John Isner is making a meteoric start to his career as a professional tennis player this summer.
His superb run to the final of the Legg Mason Classic in Washington propelled him into public recognition
and into the top 200 to boot. Only top seed Andy Roddick could stop the towering 6ft 9in American
as he served his way to victories over Tim Henman, Benjamin Becker, Wayne Odesnik, Tommy Haas and
Gael Monfils. The 22-year-old was only given a wild card for the event at the last minute
when Fernando Gonzalez withdrew.
Despite a hugely successful college career at the University of Georgia, Isner started the summer
needing wild card entries into tournament main draws, even at the Futures level. He won the USA
F14 Futures, beating the top three seeds along the way and took his ranking up to 416 with success
at the Lexington Challenger. Taking full advantage of the wild card at Washington, Isner showed he
is aiming to make his mark as quickly as possible, which is ironic in view of his college nickname.
"In college I was Grandpa, and it's because I just do everything so slowly," he explains, "like
getting ready to go out or fixing my hair. I take so long, just get spaced out sometimes."
Isner was in no hurry to get started with tennis. "Gosh, to tell you the truth, I didn't really
watch tennis growing up that much," he admits. More interested in American football during his formative
years, he finally started playing competitive tennis at age 11. "I followed the Carolina Panthers," he
says. "Always a big fan of Jake Delhomme. That was when I was a little bit older. I guess, growing up,
for some reason I was always a huge fan of the Utah Jazz. I always admired Karl Malone, he was always
my favourite player for whatever reason. But right now I'm paying more and more attention to tennis
because it's the sport I'm entering now on the pro level. For me it's Roger Federer, he just does it
all and he's brought so much to this game." In May, Isner reached the NCAA singles final, losing to
Virginia's Somdev Dev Varman in a third set tie-break. Despite the defeat, he led Georgia to the
NCAA team championship. He is coached by former ATP pro Ricardo Acuna. Not surprisingly, he considers
hard courts to be his best surface and his serve and forehand as his major strengths.
One of his older brothers, Jordan, is a tennis teaching pro. Away from the courts, he likes to play
poker and enjoys fishing. "I love to fish," he says. "I like to play golf whenever I can. And pretty
much watch sports all day also." He is keen on music and listens to George Strait, Alan Jackson,
the Allman Brothers, the Doobie Brothers and Steve Miller amongst others.
An inch shorter than Ivo Karlovic, Isner is the second-tallest professional player. After just a couple
of months on the tour, he is sticking his head above the parapet in more ways than one and could
be dangerous at the US Open.
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