John Isner is considered one of the best rackets of the tour.The US-American is preparing to become the most successful server of the season for the second year in a row and could already break through the 1,000 aces barrier in China.
In his opening win over Dusan Lajovic, John Isner beat 29 aces in the first round of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai.If he lost the first set 4-6, he could rely on his serve once more: in the second and third sets, Isner didn’t allow a single break and turned the game around.For the sixth time this year he won a match after a 0:1 setback.
But it would not be fair to reduce Isner’s performance to his serve.Even Rafael Nadal recently praised the man from North Carolina in Beijing:”Everyone knows he’s being served unbelievably well, and it’s incredibly difficult to break him,” but the Spanish world number one doesn’t want to trivialize other qualities of Isner,”he’s also playing great from the baseline right now, he’s one of the most unpleasant opponents you’ve ever faced.
Nadal speaks from experience, he lost to Isner in two short sets at the Laver Cup three weeks ago, before returning his revenge last week in the quarter-finals of the tournament in Beijing.
At a height of 2.08 metres, however, it is clear that Isner has his strengths, especially when it comes to opening the game:”If someone had told me that I’d become this big, I would have preferred to be a basketball player,”Isner told the New York Times.But his size even helped him to a top 10 ranking, in 2012 Isner was able to achieve his previous career high of 9th place.
In 53 matches in 2017, Isner played a tiebreak 57 times, 35 of which he was able to win.With 62 percent of the tie-breaks won, he is in the top group of male professional tennis players.He also won the last two sets against Lajovic.
According to the ATP homepage, Isner, who is a huge wrestling fan by the way, collected 9,550 aces throughout his professional career.This year he beat 978 players like no other player, and this year he will probably lead this ranking for the fifth time at the end of the year.The sympathetic right-hander is missing only 22 aces to the 1,000 mark in 2017. aesthetic tennis looks different, but it is effective in any case.
“Maybe I won’t be appreciated so much,”says Isner about his standing in the tennis scene,”but I think it’s outstanding that I’ve been in the top 20 in my last eight seasons.I could never have imagined that as a little child.”
Isner also enjoys playing in a team,”That’s why I love the Davis Cup, and I also really enjoyed college tennis.His team on the World Tour includes two head coaches, Rene Moller (ex coach of Sam Stosur) and David MacPherson (former coach of the Bryan brothers).Isner’s enthusiasm for team events was also evident at the Laver Cup, where he won against Nadal and also won the doubles with Jack Sock.
nearby
With Nick Kyrgios and Roberto Bautista-Agut retiring, Isner still has minimal chances for ATP London, about 800 points behind London’s last place on the grid, which is also occupied by Pablo Carreno Busta, who has already retired.However, a strong performance in Shanghai is mandatory.The next opponent is the Greek youngster Stefanos Tsitsipas, who won against Karen Khachanov.
Isner also had himself treated in his first-round match on the right knee, after which he tweaked after a few serves at the beginning of the second set.So Isner may well enter the second round of Shanghai with a little distress.After a possible success, the American could meet Dominic Thiem in the last sixteen.
Draw of the ATP-1000 tournament in Shanghai
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