Posts tagged John isner at FanHouse

I think it's safe to say that for most Americans, the Australian Open is something of the lost Grand Slam of tennis. Played for the most part while most of America is snug in bed in the middle of Winter in the Northern Hemisphere, it's easy to forgive most folks for having the NFL Playoffs, the NBA and NCAA Basketball on their minds this time of year.

That's too bad, especially this year as the Australian Open features at least one quirky story that tennis fans ought to be paying attention to, at least outside of Serena Williams needing a course in remedial blogging. What I'm talking about is the interesting men's doubles pairing of 6-10 Ivo Karlovic and 6-9 John Isner.

As Joe Fleming of USA Today wrote yesterday:

Consider: With their wingspans - Karlovic about 7 feet, 2 1/2 inches and Isner 7-1 1/2 - plus an additional 27 inches of racket on either side, they can gobble up nearly two-thirds of the 36-foot width of the court. One big step covers the rest.

And both can bring 130- to 140-mph heat on their serves; Karlovic led the ATP Tour in aces in 2007 (1,318 total, 20.6 a match).

That's the two of them pictured above with Justin Heinz, the shortest ball boy at the Open this year.

It's a question that has vexed male tennis fans for years now: If you had a choice, who would you choose, Anna Kournikova or Maria Sharapova?

And what a choice it is. Which is why I decided to ask newly minted professional tennis player, John Isner, who fought all the way to the Finals of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic before falling to Andy Roddick, who he would choose.

As you'll see, it's a question the young man struggled with. And to tell you the truth, who wouldn't?


Excellent choice. And very defensible. Especially when you take the height question into consideration.

I've spent all weekend at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC, and while the rest of the world is enjoying a sleepy Summer weekend, the rest of us here may very well be witnessing the birth of the next great career in American tennis.

The story of the week has been John Isner, a wild card entry to the tournament who spent four years playing at the University of Georgia while far more celebrated talents worked their way to the ATP tour via high-priced tennis academies.

All Isner has done here in Washington is rip through the field, defeating more celebrated names like Tim Henman, Tommy Haas and finally last night, the incredibly athletic Gael Monfils. He's done it all with a booming serve unlike any on the tour today, one that his most recent victim, Monfils, last night called one of the best on the tour.