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U.S. OPEN

September 7, 2009

John Isner

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

F. VERDASCO/J. Isner
4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How do you feel right now? What is the primary emotion?
JOHN ISNER: Uhm, I'm a little bit disappointed. You know, I wanted to go further. But, I mean, I played pretty well. Maybe I could have played a little bit better. But I just got outplayed today.
I don't care what round you lose in, it's disappointing unless you win the tournament, just a little bit.
It was a good tournament. I can build on this for the rest of the year.

Q. The way he was counterpunching today...
JOHN ISNER: It's rough. He returns really well. Makes a lot of balls. On his serve, you know, that's his game. He serves about 75% first serves. He's lefty on top of that. He's running around, hitting forehands, so he's kind of hard to get in.
Maybe I could have done it a little bit better today. But he, for the most part just had me on the run. I didn't really stand a chance.

Q. With the way you like to play, when you find yourself back there a lot, does it get frustrating?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, it's real frustrating. I could have taken some chances on balls that were somewhat neutral or maybe not that offensive on his part maybe to try to turn the tide of the point, but I didn't.
But like I said, I mean, when he makes that many first serves, it's tough. Even when I get the ball back in play, he's running around the forehand. Probably one of the best forehands in the game, just slapping it.

Q. From the time you got mono, how long did it take till you felt a hundred percent physically, or do you still...
JOHN ISNER: After about a month I felt like it was out of my system, but then I had to, you know, get my stamina back up. So that took about another month. Month and a half maybe. So almost maybe like a three-month process.

Q. Did you lose a lot of weight?
JOHN ISNER: I actually did not lose that much weight. Never lost my appetite. Not like I had tape worm or anything. If anything, I might have put on weight.

Q. Were there any residual effects, physical or mental, after the Roddick match?
JOHN ISNER: I really don't think so. Physically I felt pretty good out there. I took care of myself after that match. No, I really don't think so. I really just think I got outplayed today. That's all I can chalk it up to.

Q. When you got into a baseline rally with him, did you have a lack of confidence that you could win the point?
JOHN ISNER: I did. I wasn't winning most of them. But it's tough because, I mean, he's so quick and he's running around that backhand, hitting that forehand, dictating play. He was hitting the first offensive ball before I was, then had me on the run.
I still felt like I could hang in there. I wasn't completely just lacking confidence there. Just didn't win too many.

Q. What do you need to do to get to the next level?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, just keep doing the same thing I'm doing really. I know I'm going the right direction. I finally have the right coach in my corner and the right people that I train with at Saddlebrook. Keep that up. You know, not be satisfied. I have a chance -- I didn't really play much in the fall last year, so I can improve my ranking, you know, significantly this fall. My goal is to get seeded in Australia, Australian Open. So that's important.
I think I have six tournaments on my schedule the rest of the year.

Q. And zero points to defend?
JOHN ISNER: No. I guess from where I'm ranked, not that many points at all. Only like 80 or something like that. I don't know. I'm not sure.

Q. What sort of statement do you feel the U.S. men made in the Open here?
JOHN ISNER: We got a lot of people to the round of 32. Then obviously I played Andy, so that assured one of them was going to move on and one was going to stay back. After that, kind of didn't do so well.
But, I mean, it was tough draws. Sam lost to Soderling. Taylor lost to Andy Murray. I can't remember who else. Maybe James had a really winnable match. He didn't pull it out. But we did well -- we had a handful of people in the round of 32. It's just unfortunate we couldn't get that many past that.

Q. Did you know and/or care that you were the last American?
JOHN ISNER: I knew that. I didn't really care. I wanted to keep it going. I didn't really expect. If you would have told me I'd be the last American, only one American make the final 16, I probably would have thought maybe one or two more would have.
Yeah, I knew that. I didn't really think too much of it.

Q. Looking ahead to the indoor season, your biggest results have come in the States. How important is it for you to start getting big results overseas?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, uhm, I've never been to Asia ever, so I'm going to have three weeks over there. It's going to be different. I like staying at home and watching football. But I've got to be over there and not watching football. It's going to stink.
But I've got to be professional about it, go about my business, you know, and try to do well.

Q. Why do you think your biggest results have come in the States? Is it a comfort factor?
JOHN ISNER: I would say that. You know, playing on hard courts mostly, too. It's my favorite surface. I think it is the comfort factor. Everything's a little bit easier for the Americans in the States. It's just really comfortable. Not that it's going to be uncomfortable going elsewhere, but it's just not going to be as easy.

Q. Jesse Witten was talking about the expenses of traveling on the tour, how much money it costs to play. When you first came on the tour, did you have sponsors or was it financing a dream on a credit card?
JOHN ISNER: No, I think I had like -- my parents had a college fund for me growing up. I think I had something like $40,000 in it that we never used because I was able to get a scholarship.
So I think I started off with that. I was able to do really well really early, so that helped me out with sponsorships and contracts and whatnot. So I was a little bit lucky that way.

Q. Did you draft Matthew Stafford into your Fantasy team?
JOHN ISNER: No, I didn't, and I don't have one Carolina Panther on my team, either. Not even a kicker. I couldn't even get a kicker. But I don't have Stafford.

Q. He was named the starter today.
JOHN ISNER: I know. I know. I saw that. It's pretty cool. I can't remember if somebody drafted him or not. He might be on waivers. Maybe I'll pick him up.

End of FastScripts

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