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BNP PARIBAS OPENMarch 10, 2012John IsnerINDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA J. ISNER/F. Gil THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Do you want to assess your performance, how you felt you played? Take us through the match a bit. JOHN ISNER: I thought I played fairly well. It took me a while to kinda get my feet wet a little bit, but fortunately for me I have the luxury of having a big serve when I'm really not that comfortable in the early goings of the match. That's kind of what happened, 3‑All, 4‑All, 5‑All, and finally I broke. After that, I felt fairly confident I could close it out in two sets. Q. Were you pleased with your play post the great upset of Federer, or did you feel a little of an emotional letdown after that weekend? JOHN ISNER: To be honest, my level of play hasn't matched that yet, but the two matches I've lost since I felt like I went up against players who were playing really well. Really I didn't lose the match because I played horrible or anything. I was engaged and I played well and I just got beat twice. So, you know, I would have liked to have done a little bit better, obviously, since that match, but I know that I just got beat by better players on that day. But it wasn't for me, you know, not executing or anything. Q. Verge of the top 10 now. This tournament, Miami, are hard court tournaments. You have had a couple decent wins but never big results. Big weeks for you? JOHN ISNER: Absolutely big tournaments these weeks every year these tournaments roll around. I'll be looking to obviously go as far as I can. I think I can go far with the weapons that I have if I continue to serve well. I like my chances to do well here; same goes for Miami. So these are very big tournaments, you know, Masters Series back‑to‑back in the United States. So I'm going to try to do very well here. Q. Have you discussed with anyone or talked about or thought about what you might do as far as doubles and the Olympics goes? JOHN ISNER: Um, no. Obviously the Bryans are a team, and whoever I can get in with, I'll play, whether it's Andy, Mardy. Maybe Andy and Mardy are both playing and I'd be left off. I don't really know how the selection works, either. As far as doubles goes, I would hope to play there, and really would enjoy it if I do get that shot. Same goes for mixed doubles. I've got to try and hawk Venus or Serena away from Bob or Andy or one of those guys. See what I can do. Q. Serena has mentioned you as a partner. Obviously having her serve on your side would be something she'd want. Have you talked to her about it at all? JOHN ISNER: We have spoken. I haven't seen her in a while. I'd just like to have everything of hers on our side. So, you know, I have seen her. I know Mardy played mixed doubles with her at the Hopman Cup a long time ago, and they said she was arguably best player on the court. I'd be a little bit nervous though. I'd have to step my game up (Laughter.) Q. Incredible win in Switzerland. Congratulations. Could you talk about the role that Captain Courier played, sort of getting into the swing of things now, not just a rookie anymore as a leader? How did he get to you? How did he motivate you? What did he tell you to do? JOHN ISNER: He was on me the whole week, every practice. Essentially what he told me in practice, during a practice point if I wasn't playing the right way, he would stop the point. He'd say, You know, if you play like that against Roger you might as well hit the ball into the stands. Q. Specifically what kind of point? JOHN ISNER: A point where I'm six feet behind the baseline rallying and just doing this. That, you know, against Roger, over the course of a three‑out‑of‑five‑set match, if I do that it's not going to bode well for me at all. He told me I needed to keep my foot on the gags the whole match and play aggressively. And if I make 25 mistakes in a row, so be it. I'm also not giving him any rhythm. He was very, very good for me and for our whole team that week. It was a fun week. I felt like everyone practiced well. We knew going into that first day on Friday that we had a good shot to come out up 2‑0. I really did believe. Q. Have you noticed who you might be playing in the next round? You might have a rematch with Mahut. JOHN ISNER: I did not know that. He's playing Monaco, right? I didn't even know. Q. What are your thoughts maybe having a rematch out here? JOHN ISNER: That would be a lot of fun. You know, we've played three times, and all of them have been on grass. It's kinda weird since there's only a handful of grass‑court tournaments during the whole year. To play him on a hard court here in the