John Isner set to rise during the clay court season – Tennis Special
American number two, John Isner, is pulling away lime light from the ‘Big 4’ (i.e. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray) with his brilliant performance in the recent months.
He has a lightning serve and blistering forehand to assist that. Having a height of 6ft 9in, Isner is the second tallest player on the ATP World Tour. The American generates so much power on his serve and forehand that, if he connects
properly, it is difficult to return the ball.
It is a Herculean task to return his fiery deliveries and if a player succeeds in doing that, then with in no time he has to be ready to receive a missile from Isner’s forehand.
However, anyone who follows tennis would know that this style of play is suitable for hard and grass courts. There is seldom a player who has such an aggressive technique and still dominates on the slowest surface i.e. clay courts.
Likewise, Isner did not have much success at the mud surface before. He has three career titles to his name but none of them is on clay courts.
The American has never gone beyond the third round at the French Open, giving his best performance when he lost to Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in the round of 32 in 2011.
Though, Isner has proved with the series of his recent impressive performances that he will be a serious contender on the red clay in this season.
The Florida, USA resident started by upsetting 16-time Grand Slam champion, Federer, during his country’s Davis Cup tie against Switzerland at the clay courts of Forum Fribourg in Switzerland.
Isner notched up his maiden victory over a reigning world number one, as he stunned Djokovic in a three set thriller 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-6(5) in the BNP Paribas Open semi-final.
Last week, the American returned to national duty, leading his side at an away Davis Cup tie against France on the clay courts of Monte Carlo Country Club. Isner guided his team to victory, as he stunned 13th ranked,
Gilles Simon, and the then world number six, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in his two singles matches.
Talking to the media about his recent performances, Isner said, "I like playing on clay. I played three of my best matches this year, my best wins have come on clay. It's a surface I enjoy playing on and a surface I feel I can
do very well on."
American Davis Cup captain, Jim Courier, who won consecutive titles at the French Open in 1991-92, said he was not shocked by Isner’s recent success at the clay courts.
Courier said, "I am not surprised by the way John has played. We were hoping he could be at this kind of level and he was. He was exceptional. He is continuing to progress. He was a lot stronger than he was against Switzerland.
My players are comfortable on all surfaces, they understand clay courts."
The world number 10 is playing at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston this week. He will be heading back to Monte Carlo after this, to try his luck at the first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the mud courts in
this season.
It is expected that Isner will be at the same high level, at which he played during the Davis Cup tie against France there last week.
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