Isner Gets Second Wind

Written by: Tennischiro on 10th September 2011

Isner Gets Second Wind

John Isner of the US reacts as he plays Andy Murray of Great Britain during their Quarterfinals round match on the twelfth day of the 2011 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA 09 September 2011. The US Open has been extended due to weather for the fourth year in a row and the men's final will now be played on 12 September 2011. EPA/JASON SZENES |

I’m sitting here watching Isner go through his extended death rattle as he leads, 3-0 in the third set, but down 2 sets to love. I have a couple of thoughts to share with you about the unusual circumstances tropical storm Lee has created at this year’s US Open.

Just a couple of games ago, John Isner looked like he was going to be lucky to make it to the net to shake hands at the end of the match. He was just flat out of gas. Having to play 3 hours yesterday against Gilles Simon in very humid conditions has sapped his reserves and put him in a big hole in a long match with Andy Murray, one of the fittest guys on the ATP Tour. How could he suddenly find new life and jump out to a 1-4 lead in the third set.

Let me just put on my Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician had and tell you a little about the body’s energy systems. There are three sources of ATP (adenosine triphosphate, not Association of Tennis Professionals), the Phosphagen or ATP-PC system, the Anaerobic or Lactic Acid system and the Aerobic system.

The ATP-PC system gets you through about 10 seconds at best. Isner can use this to hit maybe one serve and volley point. Then it is done for at least a couple of minutes. OK if you only need to win one point out of 10.

The Anaerobic system is the one tennis players have to rely on in crunch time. But it is only good for maybe 2 minutes. This energy is stored locally in your muscles. Then it has to be replenished. It is important for tennis players to train in bursts so that the body becomes accustomed to quickly replenishing the Lactic Acid system. We call it the Lactic Acid system because that is the byproduct of this system. Not only do you have to replenish the energy stores, you have to flush the lactic acid out of the system. We’ve all felt that burning sensation as a muscle system (maybe your lungs when you get winded) starts to burn; that’s lactic acid.

So, all that said, where do you get your second wind. Tennis lasts a lot longer than 2 minutes. When your blood sugar drops, your body turns on the aerobic system and the anaerobic system as quickly as it can. The anaerobic system comes on line pretty quick, but it doesn’t last that long. Time to STALL!! A few minutes later the aerobic system will come on and start to replenish the other two systems and keep you going. It won’t provide the peak energy he’d like to have, but even a lean guy like Isner at 200 lbs and 10% body fat has over 20 lbs. of fat. With enough oxygen and water to use that energy, that’s over 70,000 calories of energy. No that is not a misprint or a typo. And that’s a lot more than a bowl of pasta. Of course, there are a lot of side effects of going through this process. That’s why the players don’t want to play three, four or even five hour matches two days in a row. It’s still unfair for the bottom half to have to play 3 matches in 3 days. But there is little choice.

Anyway, Isner’s Aerobic System has kicked in and as long as he doesn’t have to play to many extended points, he’s going to hang in there. He can certainly hit his serve. He’s now on serve in the fourth set, having taken the third and Murray is trying to be patient. He knows he should reel this big guy in, but he doesn’t quite understand why the big tree hasn’t fallen.

That’s enough for now!

Tennischiro