John Isner to defend title at 2012 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships – Tennis News
Twenty-six year old John Isner will be making his return in the ATP circuit in 2012. He would be defending his title at the 2012 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, which will be the 36th edition of the event. Isner, the quarterfinalist of the 2011 US Open,
has set his eyes on retaining his title when the Championships will be in progress at the International Tennis Hall of Fame from July 9 to 15, 2011.
In the 2011 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Isner was included in the tournament as a wild-card entry. The championship, the only grass court tennis tournaments contested in North America, was the event when Isner won his first Hall of Fame Tennis Championships,
also his first ATP title win. He won the final against Olivier Rochus (Belgium) 6-3, 7-6(6). The American dominated the match with twenty-two aces in total while conceding only one break point. In August 2011, Isner won his second ATP title at the Winston-Salem
Open at Wake Forest University, beating Julien Benneteau (France) in the finals 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
Isner became the first top-seeded player to win the competition, also known as the Newport title for its venue is New Port, Rhode Island. By winning the 2011 event as a top-seeded player, Isner has also broken the spell of the infamous Casino Curse, a term
taking a frightening reality over the years. Since 1974, top-seeded players entering the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships were unsuccessful in winning the title. This trend, seen as a curse for all such players, became a legend in its own. Casino,
referred to a courtyard or residential area built near the tennis court became part of the term, Casino Curse.
Born on April 26, 1985, the right-handed American, ranked 23 in the world reached to the fourth round of the 2010 Australian Open, third round of the 2010 French Open, second round of the 2010 and 2011 Wimbledon and the quarterfinals of the 2011 US Open. At
the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, Isner played against Nicolas Mahut (France) in the first round, which is termed as the longest match played in professional tennis history. Given this status in terms of number of games played between the two contestants and
the time taken to play them, the match ended in eleven hours and five minutes.
Spread over three days, both the players fought in 183 games, the most number of games ever played in a tennis match. The match started on June 22, 2010 but due to insufficient light, it was suspended. It resumed the next day and but was halted due to the same
reason. On June 24, 2010, the match was resumed which Isner won 6–4, 3–6, 6–7(7–9), 7–6(7–3), 70–68. Isner and his opponent in the match, Mahut, both were unfamiliar names at Wimbledon but this match sent both of them in the tennis books of history.
Talking about his return to the 2011 Championships, Isner said, “Newport was a great week for me this year, and I look forward to playing there again next summer. It’s a great tournament- good fans and it’s a lot of fun to play in a venue with such an important
history as the Hall of Fame.”
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