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SONY ERICSSON OPENMarch 22, 2012John IsnerMIAMI, FLORIDA THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Olympics, if I can ask you a couple of questions. How big a priority for you this year? JOHN ISNER: It's a very big priority. It's my first Olympic Games, I did not participate in Beijing in 2008, so it's something that's going to be very new to me. As far as, you know, as for right now, I'm not ‑‑ there are so many big events until then. As it nears, I'm going to be for sure gearing up towards that event. The goal is there to try to medal for our country. Looks like I will be playing singles and doubles, and I'd like to play mixed doubles. Q. Would you? JOHN ISNER: Yeah. I have to try and hawk one of the Williams sisters. Q. How much fun do you think that would be? Mixed is new to the Games. What do you think about that? JOHN ISNER: I think it would be a lot of fun, especially with one of those girls on my side. Q. What do you think the Olympics and Wimbledon is going to be like? JOHN ISNER: I mean, I'm not sure what to expect. I mean, they're going to obviously do their best to get that grass ready four weeks after? Three‑and‑a‑half weeks? It's going to be interesting going back to the same place doing it twice within a month. It will be fun though. Q. You said you wanted to make the top 10 and you're the top‑ranked American. Can you talk about how quickly all that stuff is happening now? Is it surprising at all to you, or not? JOHN ISNER: No, it's not surprising. I always believed in myself. I didn't really necessarily set a timetable for it. Just if it happens, it happens. And for me, you know, I was having such a good week last week. That put me in the top 10. So, you know, I'm sure during the course of that tournament‑‑ a lot of things went my way, to be honest. So if a couple things didn't go my way I wouldn't be ranked 10 right now. I'd still be shooting for that goal. But now that I am inside the top 10, I want to stay inside the top 10 and I want to go even higher. I really do believe that I have that in me. It's just up to me. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. I feel like I have a good program; I have a good training base where I train in Tampa; I have a great coach. I have all the right pieces in place for me. It's up to me to go get it. Q. James Blake said something yesterday that you get to practice without your shirt on now. He was kind of dreading that. Talk about that bet, that thing, once you're in the top 10 you can go shirtless or something? JOHN ISNER: It's a Saddlebrook rule. James obviously has achieved that, but lucky for him he doesn't necessarily have to take his shirt off because, you know, he's got the good skin color as it is. (Smiling.) But I'm sort of pasty, so I'm going to take full advantage of that, for sure. Like he said, he's going to be trying extra hard to hit me with some of his forehands during practice to welt me up now that my shirt is off. Q. When you turned pro, you right away won a tournament in D.C. Did you think your rise would be quicker after that? Did you sense that you would kind of shoot to the top? JOHN ISNER: Well, I made the finals; I didn't win it. But I definitely‑‑ that tournament was a huge surprise. For me, it was sort of a blessing and a curse, that tournament, because as far as, you know, getting my name out there, it certainly helped, but I got ahead of my learning curve. I've said that a lot. You know, I didn't have the volume, you know, behind me to make such a good run like that. So I was able to get in the main draw of ATP tournaments after virtually five, six months, and then I started taking a lot of losses, which now that I look back on it is not so surprising. I wasn't ready for that level. So I did have to dip back down and, you know, get some wins under my belt; that's what I did. I knew this was going to be a gradual process. I have just always improved as I've gotten older. It's still happening today, even though I'm 26, almost 27. I'm a lot older than people think because I lost‑‑ didn't lose, because I went to college for four years and I wasn't out here on the tour when I was 18. But I still think that for me, my best tennis is ahead of me. That's how it's always been ever since I was playing in juniors. Q. You've talked a lot about being a late bloomer, that the reason you went to college is you really weren't ready at 18 to be on the pro tour. What do you think would have happened if you had done what a lot of kids do and just joined the pro tour? Was that a difficult decision for you, or did you absolutely know you were a college guy? JOHN ISNER: Oh, I was college the whole way. Wasn't really, to be honest, till my junior year that I considered going pro, or made the decision my junior year that, Okay, after college I am going to go pro. After my freshman and sophomore years, I went home to North Carolina and I didn't play any tournaments. I was fishing the whole summer. So obviously I took tennis seriously in college, but I wanted to enjoy my college years. I knew that if I was going to play pro that was the best route for me, because I had the best practice, great coaching; I had everything at my disposal at college, which is why I got so better. So turning pro, up until I was 21, I never even considered it. Q. When you were a freshman or sophomore in college, what do you think you were going to be when you were grew up? JOHN ISNER: Does any freshman or sophomore know what they were going to do after college? I didn't know. Q. What were you majoring in? JOHN ISNER: Communications. Like I said, it was my junior year, and that's when, you know, I don't want to work