John Isner moving closer to the ‘Big 4’ – Tennis Special
USA’s John Isner is continuously climbing up the ranking ladder and is getting closer to the ‘Big 4’ i.e. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray.
Isner has attained his career best ninth position in the latest release of South African Airways ATP Rankings, replacing Mardy Fish as the top American on the ATP World Tour.
He could have reached the eighth spot, had he won the title at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship on Sunday but he lost a thriller to Juan Monaco in the final.
However, advancing to the title match meant that he would switch places with compatriot, Fish, for the ninth position.
Talking to the reporters after his semi-final win over Feliciano Lopez in Houston, the American said, “As I started to improve and play better a little bit, I knew that this could be something that was attainable for me. I’m very
thrilled. And now I have my highest ranking ever as well, No. 9. That was my next goal, after I got to 10. Now my newest goal is to get to eight, then seven, and then six.”
Not many people would have given it a thought but in my opinion Isner, with his current form, is the player who can break the monopoly of the top four.
With the exception of a couple of weeks; when Juan Martin Del Potro became world number four in April 2010; Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray have held the top four positions continuously since September 2008.
Murray, who is the weakest of them with fourth position, is still far ahead of the others, as he leads fifth ranked, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, with 2885 points.
However, Isner has shown with his recent performances that he has the potential to challenge the ‘Big 4’ for their money.
The American has already defeated two of them, Federer and Djokovic, this year. He toppled Federer during USA’s Davis Cup tie against Switzerland and ousted the Serbian in the BNP Paribas Open semi-finals, inflicting first losses
of this season on both of them.
Snatching his third win over a top six player, Isner outplayed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France to take his country to the Davis Cup semi-finals.
The 26-year-old has the edge of having age and experience on his side, boasting the form of his life in recent months.
Isner, who is the second tallest player on the ATP World Tour with a height of 6ft 9in, has emerged as a serious contender for the clay court season. The American uses his mighty serve and huge forehand to dictate his opponents
even at the slowest tennis surface. His wins over Federer and Tsonga were on clay court.
The right-hander claimed 44 successive serve games during the US Men’s Clay Court Championship last week, only getting broken against Monaco in the title match.
After playing continuously this season, Isner has decided to skip Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in order to take some rest and prepare his body for the upcoming tournaments on red clay.
Making the announcement of his withdrawal from the event in Monaco, the American said, "I will go back home and work with my coach, Craig Boynton. I need to get in better shape if I want to do good in these next two majors coming
up and Masters events. I need to be in better shape, put my head down, go back to work.”
With just 65 points to defend from Barcelona to French Open, Isner has the chance to earn maximum points among other top 10 players during the European summer clay court season.
The American can easily leap to the fifth position in the rankings, if he plays at the same level and grabs a good number of points from a total of around 4500 on offer in this period.
He can also gain much at the Wimbledon Championships, where he lost to Nicolas Almagro of Spain in the second round last year.
Retaining his ranking inside the top eight till the end of the season will mean that he qualifies for the ATP World Tour Finals in London, getting a chance to win 2000 more points that the event offers.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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