|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
WIMBLEDONJuly 1, 2015John IsnerLONDON, ENGLAND J. ISNER/M. Ebden THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Have you got a feeling you could have a good year here? JOHN ISNER: No, not really. I'm not looking at it like that. I know this is a tournament I can do well at. I have progressed through the first two rounds, which is very satisfying so far. I'm certainly playing well, but I could play Marin Cilic next round, I could play Berankis next round. Both are incredibly tough. I have to keep playing well. There are absolutely no gimmies, especially at this juncture. Q. There are so many preconceptions about guys with big serves. Everyone says guys with big serves should be going deep. And the courts have slowed down some. We all know that. What are the advantages or what makes it tough for a big guy to go deep at a tournament here? JOHN ISNER: Well, this surface, it does help out big servers, but eventually you're going to run into some very good returners, and if they are getting your serve back, getting my serve back with some interest, it's going to be very tough. Outside of that, the ball is staying really low. Guys get a good hit on the return and could skid through and put, you know, guys like myself on defense. Yeah, I think more than anything it's a big advantage, but it can also be tough, as well. Q. Do you feel like you have the advantage? JOHN ISNER: I do. Yeah, I'm serving well. I have a lot of pretty easy holds out there, which is a very good weapon to have on my side, and it's always putting the pressure right back on my opponent. So I do. I feel like it's an advantage for me. Q. Do you feel as though you should have had better results here? You have had particular circumstances, obviously. JOHN ISNER: Yeah. Q. Including even injury one year, etcetera. JOHN ISNER: Exactly. Q. Do you look at it as, gee, I should have better results? JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I had that one year where I hurt my knee in the first game of the match, and I don't know if you remember, I was in that section of the draw where I became the highest ranked player in that whole section of the draw. Everyone had went out. That was very disappointing. I had the super long match one year. Then last year I lost to Lopez in the third round who, as you guys know, is very tough on grass. In a match with a bunch of tiebreakers, not many breaks of serve, it could have gone either way. I haven't had great results here, but a bit of it's been some bad luck I think with that injury and I have run into some tough opponents, as well. Q. Novak Djokovic was just asked to sort of go through the different strokes: forehand, backhand, return, so forth, talked about who had the toughest strokes he's faced in his career. Could you take a minute and just think about what are the toughest strokes you've faced? JOHN ISNER: That I have? I would say his return. I would say Rafa's forehand with all that lefty spin. Roger's forehand, as well. A guy like Stan Wawrinka's backhand, Djokovic's backhand. He does everything so well. Then, you know, as far as the serve goes, I think my serve is pretty good. Guys like Kevin Anderson and Milos Raonic and Karlovic have very good serves. So there is a lot of good shots out there. Q. And mental toughness? JOHN ISNER: Yeah. The top guys are the very best at that, I think. I mean, it's a big advantage. They also have all the shots, but mentally they are very, very strong. You have a guy like Lleyton Hewitt, unbelievable competitor. David Ferrer, he's a bulldog out there. Q. And finally, volley? JOHN ISNER: Gosh. Probably Roger. He's got pretty good volleys. Not as much volleying going on now, as you guys know, as maybe like 20, 30 years ago. Q. For a guy from where you're from, what was the heat like today? JOHN ISNER: It wasn't too bad, I thought. There were a lot of clouds in the sky, which helped I think a lot. When the clouds went over the sun, it made a big difference, especially for me. I do train in Florida, and it's way worse in Florida than it was here today. It wasn't ‑‑I don't want to call it overrated, because it was very hot out there. But it wasn't crazy bad. Q. What did you make of all the talk leading up to today, given that it seems here in the UK they are just not used to temperatures in the mid 90s or low 90s? JOHN ISNER: Well, it's crazy. I have never seen weather like this. They said it's the hottest it's been in 10 years or something and maybe even more than that. Every time I have played this tournament I have never played in weather like that. But, you know, it happens. I don't think we are going