a normal job. I will go out there and try to play sport for a living. Q. Tennis saved you from sports writing. JOHN ISNER: I could be. I could be. That's something maybe in the future for me, for sure. But for now I know I'm good enough to play at the highest level. It's very nice. Q. Have you ever had pressure to play basketball? JOHN ISNER: Absolutely. Q. How did you do that? JOHN ISNER: Yeah. Q. How did you deal with that? JOHN ISNER: I had to give one sport up when I was 15, and I chose tennis because I thought, in my mind, that that was going to give me the best chance to get a college scholarship at a great tennis school, which is what happened. I went to Georgia, which in my opinion is the best. But when I was 15, if someone would have told me I would have been this tall, I would have stuck with basketball. I could seriously ‑‑ 100% would have stuck with basketball. I didn't know I was going to keep growing and growing and growing. Q. How tall were you at 15? JOHN ISNER: I was 6'2". Next thing you know when I was 19 I was 6'8". So, you know, I grew another inch. I probably grew until I was 22 just out of college. I just kept growing. Q. Is there someone that tall in your family that's 6'8" or 6'9"? JOHN ISNER: Not my height. Certainly my mother is tall; she's 5'11". My brothers are tall, but not like me. They're older. That's why I figured, you know, I'd be maybe around their height, a little taller, whatnot. I just kept growing. Q. Do you ever see your yourself as a basketball player? I mean, do you ever watch basketball and say... JOHN ISNER: Yeah, and I don't want to‑‑ I thought I was pretty good, too. To be honest, I was a pretty good player. That's why it was a very tough decision for me, because I was also doing well at tennis. But I don't know how well I would have done. Probably not as well as I'm doing in tennis. I think I made the right choice. Q. You following the tournament now? JOHN ISNER: The NCAA tournament? Oh, yeah, I'm following it. Q. Did you pick Lehigh in your bracket? JOHN ISNER: No, I did not pick any of that. My bracket‑‑ if Ohio State wins it then I have a shot to win some of the pools. Ohio State, Kansas, Kentucky, and Missouri. That's obviously not gonna happen. But now that I'm ‑‑ pretty much my dad, uncle, brother went to NC State, so I'm pulling for the Wolfpack now. Q. Why did you feel you had to give up one sport at 15? A lot of kids play multiple sports. JOHN ISNER: The schedule conflicted too much. It was one of those things that if I was going to be on a team‑‑ you know, there were so many big tournaments to play that if I played them and also played basketball, I was going to miss a lot of practice and miss a lot of games. I don't think that's something that, you know, that would be good for a team. I did it‑‑ I played, you know, AAU basketball when I was younger and I missed a lot of, you know, even some tournaments and a lot of practices, a lot of games because of tennis tournaments. If I wanted to take my tennis more seriously, I had to sort of focus just on that. Q. Coming off Indian Wells, how well are you feeling with your confidence and having a couple days off and then coming into here? JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I'm certainly confident. I have been confident all year. I ended 2011 very well, I thought, especially the last five months, six months, whatever. So, you know, the result at Indian Wells for me wasn't surprising, to be honest. I felt like I had it in me. You know, coming here it's a tough turnaround. It's always been tough for me adjusting to the different conditions here, because in my opinion they're the polar opposite of Indian Wells. It's very dry out there. Although it can get hot it's not humid, and the humidity sort of is tough for me to adjust to after Indian Wells. So my first match tomorrow is obviously very important. I have a very tough match. If I can get that one under my belt, then, you know, I'll be feeling good after that. I know tomorrow is going to be extra tough. Q. Can you talk about what Wimbledon did for you? JOHN ISNER: Ah, it wore me out. Are you talking about two years ago? Yeah, it wore me out. Q. Your confidence... JOHN ISNER: No, I don't know if I gained any confidence from it. After that I struggled quite a bit. I hurt my ankle. I was just worn out. So I kinda had to‑‑ I had to rebuild after that. You know, it wasn't something that gave me so much confidence, you know. But it was certainly something that I wouldn't trade for anything. It was a special moment and a special three days. Q. Will that match always be there when you go back to Wimbledon? JOHN ISNER: Yeah, there's a plaque on the court. It's not leaving. My name will forever be etched. Same with Nicolas' name. Our names will forever be etched in Wimbledon lore, and especially on that court, because that plaque will always be there. Q. How much mixed doubles have you played? JOHN ISNER: Not much. I've played Hopman Cup. I played that event twice, and that's it. Q. Do you think it will be fun? JOHN ISNER: It's fun to serve as hard as I can against the women sometimes. (Laughter.) I remember I played ‑‑ in the finals I played against Justine Henin, and I aced her about 15 times. She was on the deuce side and obviously she has unbelievable returns, but she's also kind of small. I kept hitting the serve out wide (laughter.) If I ever get the chance to play for Olympic gold, I'm not going to take it easy. Q. You play with Venus and you'll make her look short. JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I would. I make a lot of people look short. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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