If anyone wanted to let the people of the future know what John Isner was like as a tennis player, they could take care of it pretty simply: Stuff a video of his 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 loss to Nicolas Almagro in the Davis Cup semifinals today into a time capsule. Granted, it will take our distant descendants four hours and 16 minutes, the length of today’s match, to find out, but enduring a see-saw marathon is key to the total Isner experience.
The elements were all in place. It went five sets. It featured better overall play from his opponent—Almagro was three for 19 on break points, while Isner was just two for six. But it also had opportunistic play from Isner. He capitalized on a double fault and a net cord in his favor to break at 4-5 in the second set; in the fourth, after saving six break points in that set alone, he broke Almagro on his first chance. As usual, Isner played with more conviction and aggression when his back was to the wall, but for long stretches he couldn’t muster much on his return games. Unfortunately for him, the match also finished in typical fashion. Gassed by middle of the fifth set, Isner stopped applying pressure to his opponent’s serve and used all of his energy staving off defeat, only to ultimately succumb in the end. Isner’s record in five-setters now drops to 4-10, an obvious problem for someone who goes the distance so routinely.
Credit Almagro not only for playing better tennis on the day, but for not having a nervous breakdown after seeing all of his chances go up in red smoke with the wave of Isner’s serving wand. Almagro is No. 12 in the world, but that rarely cuts it with the Spanish Armada. This was just his fifth career Davis Cup tie, and he must have felt the pressure to produce while he had the chance. While he tightened up on several break points, he did what he needed to do for the most part. He pushed Isner back with his heavy topspin and did his best to get him moving side to side. Most of all, Almagro defended well and forced Isner to go too big on his forehand too many times.
After four hours and all of those break points saved, the way this Isner Experience ended came as something of a surprise. In the final game, the American stoned three easy volleys and was broken. That part, if you're John Isner, wasn’t supposed to be in the script.
Spain is up 2-0 after day one. (For the Racquet Reaction to David Ferrer's win over Sam Querrey, click here). The only ray of hope for the U.S. is that the last four times the team was in this position, with Bob and Mike Bryan to follow on Saturday, the Bryans prevailed. The Bryans will try to start another comeback on Saturday.
