Player Profile: John Isner and the impact he has had on the sport

From time to time, I will highlight one player on both the ATP and WTA tour who has made an impact to the game. On the men’s side this time, I am writing about American John Isner. John Isner is approaching the end of his career, but at 35, he still has what it takes to compete with and beat the best in the world. Here is what has made John Isner’s career so memorable.

The serve

When you think of John Isner, the first thing that probably comes to mind is his massive serve (and then maybe his backwards hat). At 6’10”, Isner has one of the greatest serves in the history of tennis. How many times do you look at the score of an Isner match to see that he has won every set in a tiebreak? It is almost impossible to break his serve, making it exceedingly difficult to beat him if you have a weak serve yourself.

MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA – MARCH 28: John Isner of the United States serves during his men’s singles third round match against Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada on Day 7 of the 2021 Miami Open presented by Itaú at Hard Rock Stadium on March 28, 2021 in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Mark Brown/Getty Images) /

John Isner currently sits at number two in aces on tour since 1991 (when data was first collected), according to Infosys ATP Stats. John Isner has 12,582 career aces, which is about 1,000 shy of Ivo Karlovic’s record of 13,653. Isner also sits second all time in percentage of break points saved, which makes sense since his serve can always get him out of trouble. When facing a break point, Isner will win the next point over 70% of the time, so even when players get a look at a break point, they have a hard time actually converting.

What makes Isner’s serve even more dangerous is that he can hit it at a higher percentage than anyone else on tour. Making the first serve is the most important part of Isner’s game, and he also happens to be the best at it in the sport since 1991. Isner makes his first serve 69.16% of the time, which is about a percent higher than Rafa Nadal, who sits second on the list.

When top players like Gael Monfils, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, and Diego Schwartzman are asked what one shot they would steal from another player, they all say the same thing. They want John Isner’s serve. It is arguably the greatest serve of all time, and that alone will put John Isner in tennis history forever.

The marathon match

If I had to think about one moment in the career of John Isner, I immediately think of the first round of Wimbledon in 2010. It was by far the craziest match in the history of tennis. All that needs to be said is that the match went for over 11 hours, finishing at exactly 11 hours and five minutes.

It was a first round battle between Isner and Nicolas Mahut from France, and after splitting the first four sets, the fifth set turned into a match (or several matches) of its own. At Wimbledon, there is no tiebreak in the fifth set, meaning that the two will play until someone wins by two games. This created the longest fifth set and the longest match in tennis history. It was Isner that eventually won the match, taking the final set 70-68. That is absolutely insane to think about, especially since you can only go up to seven games in a normal set.

LONDON, ENGLAND – 2010: WIMBLEDON 2010. 4th day. 24/6/2010 NICOLAS MAHUT V JOHN ISNER, JOHN ISNER WINS 7 0-68. (Photo by David Ashdown/Getty Images) /

Here are some crazy stats from that match, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Isner had 113 aces, while only double faulting 10 times. He also only faced three break points the entire match and was broken just once. The craziest stat of all? It is the fact that the two had a combined 181 service games, with Isner serving 90 games, and Mahut serving 91 of his own. It was not surprising that after winning that match, Isner would only win five games in the next round, losing in straight sets.

Career accomplishments

John Isner first turned pro in 2007, and since 2009, he has not dropped outside the top 100 in the world. In fact, he has not been outside the top 50 in the world since first joining it in 2009. He has had such a consistent career, always finding a way to stay within the top 25-30 in the world. John Isner is three years removed from his career high ranking of number eight in the world, which earned him a spot in the Nitto ATP Finals, which is a year end tournament for the top eight players in the world. It would be the only time Isner would play in the tournament.

Isner has a career record of 441-277 on the ATP tour, to go along with 15 career titles. His biggest title came in that spectacular 2018 season, where he won the ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami. On his way to the title, he defeated three top 10 players, which included Marin Cilic in the round of 16, Juan Martin del Potro in the semi-finals, and Alexander Zverev in the final.

Out of the 15 career titles, 10 have been won on hard court, four have been won on grass, and one has been won on clay. Isner’s best tournament in his career has come at the ATP 250 event in Atlanta, a tournament he has won five times throughout his career. From 2013-2018, where he played the event all six years, he won the title five times, with his only loss coming in the 2016 finals to Nick Kyrgios. He has a career record of 31-5 at Atlanta.

ATLANTA, GA – AUGUST 02: John Isner poses with trophy after defeating Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus during the BB&T Atlanta Open Final at Atlantic Station on August 2, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Another tournament Isner has won multiple times is Newport, an outdoor grass tournament he has won four times, and was also where he won his last ATP title, defeating Alexander Bublik in the 2019 final. Other tournaments he has won more than once include Auckland and Winston-Salem, each of which he has won twice.

2018 was by far the greatest year of Isner’s career, not only because of his career high ranking, but because of his success at the Grand Slams. His best result in a Grand Slam was Wimbledon that year, where he made the semi-finals, losing a heartbreaking fifth set to Kevin Anderson. The match lasted more than six and a half hours, with Anderson finally getting the better of Isner 26-24 in that marathon final set. Isner followed up that semi-final appearance in Wimbledon by making the quarterfinals of the US Open, where he eventually lost to del Potro.

An unforgettable career for John Isner

Isner will never be forgotten, even after he leaves the sport for good. How can you forget about the player with one of the best serves of all time, and that also played the longest match in the history of the sport. To go along with that, he is also one of the most consistent players on his era, and even at 35, is still ranked inside the top 30 in the world. He has proven this year that he still has a lot more to give to tennis, defeating top 20 players Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev, and Roberto Bautista Agut. So, if you have not had the chance to watch Isner for the last 14 years, it is not too late to start watching him now.

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