The Good News: The Dawn of “The Isner Era”

Written by: Tennischiro on 26th April 2012

BNP Paribas 2011 Masters Tennis Tournament

The Good News: The Dawn of “The Isner Era”

John Isner of USA returns the ball to David Ferrer of Spain during their quarter final match at the BNP Paribas 2011 Masters Tennis tournament in Paris, France, 11 November 2011. EPA/HORACIO VILLALOBOS |

I’ve been a little quiet the last couple of weeks trying to get my papers in order and my taxes filed. Well I managed to get it done a whole day early (but it just about killed me.) I’ve been dying to put up some comments about a couple of things that have become apparent the last couple of weeks. There’s some good news and then there is some bad news.

Let’s start with the good news. It’s still not apparent for the world how significant this development is, but for men’s professional tennis in the USA, we have begun a new age, The Isner Era. If you look at Lou Fuller’s article on Greg Sharko and check out the listing of the country winning the most ATP titles since 1973, it is amazing to see how dominant the US men were for so many years.

https://archive.10sballs.com/2012/04/17/greg-sharko-walking-media-guide/

You can clearly see the eras of Connors (with Smith, Ashe, Gerulaitis and many others) in the 70s, Connors/McEnroe beginning about 78, and then after dying off a little Sampras/Courier/Agassi/Chang in the 90’s. There was a last gasp for Sampras and Agassi with Roddick in 2002 and 2003, but American men didn’t just fall a little behind. They fell off the playing field. It would really be interesting to see how those statistics would look if we looked only at the Grand Slam events and current ATP1000 events and the ATPTour World Finals (and their historical antecedents). That would give you a much better idea of who was winning the major championships. You would have to count Davis Cup as at least one victory for the country as well.

But come back to “The Isner Era”. It was previewed when John won that key match in the Davis Cup on clay in Switzerland against Federer. Then he officially announced it was coming by following that up with a victory over Djokovic at Indian Wells to reach the finals there. That was hardcourts, of course, and there were still some doubters, but when he won two live rubbers in the Davis Cup tie against France on the red clay of the Monte Carlo Country Club, knocking off Tsonga to secure the victory for the US, there was no denying that John Isner was a deserving member of the top 10. Just one week later, John continued the fight and made it to the finals of the US Clay Court Championships; thereby earning the title of top ranking US male player. He is only the 12th player to hold that distinction since the ATP rankings began in 1973.

This is a BIG DEAL! In fact to paraphrase Vice President Biden, “This is a Big F…” well, you get the idea! The evening news I watched didn’t even cover the fact that the US had won that Davis Cup tie. The general media certainly wasn’t tuned into the finals of the ATP250 in Houston that is also known as the US Claycourts. And John is a little older than Connors, McEnroe, Sampras, Agassi or Roddick so he will not hold the title as long as they did; but he will rule the roost for a number of years. I would say, at least three. And considering the level of his current competition, it could be closer to 5 or 6 years. This is great for John Isner. And he is still improving markedly each year. Certainly, he ran out of gas in the final and Monaco showed how to neutralize him and wear the big man down in tough conditions on a slow court. But Isner will get more fit and if he gets just a little bit better with his return, he will start to earn more breaks.

Isner has shown that he is a legitimate member of the top 10 and now he is knocking on that door that says top 5. That is an extremely exclusive club, especially in the Nole/Rafa/Roger/Andy era. In the last year, Isner has beaten Nole in the semis of Indian Wells and Roger on red clay in Davis Cup. He’s taken Rafa to 5 sets at Roland Garros and Murray to 4 sets at the US Open. It seems like Isner’s coach, Craig Boynton, really has John doing the right things. Try to find another player in the last 20 years who has graduated from college and gone on to earn a spot in the top 10. Try to find another player over 6′ 6″ tall who has ever been ranked in the top 10 (Del Potro is probably the only player over 6′ 5″). Try to find another player who was never in the top 200 before his 22nd birthday and made it to the top 10. Isner was not even in the top 700 until after his 22nd birthday! And John is not just barely there; he is knocking people down and taking names! He is leading the US team to the semis of the Davis Cup…on clay! This is a not just a great American story; this is a great tennis story about working hard and getting better and never giving up. Just when he was starting to have an impact in 2009, he got diagnosed with mono. He came back from that in 2010 to play the marathon of all marathons at Wimbledon. He will always be in the record books for winning that match, but even then, very few in the cognoscenti imagined this much success for the Georgia Bulldog.

I’ve written in the past on this site that I wanted to see more fitness from Isner and I questioned his commitment to achieve everything that was possible for him. But he has really done the work. Don’t let his laconic body movement between points fool you. When he puts the ball in play, there is nothing remotely laconic about the feeling John creates in his opponents. When they put a serve in play, there is no feeling of relaxation because they are serving. Isner has recognized his strengths and weaknesses and he and Craig have created a strategy that has put the entire tennis world on notice. With his height and reach, he is just one step away from reaching any serve his opponent can hit and with his power, that means he is just one step away from hitting a winner. They have recognized that he must be proactive. He will make a few more mistakes, but he can not just “hang out” and wait for errors. He has to try to do something with the ball. He’s averaging 68% of his first serves and reaching a much higher percentage in big matches; then he’s winning 76% of those points and, furthermore, winning 55% of his second serve points. Check out the Ricoh Match Facts

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Matchfacts/Matchfacts-List.aspx?c=8&s=0&y=2012

One fascinating statistic is how many first serve points he has played. You also have to note that he is fourth in % of Break Points Saved. Statistics can be manipulated to mean almost anything you want. But these say, John Isner can hold serve until the cows come home. On top of that, he is showing improvement in his ability to break serve. He’s a new member of “The Big Boys Club” and as he gets comfortable with his new status, he is going to win even more of those key points.

As I said this is great for John Isner. I still look for him to get a little quicker and more fit, to make a few more returns and improve his footwork on his volley as his improved fitness gives him more control of that huge core. A lot of things are going to suddenly come his way as the media and the rest of the world notice that “The Isner Era” of American men’s tennis has begun. He seems like a bright young man who will not be as easily knocked off track as someone who is in his early 20’s. Let’s hope there are some smart people around him who keep him on the right path. What he has accomplished already is phenomenal. Really, against all odds, he’s gotten to the pedestal of American tennis. He’s shown he is a worthy competitor for the best players in the world. Now he has to show he can maintain the position on that pedestal; that he can enhance its value by moving even further up the rankings ladder; that he can lead the Davis Cup team all the way to the Cup. It’s been a lot of hard work to get this far. It will be even tougher to move the next few steps up the ladder. I think it will be really exciting to see how far John can go. This is one time Goliath will have tremendous support against his adversaries. John Isner is now the standard bearer for American tennis! And that’s great for American tennis. We will have someone to cheer on! Someone who really has a chance against anyone.

As for the bad news, this was such a positive story, I am going to wait a couple of days to give you the bad news. For the moment let’s just basque in the dawn of “The Isner Era”.

10sChiro

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Topics: 10sballs.com, 10sChiro, Agassi, Connors, Greg Sharko, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, John Isner, Mcenroe, Monte Carlo Country Club, Roddick, Sampras, Sports, Tennis News, USatennis news