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ROLAND GARROSMay 25, 2014John IsnerPARIS, FRANCE J. ISNER/P. Herbert THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please. Q. Nice match. JOHN ISNER: Thanks. Q. That kid had never played a Grand Slam match. What did you think? JOHN ISNER: Is that right? Well, his serve is very good, actually. I thought he served pretty well today, but, you know, so did I. You know, I have won a lot of matches like that. I think I could have played a little better out there. But all in all, I'm happy to get through and try to keep improving. Q. How tough is it when there is 10,000 people that really, really want him to win? JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I mean, I was, you know, playing against him and the crowd. It's very tough, because any time he got a little bit of a look, the place erupted, you know. So he was able to feed off of that energy a little bit. But for the most part I guess I kept him kind of subdued a little. It's tough. It's not easy playing ‑‑I mean, yeah, maybe his ranking is not that good, but it's not a easy draw playing a French wildcard. It's a huge match for him. I knew it was going to be tough. Q. You obviously have played a lot of SEC team sports, North American sports, whatever. Do you wish there was more sort of a home‑and‑away aspect to tennis always? Most of the time you're playing people in essentially like a neutral venue. And do you sort of wish you had more of the good and bad and both ways? JOHN ISNER:  No, I mean, I don't think ‑‑I don't think it can be changed obviously. But when you play a Frenchman here, you know you're going to have the crowd against you. It's very different if I was playing a Brazilian or something like that. It's just one of those things. It's fun. It was a good atmosphere to play in front of, you know. But when we play in the States in our big tournaments we have the crowd on our side, so it's a little bit of give and take. I have played Ferrer in Madrid, you know, the other, three tournaments ago or whatever. He had a lot of support on his side. It's fun playing in an atmosphere like that, especially when the crowd is, yeah, they don't want you to win, but they're a very, very good crowd. Q. What tournament do you think offers the biggest home court advantage? JOHN ISNER: I mean, I feel like these, the French crowds really gets behind their guys here. I think Murray has a nice advantage at Wimbledon. But, I mean, he's really been their only guy though, so if you're up against him. But anyway, they have some guys coming up maybe. But up against him, if you play him at Wimbledon you're up against a lot more than just him. Q. Three tight sets but three sets nonetheless. You have had some long matches here, couple five setters last year. Talk about getting through these early rounds, the energy. JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I know. It's good. You guys know that match. I could easily still be out on that court right now. But very happy that I'm not. Winning in three sets is pretty crucial in an event like this. But, you know, I was one of the, you know, handful of matches that was on the Sunday start, so I believe I have two days off. So regardless of whether it was four or five or three, I mean, I'm pretty sure I'll be ready come Wednesday. Q. Are you playing doubles here? JOHN ISNER: No. Q. Tomorrow's schedule came out and Rafa is on Lenglen. I don't need to tell what you his record is here. How does that strike you? JOHN ISNER: Yeah. That's really bizarre. I mean, how many times does the guy have to win the tournament to be able to have his first match on Chatrier? (Laughter.) I think, no offense to Stan, but, you know, if you look at it, figured they'd be flip‑flopped. But I don't think Rafa really cares that much. He's just going to go out there and try to win. I know he's playing Robby, super good friend of mine. I believe Robby got up at 8:00 in the morning to hit on Chatrier this morning. (Laughter.) And he's not playing on there, so... I don't know. A court is a court. Given the old Hoosiers talk, it's all the same. Q. What would your advice be to Robby? JOHN ISNER: You've just got to believe. It's such a tough matchup. Beating Rafa at this tournament, it's only happened one time. What is he, he's 60 and 1 or something like that. Robby can do some things that can disrupt Rafa a little bit. He's going to have to play aggressive and take the ball early, which he loves to do, anyways. So hopefully Robby can go out there and sort of sink his teeth in the match a little bit and start to get some belief, but you never know. He's gonna go out there and gonna enjoy it. Q. Sorry to use the N word, but got Nicolas Mahut possibly on the horizon. What's the most bizarre incident you've had post‑match or strangest question or relating to Nicolas in the marathon match that you had? JOHN ISNER: Playing him in the first round the very next year was absolutely bizarre and the year after that I had match points to play him in the second round and I lost. We always seem to get near each other when it comes around this time of year, but I'm 100% pulling for him. I would love to play him at this event, crowd on his side. He's such a good guy, so I'm always rooting for him to win. Q.  Speaking of Robby, I think the last U.S. guy to get to the second week, I think it was like four years ago. You talked before the season about how you needed to be aggressive, you needed to win in straight sets in early rounds. For you, being as big as you, how absolutely crucial is that? JOHN ISNER: It is. It's very crucial. When I get in these long, drawn‑out matches and I'm grinding with these guys and playing four or five sets, it takes a lot bigger toll on me than it does really anybody else, I believe, because I'm the heaviest guy on tour, as well. You know, just as it is for anyone, how you want to try to get through in three sets it's even more imperative for me. So it was a good start. Q. Just wanted to ask physically, how are you doing at this tournament? Your knee, you had some tape and some talk about a back injury, as well. No? JOHN ISNER: No. No back injury. I don't know where that came from. But, no, the knee, it's fine. It looks a lot worse than it is. It looks like I have a hospital on my knee. It's all just preventive stuff and doesn't hinder me in any way. I could have full range of motion and everything. I guess, really, it's more of a mental thing for me with all the tape on my knee. But I feel pretty good. Q.  