FanHouse John Isner

John Isner may have accidentally stuck his hand in the proverbial hornets' nest during a recent interview with 790 in Atlanta. You see, Isner, a young, brash, Georgia grad (from Greensboro, NC -- holla!) who recently upset Andy Roddick in the US Open, got goaded into answering a "no-no" question from one of the hosts.

That question? "How far down the men's list would beat the number one woman in the world. How far down do you believe the number goes?" Isner's answer? Well, you know what's coming ... and yes, it's as good as advertised.

NEW YORK -- This one is going to hurt more than Wimbledon. Andy Roddick said he didn't know what it would mean, not yet, not just 25 minutes after losing to John Isner Saturday night in the third round of the U.S. Open.

You fall way behind, two sets to love, and then courageously fight all the way back, never give up, get the momentum, and then in the end, the crucial fifth-set tiebreaker ...

You lose.

That was the night. Was it Roddick's career? The New Andy Roddick has been playing much better, but in the end, he's still not winning the big ones. It seemed like a matter of time.

And then this.

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NEW YORK (AP) -- It was a day of upsets at the U.S. Open on Saturday.

Hours after Melanie Oudin toppled Maria Sharapova, another unheralded American pulled off another upset of a past U.S. Open champion: 55th-ranked John Isner pounded 38 aces and eliminated No. 5 Andy Roddick 7-6 (3), 6-3, 3-6, 5-7, 7-6 (5) to reach the fourth round at a major tournament for the first time.

Roddick is the first of the top 16 men to lose this week. He won the 2003 Open and came oh-so-close to winning Wimbledon in July, but he now must resume his pursuit of a second career major title next year.

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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.