Querrey, Isner Starting to Chase Roddick
Andy Roddick is America’s tennis pride nowadays. After the days of the American dominance in men’s tennis with the likes of Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, there came a sort of “dark age.”
Foe quite some years now, tennis has been about Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – no American made headlines. Then Roddick became consistent and moved into the top 10 to stay. Now it is looking like other Americans are starting to get the attention of tennis lovers.
Sam Querrey and John Isner are two names that normally aren’t in the minds of casual fans, perhaps until this year, particularly Wimbledon.
Sam Querrey
Sam Querrey was the 18th seed in Wimbledon and was the surprise winner of the warm-up tournament prior to Wimbledon (played at Queen’s).
With that win, he was expected to go far in the Grand Slam and he did, until he met an in-form hometown hero in number 4 seed Andy Murray.
Querrey lost in straight sets but the score was not indicative of how he pushed Murray to play his absolute best – Murray responded wonderfully to the challenge.
Querrey was aggressive and was his usual attacking self, but his high-risk play failed this time around, as he committed 35 errors. However, Querrey is constantly improving and his surprising victory in the warm-up tournament made him a threat to contend with in this year’s Wimbledon (and surely for the coming tournaments and Grand Slams coming up).
Querrey is looking forward to the next Grand Slam — to be played in his home country. There, in front of his fellow Americans, he hopes to impress.
John Isner
Isner was also a seeded player in this Grand Slam, seeded 23rd. He was relatively under the radar until Wimbledon came and he made history.
Isner was a part of the longest tennis match in history that made headlines during the first few days of Wimbledon. He, together with his opponent Nicolas Mahut, re-wrote the tennis record books during this match.
They played for a total of 11 hours and 5 minutes, a testament to both of their fitness levels. Isner won the match, but truly, both men walked out winners.
It was very likely that Isner was exhausted both mentally and physically after this crazy match because he quickly lost in the second round – which is forgivable given that the final set alone took 8 hours and 11 minutes, which is the equivalent of several tennis matches.
That doesn’t discount the fact that Isner is a fast-rising American star. At 6’9” and 245 lbs., one would think Isner is a basketball player. However he chose to play tennis, and uses his height and frame very well. He has a powerful serve and served 112 aces (a record) in his marathon match with Mahut, hitting aces even when he was deeply tired.
Chasing Roddick
Andy Roddick is known as the best American men’s tennis player currently, however, both Querrey and Isner are making names for themselves, even if all three have similar styles.
Roddick is known for his very big serve, which he can hit at around 140 MPH – Querrey and Isner themselves have big serves that are their primary weapons.
Roddick has a strong forehand – as do the two, who are known as aggressive baseliners and just keep pounding the ball.
Roddick has more experience but both Querrey and Isner are gaining some valuable experience of their own. Querrey’s Queen’s tournament win and playing the 4th seed at a Wimbledon round of 16 will serve him well. Isner’s marathon win can do a lot of things for him and his career.
It’s only a matter of time before Americans are fixtures in the top 10 once again.
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