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BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 17, 2009

John Isner

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA

J. ISNER/M. Safin
6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Where does that rank in your brief career?
JOHN ISNER: It's got to be one of my better wins. You know, he's not No. 1 in the world like he used to be, but still, he's one of the greatest players, you know, ever, really. He's won a couple Grand Slams and so talented. To be able to beat him that is a great feat for me.

Q. Did it occur to you that you sent him away from this tournament for good? He's retiring.
JOHN ISNER: Oh, yeah. No, didn't.

Q. I made your day, didn't I?
JOHN ISNER: Sorry about that. Yeah.

Q. I know you reached the Washington final, but this might be your best tournament ever with Monfils and Safin back to back.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, and on top of that I'm playing better. I'm returning better. I feel like I'm -- I don't know if I'm serving better or I'm serving smarter. I'm moving better out there. Really been putting in a lot of hard work with my coach, Craig Boynton at Saddlebrook in Tampa. And really, I guess it's kind of paying off.

Q. The broken ball thing, were you aware that that was a rule?
JOHN ISNER: Um, no. But now that I think about it, it's kind of fair, I mean, if the ball breaks in the middle of the point. Because he whiffed it, you know, failed to make contact with the ball because it didn't bounce.

Q. Did you think when you saw him whiff it that there was something strange there?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah. It took a weird bounce. I guess -- I thought maybe it hit the line, but I didn't think he really hit it that hard. It kind of hit the line okay, but it kind of just died. It didn't really skid through.
Normally like when it hits the line it kind of just fell straight down. Yeah.

Q. Kind of depressing, though, because that gets you to break point.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, that got me break point. It was a long point, too. I was a little bit winded after that, and it was all for naught because...

Q. You guys hit it so much you broke the ball?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I guess. I mean, it was probably like a 25-, 30-ball rally, and I got nothing for it.

Q. How did you manage avoiding the natural letdown after beating Monfils getting on court today?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I mean, I don't know. I just feel like I'm preparing well. In my off days I'm doing the right things. I'm getting in the gym. I'm practicing the right way. Mentally, I'm sharp.
Before the match, you know, an hour leading up before the match, to, you know, the whole course of the match, while on the court, I felt like I was mentally sharp. Felt like I was in good shape, and, you know, I wasn't just happy to be there. I really wanted to win.

Q. Can you elaborate on serving smarter? Just in terms of location?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, especially out here. With these conditions the air is pretty thin. The court is slow, but it bounces really high, which is my type of court, really.
So I think the kick serve, especially on the ad side, worked wonders for me. Even on my second serves I'm kicking it up short. He's a tall guy, and I felt just -- still felt like I was getting it up over his head. That, along with my wide serve on the deuce, I thought, you know, I hit those pretty well. That was key for me.

Q. As soon as he couldn't return your kick serve by closing on it he backed way off, and then you served and volleyed, correct?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, Monfils did the same exact thing, and I served and volleyed and I kind of either hit a put-away volley or hit a short volley because they were so far back.
So even though he made that adjustment, it wasn't something I hadn't seen before, so I was still pretty comfortable following that up with a volley. Even though he was probably making more returns from back there than he was before, I was still able to get a pretty easy, you know, next shot after the serve.

Q. Pretty early success when you first came on the tour. Obviously guys don't know your game and don't know you. What kind of adjustments do you have to make after you've been on tour for a while to sort of get back into that kind of a groove?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, you just kind of try to just -- I mean, as clichÃ©d as it sounds, just to continue to get better on the practice court. You know, mix up, you know, add some more variety to my game.
I feel like I'm coming to the net more. When I'm at the net, I'm more aware of my surroundings at the net. I'm playing a lot better up there, and that's helped me out.
I'm winning lot of points at net this tournament, and that's paying off. I've been putting a lot of -- I've been practicing that quite a bit. Yeah, it's really just trying to add more variety in my game. I don't want there to be a book out there on me, how to beat me.

Q. Were your practice habits not up to snuff when you came out of college?
JOHN ISNER: No, they were. I really don't know. These last three weeks really I've just -- I've felt great physically out on the practice court. I've been -- my right knee was bothering me for a long time all last year. I wasn't able to do a lot of things in the gym that I wanted to do, like just -- especially strengthening my legs. My right knee would kill me.
That seems to have gone away, and that's helped a lot. Just putting in the hard work.

