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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 13, 2018

John Isner

Wimbledon, London, England

K. ANDERSON/J. Isner

7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 26-24

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Maybe a stupid question, but how are you feeling?
JOHN ISNER: I feel pretty terrible. My left heel is killing me. I have an awful blister on my right foot. I've felt better before. You know, a few days' rest, maybe more than that, and I'll recoup and try to get all healed up again.

Q. I was wondering, Kevin Anderson said after the match he thought maybe it was time for a fifth-set tiebreak.
JOHN ISNER: I agree with Kevin. I personally think a sensible option would be 12-All. Can't finish them off, if one person can't finish the other off before 12-All, then do a tiebreaker there. I think it's long overdue. I mean, I'm a big part of that, a big part of this discussion, of course.

Rafa and Djokovic, I don't even know, can they finish tonight? Isn't there some curfew? I don't know. They're getting on the court at 8:15, whatever it is. We're out there playing for seven hours. You know, it's tough.

I'm a proponent of changing that rule, for sure. I think it needs to be done.

Q. Was there any time in the fifth set where your mind wandered back to June of 2010?
JOHN ISNER: Actually, no. Not really. I mean, I was out there trying my hardest.

I mean, if you all are going to ask me about the match in particular, hats off to Kevin. He stayed the course incredibly well, played very well. It was a good win for him. He earned it, so...

He played pretty well, I think, in the fifth set. I didn't have many chances, so...

Q. You said this in your last press conference, that you were going to try to do a record again. Is it any consolation to you that you have, it's te longest semifinal, and second- longest at Wimbledon behind your record?
JOHN ISNER: No, that's no consolation to me. It's not. I'm not going to hang my hat on that, for sure. It's more just disappointed to lose. I was, you know, pretty close to making a Grand Slam final, and it didn't happen, so... That's that.

Q. Beyond the result itself, how do you think you'll look back at what you did out there today?
JOHN ISNER: I mean, I competed hard. That's what it comes down to. That's what I have to be proud of. It stinks to lose, but I gave it everything I had out there. I just lost to someone who is just a little bit better at the end.

Q. You are all so well-matched, played each other so often. What do you think today was the one thing he was doing better than you were?
JOHN ISNER: Oh, that's a good question. I mean, I guess he just won a little bit more of the bigger points. When he broke me in the fourth set at 4-All, I think he played a very good game there. I would have liked my chances possibly in a fourth-set tiebreaker, but it didn't happen.

Q. I'm sure you're both feeling a bit beaten up. Were you kind of out of gas at a certain point at the end? How were you feeling the last few games?
JOHN ISNER: My foot was really bothering me with this blister that had come on, I don't know, at a certain point during the match. I felt all right out there. I mean, now I feel much worse, once you come down from the match. You have a lot of adrenaline and whatnot, that helps, that can mask a lot of things.

Right now I feel terrible. I work hard at what I do. I feel like I'm in pretty good shape. I think it showed out there today.

Q. There was a key moment in the fifth set where he dropped his racquet, picked it up, hit the left-handed forehand. Did you feel like you had him?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I could have done something. I saw him slip. I didn't do much with the next ball. It allowed him to get back into the point.

Q. John, thank you for coming in.
JOHN ISNER: Oh, I got to do it. Sorry I was late. Don't want to get fined (smiling). I'm late because I had to do a urine test, and I have blood afterwards. Lucky me.

Q. If this doesn't feel like further prying, are you able to give us a sense of how much you ate or drank to keep yourself going, and whether immediately coming off the court did you have an IV? Did you need any intervention to get you to this point here?
JOHN ISNER: No, no, I didn't have an IV. I hydrated before the match. I did everything necessary to be able to stay out there for as long as I did. I certainly drank a lot during the course of the match, too. It's not just water, obviously.

Q. Was it bananas, power bars?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I'm eating and drinking. It's what keeps you going.

Q. Did you say something to the umpire in the fifth set? Can we start the tiebreaker?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I asked to play a tiebreaker. It was joking, of course (smiling).

