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ROLAND GARROS

May 24, 2016

John Isner

Paris, France

J. ISNER/J. Millman

6-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Three hours, three tiebreaks. Same ole, same ole. How you feeling?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah. I feel fine actually. It was a tough match. It was one that, you know, it just -- I was up in the first set and then I let it kind of slip away.

Second set I pulled a rabbit out of my hat completely. He was serving at 5-4, 40-Love to go up two sets to love. I was in a world of trouble right there; was able to come back and win in this long tiebreaker, and then it was dark.

So I definitely slept much better being at 1-All than 0-2. Then I came out of the gate today and played a really good game and gave it back; had to win another tiebreaker. It was a tough match.

Q. Jack Sock had won the first two sets and lost and was mad at himself and got up and was somehow positive.
JOHN ISNER: Uh-huh.

Q. How tough is that to take that off the court, go to bed, get up...
JOHN ISNER: Well, I have experience with that, as you know. It's very tough, but at the same time, last night I sort of went to bed with a smile on my face considering, as I said, the predicament I was in at 5-4, 40-Love and him serving for the second set.

For me, because this happened a few times, last night was a bit easier. It was one set all, so basically like a two-out-of-three set match. As opposed to coming out and playing just one set, which I think is much tougher.

For me, it was fine. I feel like I handled this situation pretty well.

Q. Even though it was a pretty typical scoreline for you, is it a confidence boost winning 7-6, 7-6 and another set 7-5? You've lost so many close ones recently.
JOHN ISNER: It's true. It is for sure. It's a big confidence booster for me. I've a lot a lot of extremely close matches this year and also came into this tournament without much match play at all. I was sidelined for a pretty long time.

There were some moments in that match that I just went AWOL a bit on my serve. Three times I lost my serve. I played some pretty poor games. I'm up 30-Love, and next thing you know, minute later I lose the game.

That stuff comes with match toughness, I think. But getting through this one was crucial for me. I'm very happy to be moving on.

Q. Coaching changes are an important part of the game. Andy was just explaining what happened with Mauresmo and him. Tell us a little bit about your decision to part company with Justin.
JOHN ISNER: Well, that was definitely a mutual decision. Justin, he's got a lot on his plate, especially now with his little kid. Trying to spend as much time as he possibly can with him. Also logistically it was pretty tough. He lives in L.A. and I live in Florida. Definitely wasn't one person making that call for sure.

Look, I had a great year with him last year. I finished my highest ranking ever with Justin. He's always going to be in my corner and still give me advice. We're still extremely good friends.

Q. Now and then tennis people get involved in politics. I think Nastase ran for mayor in Bucharest, and they said Ashe should run for office. Your dad is running. He's democrat. You support him I presume, obviously. Talk about that.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I mean, I will support him. I can't vote for him though because I'm registered in Florida. But we'll see what happens. He's here now. He's not on the campaign trail back home.

So look, he might have a decent shot to win the primary, and then go on to, you know, a heads up after that. I think there are four or five other people in the democratic primary in North Carolina. It's the 13th district. I definitely will support him. I've donated, and obviously pulling for him, but I cannot vote for him because I'm not registered there anymore.

Q. Your best 15-second sound byte for your dad on why he would be a good rep.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, he's not a guy that's -- he's never been in politics before. He's owned a small business for 25, 30 years of his life. He knows what it's like to run a small business and have six, seven people working for you.

Pretty moderate democrat, so it's not one way or the other for sure. I think he could bring some positive change for sure.

Q. Your school played in the middle of the night. Assume you didn't watch it.
JOHN ISNER: No.

Q. What were your thoughts on their NCAA run?
JOHN ISNER: It was a great run. Georgia always plays well in the NCAA tournament. They had a great win in the round of 16, a 4-3 win, and then played great in the quarters, 4-0. In college tennis, the margins are pretty small, especially this year.

There is a lot of parity. A team like Oklahoma I believe had ten losses coming into this NCAA tournament and Georgia had seven; No 1 seed has four losses.

It's tough. Bad news for me to wake up to. They had a very good season. They ran the table in the SEC and made the Final Four again. Things are definitely looking up. The tournament I know -- or I am pretty sure is back in Athens next year, where it should be every year. No offense to Tulsa, it's not the same. I am live streaming it, and it's not the same at all.

It's good to see the tournament is back there next year.

Q. Is there any more intense crowd than Athens outside of Davis Cup, but on the circuit?
JOHN ISNER: No. If you're wearing a G on your shirt it's an intense crowd in a very good way. If you're Florida or something, going to get ridiculed quite a lot.

The crowd is fantastic. They don't get -- in the final 16 they don't just come out and support Georgia. They support college tennis as a whole. I am obviously biased, but I think if you ask a lot of people, people that don't play for Georgia or didn't play for Georgia, and they were saying that the tournament should be there every year.

Q. Talk about the Olympics and your decision, thought process.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, something that I took a lot of time to think about. The summer for me obviously is a very important time. It's a time of the year that I've always done well. The Olympics, it's very tough on the schedule, especially with Davis Cup as well. We're into the quarterfinals there. Davis Cup is still a very big goal of mine, to try to win this quarterfinal match and possibly another home tie after that.

With all the tournaments sandwiched pretty much around the Olympics, it made it tough for me to go down there.

I think the fact that they have no points, to be honest, was a pretty big factor as well. Obviously the Olympics is not about the money, but no points I think hindered me a bit.

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