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It was about 13 years ago John Isner had proven his stamina, agility, and determination when he and Nicolas Mahut played the longest lasting match at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships. It went 11 hours and 5 minutes with Isner coming out the winner.
It ran for nearly three days leaving the players and fans exhausted. It went to a 5-setter with the last set ending at 70-68. But that was then and now the proof of a heavy tennis resume includes Isner's 16 singles titles, 8 doubles and a Hopman Cup crown.
The clay court season is here and while many will get that clay surface warm up matches onto their rackets, John Isner chose to be rather laid back. He's had his time with injuries. Last US Open he didn't have much fun at all.
"Didn't have the best fortunes...broke my wrist in my 1st round..." Isner said rather frankly. "See y'all in 2023.,.." he sarcastically said. He admitted that it's going to take a team to get him back into competition. He barely played a dozen matches at the onset of the season and only won 4.
He did not play the Rome Masters and withdrew from the Geneva Open. He and wife Madison have a new addition to the family, their fourth child and kicking back with the family may be his priority right now. The beginning of the season with the Australian Open John bowed in the opening round.
It was the Dallas Open's first round he won a 2-set tiebreak over Tseng and Isner told of his secret, "I had to use my serve to my advantage...I was a bit worn out after that first set." He did make it deep to the finals at Dallas, where he went 3 tiebreaking sets with Wu Yibing but lost the match after blasting 44 ages.
The Mexican Open he battled a healthy Taylor Fritz losing in three sets. The Sunshine Doubles he was knocked out at both in the opening rounds and played ATP Houston with the same results. John knows when he should kind of take a back seat to playing when the best results may not be going in his favor.
The second grand slam of the year -- Roland Garros will be here soon, but the 6'10" John Isner with his blasting bombing serves could be counting his wins but also losses and might bail out. He didn't have the advantage of clay court warm up matches to feel confident on positive results at the French Open.
He might also take the line he said after playing Tseng that "I'm very happy I'm not still on this court. I want to go to bed!"
