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Kevin Anderson beats John Isner in another marathon match to reach 1st Wimbledon Final

By Keshav Gopalan

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 13: Kevin Anderson of South Africa celebrates a point against John Isner of The United States during their Men's Singles semi-final match on day eleven of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 13, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 13: Kevin Anderson of South Africa celebrates a point against John Isner of The United States during their Men's Singles semi-final match on day eleven of the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on July 13, 2018 in London, England. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /
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Kevin Anderson played admirably in a clutch performance against American John Isner, winning the 5th set 26-24 to reach his first Wimbledon final.

Anderson became the first South African in over 97 years since Brian Norton to reach the Wimbledon final.

Anderson and Isner, longtime rivals since their college days, played in the longest semifinal in Wimbledon in history. Isner led their head to head at 8-3 before this match and was looking to be the first American player to reach a slam final since Andy Roddick in 2009.

Impenetrable serves

Both Kevin Anderson and John Isner have great serves, which could be attributed to their heights. Kevin Anderson is 6’7 (2.03m) while Isner is 6’10 (2.08m). Both would often fire 120, 130+mph serves, with Isner serving a massive 53 aces and Anderson a close 49.

However, Anderson’s groundstrokes and movement proved to be slightly superior in the match, winning the 4th set 6-4 (not a tiebreak!).

Related Story: Milos Raonic: Wimbledon Quarters Considered Major Success

Longest Semi-Final ever

The match went on for north of 6 and a half hours.

Asked about his match in a post-match press conference, Anderson was all praise for the American. However, he also went on to complain about the length of 5 set matches, asking for changes to be made (even going as far as suggesting the introduction of best of 3 set matches in grand slams.

Noah Rubin, the American college tennis player, voiced support for the sentiment in a post on Instagram. Whether something will come off of this will have to be seen.

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Can Anderson win his maiden Grand Slam?

Anderson has played splendidly so far in the tournament, beating defending champion Roger Federer in the Quarters in the first “marathon” match. While his mental game has been a little shaky, it’ll be the least of his problems, at least for now. His most important problem to tackle will be to recover properly and make sure he’s fit to play a competitive final. Once that’s handled, he should look into tactics and his mental game.

Concluding thoughts

Anderson is playing very well, having reached more slam finals than Delpo, Raonic, Nishikori, Tsonga, Ferrer and Berdych. Reaching a career peak when one should be planning their retirement seems to have become a norm, and it will be seen if the likes of Wawrinka, Cilic, Anderson and Isner further set precedent for players who break out late in their careers.

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