U.S. would be a lot of fun. He really is a good friend of mine. So is Monaco, actually. So whoever I play it's going to be a good match. Q. If I could just go back to the Davis Cup, Jim spoke about your win against Roger, just incredibly strong. Take us through that. How did you orchestrate that so you didn't take your foot off the pedal? JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I mean, you know, I did finish well. In that fourth set it was 2‑All in the fourth and I was down Love‑40. So if I lose that game, you know, there was a very good chance he closes that set out and there is a fifth set. I held that game, and from that point I gained a lot of confidence there. I broke him back, and then I played a great service game to go up 5‑2. So I'm up 5‑2 in the fourth set. I have a break in hand. I might as well go for it. That's what I did, and I connected on every one of those shots and they found the right spot. No nerves or anything, because if I didn't break there, you know, I would have liked my chances serving it out. Q. Didn't you end that match with two outright return of serve winners? JOHN ISNER: Yeah. Q. Does that show you that it's possible? You know, week to week on the tour that you can return to the point where you don't necessarily have to hold your serve every single game to win matches? JOHN ISNER: Yeah, no, absolutely. I've‑‑ you know, I played him twice before and never broke his serve, and then, you know, things started to click for me in that match. So for sure I do have confidence in my return game, and I have the utmost confidence in my service game. So if I can‑‑ you know, if I can play like I did against Roger throughout the course of the year, I should do pretty well. Q. Break down the tie against France, if you would wrap up on Davis Cup? JOHN ISNER: Um, well, I know they're playing it in Monte‑Carlo, and I think it's a slower clay court. Obviously it's sea level. They didn't want to put it in altitude, because Switzerland was a little bit of altitude. They didn't want to put it indoors because they saw we were a pretty tough team in those conditions. It's gonna to be challenging. The thing for them that they have, you know, to their advantage is they're very, very deep. They can throw a number of guys at us. So depending on the matchups or whatever, you know, it will be interesting. Obviously most likely it will be myself and Mardy and the Bryan brothers. We're not as deep, so they know what we're gonna bring out that there. We don't necessarily know what they're going to bring at us. Q. What is your best memory in Roland Garros? JOHN ISNER: Roland Garros? Q. Yeah. JOHN ISNER: That match against Rafa last year. Even though I lost, that was a pretty‑‑ it was fun to play him, be on that court for that long and give him a tough battle. That was a lot of fun. Q. Do you expect to see Tsonga in singles in Davis Cup? JOHN ISNER: I don't‑‑ I mean, I have no clue, but if I had to, you know, bet or anything, I would imagine he would be there. He's playing well this year, and his game, he can play on any surface because he's just very good, simple as that. So I would guess I would be a little bit surprised if he didn't, if one of us didn't see him on that first day. Q. Do you still follow college tennis? JOHN ISNER: Yeah. Q. (Indiscernible.) JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I follow it a lot. I think it's very tough, and I think the level is very strong going on right now, just as it was when I was playing. We had I guess the two guys that have done the best from my years, myself and Kevin Anderson. He's in the top 30 in the world, so college tennis has produced some very good players. You know, I think that, you know, it's gonna continue to do that. You know, I think kids nowadays are going that route, at least for one or two years, and then maybe then trying out the pro tour. I think going to college when you're 18 years old, it definitely can't hurt you. You have a lot of time to play pro tennis. Q. Talk about Wil Spencer for a minute, please. JOHN ISNER: Yeah, well, he's Georgia's No. 1 guy. He's playing‑‑ I think he's top 5 in the country right now and he's a very good player? I know Coach Diaz and Will Glenn have a lot of confidence in him. And Georgia as a team, it's gonna be tough this year because the tournament is in Athens. If anybody's ever‑‑ that's one of the best events you could ever go to, to be honest. It's just awesome. The weather is perfect, and, you know, 5,000, 6,000 people come out for a college tennis match, drinking beer and tailgating. It makes for a great atmosphere. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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