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U.S. OPEN

September 8, 2011

John Isner

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

J. ISNER/G. Simon
7-6, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Would you call that the biggest win of your career?
JOHN ISNER: It's certainly one of them. I never made a Grand Slam quarterfinal before, so it's definitely up there. It feels good to get that one, you know, done with and over with.

Q. How do you feel like you're playing? You're on a bit of a run here.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I'm playing well. I felt like I played fairly well today. I was happy. I won a match, and my serve was broken five or six times, or six times or something. You know, that's pretty encouraging.

Q. The other day Mardy Fish said he thinks you could take the tournament. Any thoughts on that?
JOHN ISNER: No, that's very nice of him but, you know, I've still got three more to go. There are so many good players left if this event.
That would be nice. I do think I'm capable of it. Obviously I shouldn't take the court tomorrow if I don't. So it's nice to be able to be this far, because you are getting close to that ultimate goal.

Q. You end points fairly quickly compared to other players. Do you feel like that gives you any advantage when you are in a situation where, if you were to make it to the final you'd play four in a row?
JOHN ISNER: Um, yeah, I think so. Because on my serve, you know, like you said, the point more times than not will stay short. I can conserve energy that way.
The other thing is I'm a big guy, so these long, drawn-out matches are going to take more out of me than they are other players. So I was definitely at one point a bit tired out there today, because it was just -- it was very hot and humid. I went through 10 shirts. I ran out of shirts. I had to go get somebody to go get me some more shirts.
It took a toll on me, but I'll be ready tomorrow.

Q. Talk about your energy management, so to speak. You're such a big guy. Often you seem kind of tired, sort of wasted out there. You've managed to come through. Do you sort of pick your spots? Do you let a point here and there or game here and there go? Talk about that.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, it's something that -- a lot of times when I'm tired I am able to conserve energy at the right times and expend my energy at the right times.
I think today it was huge for me getting that first set because I was down a break twice, and he served for it at 6-5. Any time you lose the first set it looks a lot tougher, because you have to come back and win three of the next four.
I was glad I won that first set. In today's match, I think if I maybe -- I could have focused a little bit more because I was up, you know, 1-0 serving in the second set and I lost 6-3.
The same goes for the fourth set. I didn't want to have to finish them off in tiebreakers, but I did. It would have been nice to have maybe finished that fourth set at 6-3 or 6-4 rather than 7-6 or whatever it was, because it took a toll on me in the fourth set.

Q. You have had a lot of great experiences in slams. Do you feel confident going into the quarters? Do you have a certain ease about it now?
JOHN ISNER: No, I do feel confident going into tomorrow. It's obviously a very tough opponent. I don't know -- looks like he, you know, beat Donald pretty easily today. He's playing well. He's so tough. He's been in this situation a lot more than me.
But then again, you know, he hasn't -- you know, it will be a different matchup for him. You know, like I said, with my serve, that that's gonna help me a lot.
I'm going to have to play my best, my absolute best to have any shot.

Q. Could you elaborate on that as far as the difference in your style and Andy's and the challenge of playing him?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, you know, I played Andy -- I played him in the Australia Open in 2010, and, you know, he beat me pretty easily, because he -- a lot of times, he --you know, he did against me that time. He would kind of take the air out of the ball and hit a lot of short angles and got me moving.
You know, he kinda just was going body blow after body blow against me out there, because he was just not really hitting the ball that hard but and definitely moving me around.
I'm going to have to change a couple things up. You know, he's one of the best returners in the game, so I'm going to have to serve my best. When I do get my chances on the return, I will have to take 'em.

Q. You win a lot of tiebreakers, and other guys with big serves don't win a lot of tiebreakers. Is there something else other than your serve that you feel like gives you an advantage?
JOHN ISNER: Just I'm confident. I think in the first set, you know, he probably thought he should have won that 7-5, but he didn't. So I think he was a little bit rattled at that point, and I won that easily.
The same goes for the third set. I just played big and I forced the issue. He wants to keep me on the baseline, you know, in the match today, and I don't want to stay on the baseline.
He certainly passed me a lot when I was at the net, and I knew that going in, but I also knew I would have to come in and finish the points at the net to have any chance against this guy.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about having to play a round of 16 match at the US Open on Court 17. Also, who did you send to get shirts and where did they go to get them? They go to the Nike booth?
JOHN ISNER: I don't know. Where did you go?
A FRIEND: Nike store.
JOHN ISNER: Nike store.

Q. Did you pay cash?
A FRIEND: No.
JOHN ISNER: No, but I needed them, because I was -- it was so humid out there. I just kept going through my shirts. At one point I counted in my bag and I only had two left and it was in the beginning of the third set or something.
That was nice. Also needed more wristbands too. But that was my fault. I didn't bring enough. They're sitting in my hotel room. As far as the shirts go, I have like eight or something, and I went through them all.
No, but the conditions on 17, it was fine. I mean, it was weird in the beginning with not that many people out there. Felt like sort of a practice match more than anything.
But also thought the court was really, really slow compared to the other ones, which is fine. I kinda like slow courts. But that was something I didn't expect. I didn't expect the court to be that slow.