Q. You did it more than once, though?
JOHN ISNER: No, just once.

Q. I still say congratulations to you.
JOHN ISNER: Thanks.

Q. A long match on Centre Court. My question is, your president visit UK now. I've heard he like tennis.
JOHN ISNER: Okay.

Q. Do you think he watched your game?
JOHN ISNER: I would say no, but maybe. I don't know. I don't have his number. Can't text him.

Q. Talk about Kevin as a player, what he called on, how he's emerged in the past nine months or so?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, he's obviously a very good player, a contemporary of mine. We've been playing together for the longest time now. He's someone that I have so much respect for because he works very hard at what he does. He's someone that pushes me, I think. Maybe he'd say the same about myself. I mean, we're about the same age. We've been doing this together for a long time.

I see how professional he is. When I see him doing all the things that he's doing, I think that's a very good thing for me. It allows me to look at that and keep going, try to even work harder than he does, so...

He's one of the most professional players on tour. There's a reason why he's playing so well right now, because he does all the right things.

Q. Given the experiences that you had at Wimbledon before this tournament, how do you think this particular tournament will affect you for the future, knowing what you've done to get to the semifinals?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I mean, it was a very good tournament for me. I mean, I made the semis, my first ever Grand Slam semi. I'm very happy about that. Of course, I'm disappointed to lose today.

It's up to me to not let this match linger going forward when I get back in America, play on the hard courts, which is my favorite surface. So I need to be able to hit the delete button on this. It will be tough, very tough.

I'll just let my body recover, which it will. I said before, at 33, I'm feeling as good as I've ever felt. Let my body recover, then just mentally refocus, try to have a good summer. It's generally a very good time for me. We'll see if I can play well.

Q. I remember the match against de Bakker in 2010, the one after Isner-Mahut. It was not pretty.
JOHN ISNER: No, zero aces (smiling).

Q. When you're out there in this kind of a long match, do you have one eye ahead to what you might look like in a final? What do you think Kevin faces in terms of recovering from a match like this?
JOHN ISNER: He's got a tough task ahead of him. If I were to have won, I would have a very tough task, too. Watching these guys, I was in the training room getting my blister taken care of, and they're moving like gazelles out there. Djokovic is sliding all over the place.

Whoever wins this match you would think, because of how much time Kevin spent on court, will be the prohibitive favorite. If Kevin can serve like that, serve a high percentage like he did, he could have his shot, for sure.

He'll do everything possible to get ready for Sunday.

Q. I think this is the first Grand Slam semifinal in which all four men were in their 30s.
JOHN ISNER: Okay.

Q. Does that speak to sort of the improved training, more sophisticated understanding of what it takes?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, it does. To me it's actually not that surprising because I think in today's day and age, as you said, with the improved training, everything we know now to take care of yourself, you should get better with age.

Now, there will be a certain point where you kind of hit the top of the hill and you go down. But I think people in their early 30s, you know, if you're doing all the right things, that should be the best tennis you can play in your whole career.

I think that's the case for me and the case for Kevin, as well. Obviously Rafa, Novak, those guys, their credentials speak for themselves.

Q. Right after he came off court, Kevin's first reaction was sympathy for you. Does that surprise you? Did you talk to him after? When you're out there, do you feel any sort of empathy for him that you're simultaneously going through this hell?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, it's not fun. I mean, like, you know, the match for the most part was a lot of fun. Then you're getting out there, and he was serving better I think in the fifth set than he had throughout the whole match. It's just difficult.

Yeah, I mean, it stinks for me. He's the one that got through. Happy for him.

But I can't say enough. I do think the rule needs to change. I feel like maybe you guys would agree, as well. We'll see.

Q. Speaking of age over 30 and the longevity of the career, how much do you think going through the NCAA helps you in terms of preparation for being a professional player?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, well, it's the right path for some players. Others it's not. But for players that need to develop their game at 18, 19, 20 years old, it's the right thing to do because you have so much time to play professional tennis. Going to college, in my mind, doesn't hurt that at all.

So for myself, it worked. For Kevin, it worked, as well. I'm a big proponent of that.

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