas has been dealing with injury problems of his own, but that should not diminish the feat Isner accomplished in taking out the German. Isner found himself down a set and 6-3 in the second-set tiebreaker. Yes, that means Haas had three match points. The American, however, saved two with big serves and then blasted a return off of a solid serve by his opponent. When Haas could not handle it, Isner had saved all three match points. He then won the next two points to take the second set and rolled to a 6-3 win in the third.
Should we be surprised, though? Probably not, as Isner is no stranger to winning in dramatic fashion. Just three months after leading the University of Georgia to an NCAA Championship and finishing runner-up in the individual competition, Isner stole the show on the ATP Tour for one week in August at the Legg Mason Classic in Washington, D.C.
What happened there can only be described as the stuff of legend. Not only did Isner win five consecutive matches to reach the final, but he won all five in third-set tiebreakers! In order, his victims were Tim Henman, Benjamin Becker, Wayne Odesnik, Haas, and Gael Monfils. As if that wasn't enough to defy belief, Isner set a non-Grand Slam tournament record by firing 144 aces in the process.
His win in San Jose over Haas is clearly not of the same magnitude as that remarkable run in D.C., but at the very least it's great news for American tennis fans to see that Isner is up to his old tricks once again. Whether this leads him to another ATP final or not, it bodes well for the remainder of his spring season on the U.S. hard courts.
It's a season Isner must continue to take advantage of before the European clay courts hinder his other-worldly serve.
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