Q. As a real smart college grad, let me ask you a three-part question about the Bulldogs: One, a comment about the unis. They played in the other day.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah.

Q. Two, give us a little bit about that hat that's been around forever. And on a more serious note, a lot of guys played college and then said good-bye to their college coach, but Manny Diaz has been around. Talk about his role these days.
JOHN ISNER: The unis, I actually liked them. It's a bit of a change. I think the traditionalists would say that they don't like them. They kinda want the red jersey with the silver britches. It's a one-time thing. They will go back to the normal jerseys now.
This hat, I think I bought it my freshman year at college at the bookstore, and I've had it ever since. It fits well. It's nice and worn in, that's for sure. So it's one that I hope to hold on to for a long time.
As far as Manny goes, he had to go back to Georgia today, but he was there for my first three matches. He was there in my corner. It's great to see, because I have a really good relationship with him and I lean on him for a lot of things. Even though I'm not -- he's not coaching me anymore, he was probably -- you know, he is actually the biggest reason why I'm here today, because I spent four years under his tutelage.
He's such a great coach and a good friend as well. I'm happy to have him on my side.

Q. Is it Xs and Os that you lean on him or more just...
JOHN ISNER: Occasionally, yeah, more Xs and Os. It's just nice to hang out with him. I went out to dinner with him a couple of times, and he would tell me kinda like what he thinks. It was along the lines of what, you know, CB, my coach says.
So, you know, first and foremost CB is my coach. He's my guy. I look to him more than anything. But it's also nice to have Coach Diaz on my side.

Q. I think you've probably had circumstances where you played in two different tournaments with less time between matches than you had between your match today and your previous one. What's the hardest part of that situation?
JOHN ISNER: It was tough, because, you know, I had a full three days off. After I won my third round, I knew I had that day off. I did my normal routine. I didn't practice for too long and I worked out a little bit in the gym. I felt good and I was ready to go, you know, whenever, two days ago we were scheduled. I was ready to go.
All of a sudden the rain comes, and literally you just sit in the locker room all day. The only thing I did was warm up for my match. So as far as practice goes, I didn't practice too much, which is fine. I mean, I've hit enough balls.
The same goes for yesterday. I just pretty much warmed up for 20 and 30 minutes. That's all I did hitting-wise. It's kinda tiring mentally more than anything, just sitting in that locker room all day. You know, they could come in and be, All right, you guys are ready in 30, 45 minutes.
I put all my stuff on and go up to the gym and get ready. That happened twice. Then it would start pouring again and I'd come back down and just relax. It was more mentally draining. It was definitely tough, but it's tough for everybody.
I think I came out today in the first set and I didn't really come out too sharp. I got down in an early hole because I sort of lost my rhythm, lost the rhythm of the tournament, because you're used to playing, day off, playing, day off, and whatnot.
That's what we didn't have.

Q. How are your feet?
JOHN ISNER: They're good. They're good. It was one of the inserts on my shoe, because I was sweating so much, were kind of coming up like in my shoe. So I had to kind of keep knocking them back.

Q. Blisters?
JOHN ISNER: No, no, no blisters.

Q. How big of an impression did Andy's win here in 2003 make on you? You were young, but how big of a deal was it to you at the time?
JOHN ISNER: It wasn't.

Q. At all?
JOHN ISNER: No.

Q. Do you remember even...
JOHN ISNER: I was a freshman at college. I didn't even think about playing pro tennis.

Q. Do you remember even watching it?
JOHN ISNER: I was probably watching NFL football, to be honest.

Q. Speaking of NFL football, who is your pick for the Super Bowl?
JOHN ISNER: Can I say Carolina?

Q. You can, but...
JOHN ISNER: I've gotta think Green Bay is still the favorite.

Q. You seem a little heavy. Is it the flu or allergies or anything?
JOHN ISNER: No, I have a little bit of a -- I have kind of a sort of a cold type thing, but it's fine.

Q. You're kind of a hometown player. You win Winston-Salem two weeks ago; you're doing so well at your country's slam. What does that mean to you to make it all happen here?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, for the first four or five months of the season was a bit of a struggle, and as soon as I got back to the States after Wimbledon, that's when I, you know, I went on a roll.
I think I'm 21-4 since Wimbledon, so that's a very good record. It started in Newport in a tournament I didn't enter, I took a wildcard into, which is the best decision I've made in quite some time because I was struggling.

Q. You missed your brother's wedding.
JOHN ISNER: Yes, I did, and that was one of the things. But it worked out for the best, because once I won that tournament it gave me a lot of confidence, and I've been playing well ever since.

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