Q. Can you talk about to what degree you think it's an advantage to be really, really tall, and to what degree is it a problem?
JOHN ISNER: It's obviously an advantage with the serve and the leverage I can get on my shots. I feel like, you know, I can get a lot behind my groundstrokes as well, especially on my forehand. If I connect and hit that square my racquet it's going to go through the court pretty hard.
Obviously the disadvantage is, you know, I don't move as well as 99% of the players out there. But that's what I'm improving. I felt like I'm moving very, very well and that paid off today. I won some points out there, you know, defensive points that a couple months ago I probably wouldn't have won.

Q. Does it ever go through your head, Hey, I wish I were shorter? And what do you think is the best height for a player these days is?
JOHN ISNER: That doesn't go through my head. I can't become shorter. I mean, that's kind of stupid to think.
I don't know. I think usually a lot of players nowadays are big, big and, you know, tall, but still strong.
I feel like I'm one of those, too.

Q. So if you had to pick a height, what do you think would be the best out there?
JOHN ISNER: Anywhere from 6'4" to my height.

Q. Go to your next match against Del Potro. He beat you last year in Washington.
JOHN ISNER: What's the question?

Q. Looking ahead to your next match.
JOHN ISNER: Oh, yeah. Yeah, he's tough. He makes a lot of returns. Once again, I'm going to have to serve really smart out there and capitalize on my chances when I'm returning.
I don't think I had a break point against him last time I played him, and he broke me once each set. So, you know, it really was kind routine. But I'm playing better now than I was then, and hopefully I can get it done.

Q. Has your fitness improved a lot since you became a pro?
JOHN ISNER: Um, yeah, I think it has. I think I was at a real high level coming out of college because I played so many matches and they worked us pretty hard. And then, like I said, I've had a couple -- I would get knicked up here and there, especially with my knee, and that kind of prevented me from doing a lot of things that I wanted to do, you know, outside of tournaments.
That's gotten better, and, you know, I feel like I'm back to my top physical shape.

Q. Do you think that the high performance program in the United States is on track? And if not, do you have any suggestions for them?
JOHN ISNER: Like the USTA?

Q. Yes.
JOHN ISNER: I think it is. You know, you see -- I know Sam Querrey is working exclusively with, you know, USTA coach, David Nainkin, and he's also helping me out here, which I appreciate a lot. He's great. And we've got -- USTA has JosÃ© Higueras, and he's one of the greatest coaches there is.
I think especially now they're maybe, you know, doing it the right way. Not that they weren't doing it the right way before, but I think they're doing it better. They've got a good system in place now.
I'm just fortunate that they are helping me out a little, as well.

Q. Simple question: Do you feel like you have to live at the net to have a very successful career, or do you think you can do some damage from the back, too?
JOHN ISNER: No, obviously I want to get to the net as much as possible, but my forehand is also one of my better shots. I like to take a lot of chances on second serves and crack a second serve return with my forehand.
You know, when I'm at the back I'm going to be looking for a forehand. But, you know, I think I can -- you know, I can still hang from the baseline, but ideally, I want to be at net. But I'm not, you know, I'm not intimidated when I'm at the back.

Q. Are you still in pretty close contact with Manny Diaz, and what kind of advice does he give?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I talked to him like 15 minutes ago, actually. He's just encouraging. I think he watched it on TV. Sorry. He didn't go through any Xs and Os with me today, but I talk to Coach at least once a week, about, you know, not even tennis, really. I just talk to him about everything.
He's a good friend. You know, really, if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be here right now. I think he's a great coach, and I'm always going to pick at his brain.

Q. Greatest thing about him as a coach or as a friend?
JOHN ISNER: He's a great motivator. I feel like, you know, especially in the college atmosphere he was able to, you know, always get our team, you know, ready to play every single match.
A good example was last year. We weren't the most talented team last year. I wasn't on the team, but they still won it all. That can be contributed to Coach Diaz.

End of FastScripts

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