Could you just give me your idea on the state of American men's tennis at the moment. JOHN ISNER: Yeah, it's not that great right now. Certainly been better. But, you know, at the same time there's still a god amount of guys in this tournament. You know, I think the guys behind me all have the capability to get their ranking a lot higher and in particular Sam and Jack and guys like Steve. Sam just won. You know, he's had a rough go at it, rough go, for his standards, the past year I would say, but wins like that are big for his confidence. So hopefully Sam can ‑‑he's a lot better than his ranking. I think there is a lot of American guys that are a lot better than their ranking. It's up to them to go out there and keep playing hard. Q. What do you think about the new tennis center that the USTA is planning for Orlando? Do you think it's a good idea? I mean, it looks like most of the better players are usually the players that come out of their hometown with, you know, coaches there and stuff. JOHN ISNER: Yeah. I actually didn't know ‑‑I just found out the other day they are building it. Is it like ready? Q. No, they are just starting it. It will be like a hundred courts. There won't be any grass, but it will basically be the home of ‑‑they are moving out of Boca when it's built. I think there will still be a minor presence in Carson. JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I don't know. It's really not for me to say. I probably won't be there too much even though I live pretty close by to Orlando. Who knows? Maybe it will be a very good thing; maybe not. I don't know. Q. College tennis was mentioned a little while ago. Obviously you played for many years. Could you just ‑‑your collegiate rival, USC, has been an incredible run. Can you comment on that run? What are your thoughts? JOHN ISNER: No, it's incredible. It really is. Five Championships in six years. It's certainly a dynasty right there. Yeah, I like Peter Smith a lot, and Steve always gives me some s‑h‑i‑t about USC winning all these titles, and I have nothing to say. But I think Georgia and Manny are going to be back. Certainly USC is top of the ladder with college tennis. I think what they have done is amazing. Q. You talked about home court advantages on the tour. Could you compare all those, Murray's Wimbledon and French players here. Could you compare that to Athens and UGA, how does the Athens home court compare? JOHN ISNER: The venue for college tennis is pretty big, even though it may not be as big as some of these courts we play on. You know, when I was there, having that crowd on our side was a very big advantage. A lot of students with kegs in the parking lot. It's different. I have always said playing in Athens in a NCAA tournament was one of the best atmospheres I have ever, ever played in. And anyone who's ever played in that atmosphere, whether it was for Georgia or against Georgia, said it was unbelievable, and that's exactly what it is. Q. I'm wondering, as somebody who chose college, if a junior, who is kind of trying to decide about going out on the tour and going in the futures or choosing college and asked your advice, what kind of advice would you tell them to help make that decision either way? JOHN ISNER: I mean, I think college for any kid, especially American kids, is at the very minimum to go for one or two years would be a very, very beneficial. I mean, you look at the tour now, it's changed. There aren't many 19‑year‑olds, and probably there are none in this tournament; is that right? There's one, okay. It doesn't happen very often right now where you have teenagers and even 20‑year‑olds doing huge, huge things on tour. So going to college, even if you are an unbelievable talent I think for one or two years I think would be a good choice. Q. I just wanted to ‑‑you talked about playing on clay. You're the biggest guy on the tour. Talk to me about how important footwork is out there. JOHN ISNER: Yeah, it's very important. The more you play on clay and the more matches you win, just as any surface, you just start to get more confident, especially for me, when I'm most confident, that's when I'm moving my best and playing my best. You know, you can practice on it all you want, but the best practice you can get is match practice. I feel pretty good right now, and actually been playing pretty decent. I thought I played well last year and serving for a match, didn't win, but didn't bother me too much because I played well and played okay out there today. So footwork for me is very important, and it will get better my next round. Q. Wondering how, you talking about wanting to play better, having done better in the U.S., how would you evaluate this swing for you so far? JOHN ISNER: You know, I didn't light it up, but it's tough. You know, I did pretty well in Madrid. I had a tough loss in Rome, and I had a lot of time off before my next match. But, you know, this tournament is the big one. You know, it's what you come over here for. So far it's been average, at best, but it can definitely get a lot better, and that's up to me. Q. What's the highest you think you've ever been able to kick your second serve? Can you bounce it over a standard fence on a tennis court? JOHN ISNER: Yeah. Yeah, on clay, sometimes it can hit sort of a spot on the clay and make it bounce up even higher. I bet I have hit some serves that have gone up 10 feet, 10, 12 feet in the air, kick serves. It's nice to have that on my side. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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