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U.S. OPEN

August 31, 2016

John Isner

New York, NY, USA

J. ISNER/S. Darcis

6-3, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. (Indiscernible.)
JOHN ISNER: That's the first time I've seen them, especially here at the US Open. I thought they were incredible. Good to have a group like that on my side. I really appreciated that.

Q. Not that that was an easy match, but after the first round, is there a little bit of a get-out-of-jail-free sort of feeling when you get out of a match like that?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, it is. You see a lot of times in tournaments guys that do well, make the finals, sometimes win the tournaments, have a match like that where they sort of escaped and easily could have lost.

Yeah, certainly feel like you're playing with house money at that point. My opponent, I was told, saved a couple match points in the final round of quallies and in his first-round match. We were both playing with house money out there.

Q. Can you feel that?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah. You feel a little freer out there. It's just nice taking the court knowing I was so close to being out I could have been home on my couch. Instead I was walking out on the court for my second-round match, so that's a good feeling.

Q. A couple fans described you as the marathon man. I wonder how you take that. Other than your huge serve, what gives you the edge in these long matches?
JOHN ISNER: Well, yeah, that name has been brought up a lot around me. Rightfully so, with the one match I played. I played a lot of long matches after that, as well.

I think just with my serve, at the very worst, that's what will keep me in the match. That's why sometimes some of my matches can drag on a bit.

But, yeah, I mean, look, I've played a lot of five-setters. I've probably lost more than I've won. I did win that one ridiculous match in 2010, but I've certainly lost my fair share of very close matches.

Q. Caroline Wozniacki, who ran the marathon a couple years back, was talking about marathons today, hitting the wall. She said it was harder to hit the wall in a marathon than in tennis. When you are deep into the matches, spent physically, is there a quality of hitting a wall? How do you deal with that?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, everyone's been in that situation before, you know, being in a match -- especially in tough conditions like this out there. It's very humid.

You just sort of have to conserve energy when you can. Don't get too emotionally high or emotionally low, because that can drain you, as well.

For me, it always looks like I'm a lot more tired than I am out there. Sort of playing a bit of possum out there. I'm not breaking the rules or anything, but always look like I'm tired. I always have something left in my tank.

The important thing is when you feel like you're hitting the wall, the match is still going on, try to conserve as much energy as you can. When you do get to the change of ends, it's important to keep drinking and keep yourself cool as best you can, especially in conditions like this.

Q. In the Wimbledon marathon, when it was getting so deep into the match, what were the one or two things you did to keep yourself going?
JOHN ISNER: What kept me going was just wanting to get to the change of ends and sit down for 90 seconds or whatever it was.

One of the reasons we were able to go so long was it was like 65 degrees and no humidity. The conditions in London are a lot more tame than they are here.

Q. When you first started playing tennis, started serving, were you immediately knocking holes in walls and stuff? Was your serve always that big or is it something you developed?
JOHN ISNER: Oh, no. I certainly developed it over time. For me, I guess it's pretty fortunate. I've never really ever tinkered with my serve. Luckily it came pretty natural to me as far as the motion goes and whatnot. Of course, being tall helps so much.

But my motion and my toss and how I do serve, that has never changed. No one ever, I guess, taught me that. I sort of developed it over time.

But, of course, when I was younger, when I started to grow into my body, that's when I started seeing my serve improve a lot.

Q. When you first started hitting serves, did they go in automatically?
JOHN ISNER: Oh, gosh, I can't -- I saw some clips of me playing. I was like a junior in high school. My serve wasn't that good, so...

I don't know. Probably got to be really good in college.

Q. How tall were you then?
JOHN ISNER: I grew a lot. Believe it or not, I was like 6'2" or something. I grew, like, my senior year.

Q. With Kyle Edmund next, have you seen much of his recent matches or successes here?
JOHN ISNER: I didn't see any of his match today. I know he won in straight sets. I know he had a very good win in his first round as well. He's certainly been on the court less than me.

He'll come into this match with a good bit of confidence. I'm going to expect that. But same goes for me.

It will be a fun match. He's improving a lot. He's still very young. He's got an extremely bright future. But I'm going to do everything I can to try to win that match.

Q. How do you feel you played today compared to the first round? How good was it to get out of that in four sets?
JOHN ISNER: I feel like I played pretty well. I had a handful of chances, and for the most part I took them in the first two sets.

Third set probably would have liked to have had that back. Serving at 6-4 in the tiebreaker, lost that point; went into a bit after shell; did not play aggressively from that point forward in that tiebreaker.

Getting off in four sets, I was very happy. After I lost the third obviously I was disappointed, but I needed to change clothes. I had a few minutes to myself in a room with no one around. Sort of collected myself and went back out there.

Q. Not that any match is easy, but do you ever allow yourself to project and look at the draw and think about how far you go before you meet a top seed?
JOHN ISNER: No. I've done that before and it never works out. I mean, I didn't know I played Kyle until, I don't know, as soon as I got off the court really.

I don't look at the draw. I mean, I know who I play. I knew my first-round opponent. But I don't look forward from that. I have no idea what the draw looks like.

Q. Have these long matches caught up to you in tournaments in the past? Has that ever happened?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, certainly. The one we speak about all the time, that one caught up to me for sure. Again, in other events -- in Australian Open I played a few five-setters. I had to try to turn back around two days later, and it did catch up to me, for sure.

Q. You mentioned the relief factor of coming out of a match like this, playing with house money. When did you feel more pressure, serving for the match over trying to hit Chris Fowler on TV?
JOHN ISNER: I didn't feel much pressure serving for the match. I was happy I was able to break at 4-3. I played a very good service game as well. I was pretty tired.

But trying to hit that ball into that small area, I failed three times. I want to get another shot at that.

Q. Ryan Harrison is up two sets on Raonic. Thoughts on him?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, he did break through a few years ago and has struggled since. He would say the same. Certainly has been resurgent this summer. He's playing much better. He's playing with a lot of confidence as well. You can sort of just see it. You see him in the locker room and he's just more confident, the way he's going about things.

Right now he's up two sets to one on one of the best players in the world. He seems to be back to his old form. Good thing for Ryan. He has been around for a while, but he's still very young. He turned pro at 16. He's still very young. Good thing he's figuring it out again.

Q. There's so many great things about tennis. What is the one thing you love most about the sport?
JOHN ISNER: I think it has to be playing in front of tennis fans. I mean, every athlete will say without the fans we wouldn't be out there competing. It feels good to play well in an atmosphere in front of fans that appreciate your effort. That match in the first round was incredible. It's one match I won't soon forget.

Just playing in great atmospheres in professional tennis matches is incredible. You're out there one v. one and you got thousands of people watching you. It's pretty special, something that won't keep happening forever. I try to enjoy those moments when they come around.

Q. Imagine that Athens would be your number one place to play in front of a crowd. What would be number two?
JOHN ISNER: I would say the US Open. Here, having the fans on your side. It's very important. This place is awesome.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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