to have another day like this going forward. I'm glad I played on this day, though. I like playing in the heat. It wasn't too humid out there. You know, in conditions like that, it really helps my game. The ball is jumping all over the place, and I think that's helps me a lot. Q. With Tomic and Kyrgios and some other guys who have been in action from Australia, the Aussie fans are out in strength. What has been your experience, if any, with Aussie fans that has maybe struck your memory bank? JOHN ISNER: Yeah, they are very energetic. I don't know that I have ever played an Australian at the Australian Open, which I think is probably pretty lucky (smiling). They always back their players, and there is a huge contingent of Aussie fans here this year. I didn't expect that. I know on court 18 today they were supporting Bernie and supporting Nick. I could hear them from my court, which is pretty far away from court 18 today. They are very loud. It's great to see. It makes for a fun atmosphere. Q. You mentioned court 18. How often have you had the chance to walk by the plaque that's there for your match and seen people posing, taking pictures? And what goes through your mind when you see that? JOHN ISNER: Yeah. I have walked by it, I don't know, probably already five or six times since I have been here. One time I was walking by and there was a group of five, six people taking pictures. I was going to see if I could walk by without them noticing me. I couldn't do it. I kind of turned my head away. It's cool. I have a picture with it. But, you know, now I just walk by it. I don't stop and look at it. I know what it says (smiling). But it's so cool to think that's going to be there forever. Q. You said you were lucky not to play any Australians in Australia. What is the role of luck in this sport, in tennis? JOHN ISNER: Yeah, luck is ‑‑it's big in this sport. I mean, you look at ‑‑I mean, no offense to a guy like Santiago Giraldo who was supposed to play Nishikori today, but he didn't even have to take the court against a top 5 player in the world. It happens. It's a very physical sport. Guys are nicked up, and Kei probably made the smart decision not to play today. You know, stuff like that happens pretty much every tournament. It's never happened to me in my whole career, actually, pre‑ or mid‑match. So I'm saving it up for a very big one, I think. But you see it at every tournament really. Sometimes draws open up, and, you know, because a top guy goes out, whether he gets injured or whether he loses, you know, everybody is going to have some chances, you know, somewhere down the road and you've got to try to take advantage of it if things break your way. Q. Can you think of a let cord or a draw that was really good or bad luck? JOHN ISNER: Yeah. I'm sure. I can't think off the top of my head right now, but you see a lot of guys that struggle in the first round of a tournament, maybe win a match they shouldn't have won, and then go on to win the tournament. It's not all luck, you know, if you compete well. Sometimes you get a little lucky in a tournament, and then you're playing with house money. Q. You have mentioned you don't know who your next opponent will be, but if it's Cilic, how would you describe his game and his evolution into the champion he is? JOHN ISNER: He's got a very good all‑around game. For a big guy, he hits the ball extremely well from the back and he's improved his serve a lot also. I think the thing that he does the best, in my opinion, he's always calm and composed on the court. He's never getting angry at himself out there. He's always just sort of ‑‑he just stays the path, and it's paid very big dividends for him in his career, especially last year at the US Open. My opinion, that's what he does best, along with his serve and groundstrokes. He's a cool customer out there. Q. There was an incident on court today with the ball boy. Did you see what happened? Did it disrupt you? JOHN ISNER: My back was turned. I was on the other side. Our changeover just ended. I unfortunately saw him on the ground. It was a very scary situation. You know, I'm not a doctor, but it looked like an epileptic seizure. It was very scary. I have heard that he's doing much better, which is great. So, you know, there is a lot of ‑‑I don't think epilepsy gets much play in today's world. It's a very big issue. A very good friend of mine, Norka Martinez, I know very well. She lives in Fort Lauderdale. You don't know her, but she has suffered from epilepsy for eight years now. So it's scary and I hope that kid is all right. I hear that he is. He just needs to rest up. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|