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ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

November 4, 2017

John Isner

Paris, France

F. KRAJINOVIC/J. Isner

6-4, 6-7, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How did you feel physically on the court? You didn't feel very well, but what can you say about your body today and how you felt physically?
JOHN ISNER: No. I felt fine. I mean, my knee has been bugging me a little bit but it sort of comes and goes.

But, no, for the most part, there was no -- it wasn't a physical issue. Of course, I was a little tired, but that's it.

Q. So it was the level of your opponent I guess. Were you surprised by his performance today?
JOHN ISNER: No. Look, I knew he was feeling pretty good about his game and obviously gaining some confidence. I mean, everyone is so good on the tour. It's really a matter of who's got confidence, you know. And it's not that I didn't have confidence but he did as well. So the margins are really small.

And my opponent, Filip, I thought he played a good match and hats off to him for winning the match.

Q. Obviously you had the chance to go to the finals in London. Is that very disappointing for you?
JOHN ISNER: Oh, yeah, yeah. Very. Very disappointing. You know, I had an opportunity here to do some things I've never done before, I think, you know, finish in something like in the top 10 in the world. I think I have now finished 11th or 19 in the world eight consecutive years. So I mean, it's very good. It's consistent. But there's nothing better than that.

So you can write what -- you can say either it's not good or it's really good. It's all about your opinion.

Q. In Milan they are going to play ATP finals with the new format. What do you think about it?
JOHN ISNER: I don't have any opinion on that. Sorry. Right now.

Q. I guess the positive of it is that you are getting better. You're getting higher in the rankings. And as you said you're so close to having a career breakthrough. What are your sort of thoughts ahead of next year? Do you feel like you're improving, that your game is getting better all the time through your hard work?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah. I mean, I work hard and I take care of myself. I think that shows, you know, that for the most part I have stayed very healthy, and that's a very important piece of the puzzle.

But I have been very close in tournaments like this, especially Masters events. I just haven't broken through. And this one is going to sting because, you know, I knew I was the highest-ranked player in the semifinals and definitely was a good opportunity for me. I just didn't quite take advantage of it. But that's sport, really.

I didn't have a bad year by any standards and I ended the year well two years in a row. But it's never easy to lose a match like that on a stage like that, you know, in a very important match. It stinks.

Q. You say it stings. Did you feel extra pressure because you were the highest-ranked person left and that he had nothing to lose? You have spoken about feeling tight in the game against Dimitrov and then freeing up. Were you back to feeling tight again today?
JOHN ISNER: Of course, there are some moments where I was a little bit tight.

I had some opportunities. I mean, I had some break points in the third set. He, for the most part, I think he served pretty well on all the break points. He had one second serve and I actually went after it and I think I missed the ball by a few inches. Yeah. So you can look at that with how well I was serving today. That was essentially a match point.

So that's how close it was. But that's how a lot of my matches go sometimes. The margins are very small. Sometimes they go in my favor and sometimes they don't and I think that was the case today.

Q. Is it more frustrating because you were 3-Love in the deciding tiebreak? Can you put your finger on what you thought might have got away from you at that point?
JOHN ISNER: No, no. Yeah, I was up 3-0, and then he hit the two lines on two first serves to make it 3-2.

When I was up 3-0 I was actually feeling very good, as if, if I could touch the ball, I was going to go for it. And I think in that situation if I just kept one of those two points that's a very -- the match swings in my favor quite a bit.

But he hit two basically unreturnable serves and, you know, I think from 4-2 he guessed right, and he guessed right again at 5-All. So again, credit to him. He did the right things at the end.

Q. A lot of us haven't seen Filip play before. What can you tell us more about Filip's game? Who does his style remind you of? How would you describe his game? A lot of us haven't seen him play before.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, he serves pretty well. I felt like he served pretty well today. I think he made a lot of first serves. I think when he needed some big serves he did that. So he serves pretty well and he's got great ground stroking, great backhand actually, very good backhand. It's very indicative of people from Serbia. They all have very good backhands. I don't know what it is. But he's another one of them.

Look, he's a professional tennis player. He does everything pretty well and he's got confidence right now, as I said earlier. So he's able to go for his shots a little bit more and that's why he's winning matches here.

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