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BNP PARIBAS OPENMarch 15, 2012John IsnerINDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA J. ISNER/G. Simon THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How satisfying is that? JOHN ISNER: It's pretty satisfying. I don't feel like I played my best. I mean, I don't think Gilles did, either. So we're both kind of fighting that the whole match. My coach, C.B., said it wasn't a Picasso out there, but I found a way to get it done. The conditions sort of caught me off guard. The ball is flying a lot, a lot, lot more than I thought it would. I thought it would be deader at night. I thought it was the opposite. So it was tough. Q. You're in your second consecutive Masters semi now, going back to Paris also, and you've just sort of made more and moreroutine ‑‑ well, you haven't played anybody ranked above you. You're taking care of business very well now. Do you feellike you can step it up to go to Djokovic next or... JOHN ISNER: Oh, absolutely. I mean, to beat that guy, you know, you have to be on top of your game no matter who you are. The same goes for me. I'm gonna have to obviously serve well and take my chances after that. So it's gonna be one of the toughest matches I'll ever play, obviously, because he's No. 1 in the world. I have a day to kind of sit on it. I have doubles tomorrow. But, you know, hopefully I'll come out on Saturday and out together a good match and take it to him as best I can. Q. What's your memory of the Davis Cup match two years ago? I know it was on clay, but you guys both have probably improved since then. Talk about that. JOHN ISNER: Well, he's improved. We both have, like you said. I think he was No. 3 at the time when I played him. His second serve was a bit of a liability when I played him, but he's obviously improved that and obviously improved everything. That was a match where I played pretty well. Actually, I played well and I competed very well. It was a fun atmosphere. The same goes for him. He competed very well. He was the better man on that day. I believe that's the last time we played. So, yeah, I mean, I feel like I'm a lot better player, you know, since that match, too. We'll see how it goes. Q. Gilles broke your serve at the beginning of the match. Did that surprise you? JOHN ISNER: No. I played him at the US Open and first game of the match he broke me; same thing happened tonight. I don't know if it's something‑‑ you know, maybe I should have been more active in the warmup or something, but I kinda wasn't really ready right at the get‑go. Fortunately for me I was able to come back in that first set. But, no, it didn't surprise me at all. I knew he was going to get his racquet on a lot of balls, especially right from the beginning, and, you know, make a lot of balls. Q. How important will the win over Federer be going into a match like this now in a match like this with Djokovic? JOHN ISNER: I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. It probably will help me a bit. I'm normally a pretty confident guy as it is. You know, going into that Federer match I had never beaten a guy like him or Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, any of those guys. But I still took the court that day believing I could win. Like I said, I'm a pretty confident guy as it is. I think it will help me a bit. You know, I know that I havethe game that can disrupt a lot of players, and especially the top players in the game. So it's about me going out there and trying to put it together. Q. Clearly your serve is your biggest weapon, but Novak probably returns better than anybody in the world. What's the key for you serving? JOHN ISNER: Served very well. I remember I played him in Beijing. I think it was 2010. You know, I felt like I was serving well, and he was making every return within this far from the baseline. His anticipation, his hands, everything, it's just world class. I mean, arguably the absolute best in the world. I'm gonna have to serve well, hit my spots, and have to serve smart. After that, I'm going to have to back it up with some very good shots, especially on my forehand. So a lot of things are going to have to go well for me on Saturday, you know, if I have a chance to beat him. Q. Can you talk about the second set? JOHN ISNER: Yeah, it just got away from me. I justwas making wild errors, especially on my forehand side. But that's what he does. He sort of doesn't really play necessarily offense. He kind of baits you. And because he's so fast, I guess players feel like they have to go for more or kind of go for the lines more. I knew going into this match I was going to make mistakes, but that second set was not pretty at all. It got away from me really, really quick. I knew no matter if I lost that set 6‑1 like I did or 7‑6 whatever it be, I'm still going to have a very good shot in the third set. Q. What do you do to try to get yourself... JOHN ISNER: Hold my serve. I was serving first. Just, you know, trying to stay ahead. And. I can do that, if I can hold my serve, then at worst I can get it to a tiebreaker. That almost happened tonight, but it didn't. I mean, fortunately for me it didn't. I won it at 7‑5. I just tried to stay as focused as possible on my serve in that third set. Q. Considering you're in the doubles semifinal as well, does this rank up there as one of the better events of your year? JOHN ISNER: Yeah, absolutely. Played seven matches and won all of them. Sam and I are playing pretty well, and we've won all of our matches in three sets. We play some guys tomorrow that actually cleaned our clocks in Memphis, so it will be good. I think Sam and I, if we play well, we're gonna have a shot to win. Q. Speaking of you and Sam, both of you guys have been in Belgrade a couple times, including the all‑American final a few years ago. Are you planning to go back to the Serbian Open? JOHN ISNER: That's something I'm not quite sure of yet. I know my schedule is very busy. So if I had to say right now, probably not, just because that's a 250 week. You know, that's something where if I'm gonna be in Europe on the clay, probably be in the bigger events such as the Masters. I think there is three of them over there that I plan on playing. Q. You will play Monte‑Carlo then? JOHN ISNER: I've never played that. I think I'm entered. Am I entered? Okay, I'm entered. Yeah, I'm going there. I will be there twice in three weeks; play Davis Cup there. Q. You're not going to stay over? JOHN ISNER: I'm playing Houston. I love that tournament. Q. Nadal and Marc Lopez have gotten through the draw pretty easily meeting a number of established doubles teams. Any surprise they've been able to team up a couple times? JOHN ISNER: No. Q. Why? JOHN ISNER: Rafa is the X factor. Marc, I have played him a couple times in doubles. He's savvy and does a lot of things, but I think when you have Rafa on your team he just does so many things that it forces guys to go for bigger shots. I was just watching on the TV. Seems like couple deuce points the guys double faulted to Rafa just because they have so much respect for him. It's tough when can get his racquet on the ball in doubles with that forehand, because he runs around the backhand and hits the forehand, it's no surprise at all. Hopefully Sam and I can get a shot at them. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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