JOHN ISNER’S EXIT SIGNALS HISTORIC AMERICAN FAILURE @ WIMBLEDON SINCE 1911

Written by: Staff on 1st July 2014

JOHN ISNER'S EXIT SIGNALS HISTORIC AMERICAN FAILURE @ WIMBLEDON SINCE 1911

epa04278321 John Isner of the USA returns to Daniel Smethurst of Britain during their first round match of the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 24 June 2014. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

By Ricky Dimon

Not often has the United States enjoyed more success on the soccer field than on the tennis court, but that has been the case over the past fortnight. While the American men’s national team advanced out of a brutal World Cup group to play Belgium in the round of 16 on Tuesday afternoon, not a single American man or woman reached the fourth round of the Wimbledon singles event.

John Isner found himself in a familiar position on Monday as his nation’s last hope in the men’s tournament, but he could not quite deliver the goods in a competitive serve-fest that went just about according to script. Feliciano Lopez did not drop serve a single time and earned his only break of the match in his final return game at 5-5 in the fourth set as he held off Isner 6-7(8), 7-6(6), 7-6(3), 7-5.

Still, Isner played relatively well in his three matches at the All-England Club and his exit can be attributed mostly to a bad draw. After all, Lopez is a three-time quarterfinalist at Wimbledon and he is in incredible form right now coming off a runner-up finish at Queen’s Club and a title in Eastbourne (both on grass).

“A lot of aces,” Lopez commented after beating Isner (34 for Lopez, 52 for Isner to be exact). “A tough match to play. I knew it was going to be like this. I knew we were going to play a lot of tiebreaks, so this is the match I was excepting to play. When you beat players like John, when you go through a difficult match like this, you have to be proud of yourself. To beat Johnny on that court is such is difficult task, and I made it.”

For the first time since 1911, no American–man or woman–made it to the last 16 of the championships. Serena Williams, of course, was a heavy favorite to make it at least that far but she was stunned by Alize Cornet in the third round last Saturday. Cornet then lost to Genie Bouchard on Monday.

The United States still has a chance to make some noise in doubles. Serena and Venus are in the second round while top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan are in the third round against Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Marcin Matkowski.

Australian Open runner-up Eric Butorac (along with his South African partner, Raven Klaasen) are also through to the last 16 in doubles.

Topics: Alize Cornet, Bryan Brothers, Feliciano Lopez, Genie Bouchard, John Isner, London, Ricky Dimon, Serena, Tennis, tennis grass, Venus, Wimbledon 2014, World Cup

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July 1, 2014 at 8:26 am

JOHN ISNER’S EXIT SIGNALS HOSTORIC AMERICAN FAILURE @WIMBLEDON SINCE 1911- http://t.co/coTQQMfIJq @JohnIsner #Wimbleodn #tennis #ATP #sports