John Isner saved his best for Key Biscayne’s last.
Isner captured the biggest title of his career–first at the Masters 1000 level–by outlasting Alexander Zverev 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-4 in the Miami Open championship match on Sunday afternoon. The 32-year-old fired 18 aces and saved all three of the break points he faced before triumphing in two hours and 20 minutes.
“Last but not least I have to thank you guys,” Isner told the fans at the conclusion of his trophy acceptance speech. “This atmosphere was electric. It was unbelievable. You can’t replicate moments like this. I’m towards the latter part of my career; this is the best moment of my career. And you guys made that possible.”
Those is attendance witnessed a little bit of history, and not just for Isner. Sunday marked the final day of the tournament’s Key Biscayne history before it moves off the island to Hard Rock Stadium starting in 2019, and both players did their best to make it a memorable one.
As expected, this showdown was a competitive one from start to finish. Zverev fought off five break points and Isner thwarted one en route to an unsurprising tiebreaker. The 6’10” American led by a mini-break early, but it was Zverev who seized a sudden mini-break advantage thanks to an Isner double-fault at 4-4. Miami’s fourth seed took care of his next two service points to steal the opening frame of play.
Both men held serve in mostly straightforward fashion through the first eight games of the second, seemingly headed for another tiebreaker. From just about out of nowhere, however, two of the most dramatic games of the contest ensued. Zverev earned a game point on his own serve at 4-4 only to double-fault, shank a forehand, and then watch helplessly as Isner converted break point with a forehand winner off the sideline. But it was not yet smooth sailing to a third set for the world No. 17, who faced two break points himself at 5-4. He saved one when Zverev erred on a backhand pass, survived another by culminating a wild rally with a forehand pass of his own, and eventually clinched the set with a service winner.
From there Isner never relinquished momentum, even though it took him more than a few tries to take control in the third. Zverev escaped one break-point situation at 1-1 and dug out of a 0-40 hole–fighting off four break points in total–at 2-2. But playing with fire soon caught up with the 20-year-old German, who began his 4-4 service game with a double-fault and eventually got broken to 15.
In more typical Isner fashion compared to the difficulty with which he wrapped up the second, the soon-to-be world No. 9 promptly closed out the biggest win of his career at love.
“It’s incredible,” Isner assured. “To come back, as well, after a pretty disappointing first set–a first set I had certainly some chances in and some break points and was serving at 4-3 in the tiebreaker and lost four straight points…. At that point I was actually exhausted. Somewhere along in the second set I found a second wind, and I felt so much better in the second set and the third set than I did in the first set.
“To win like that in front of a crowd like that, with that atmosphere…it was absolutely amazing.”
“I’ll never win here,” Zverev said with a smile when asked what it means for the tournament to be leaving Key Biscayne. “That’s one…. I’m never happy to lose, but if I lose, I’m happy that he won [his] first Masters.”
Highlights:
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congrats, Isner
Loved it!
Very Happy for big Man. I predicted he’ll win the title after I saw the quarters. He deserves a taste of this joy. Tennis will survive after big 4. We need new winners, new names. It shouldn’t be only about the greatest players. The era of big 4 is coming to an end. Anyway, we were lucky enough.
Great final!
Lovely to see the friendship between the two guys and to hear the exceptionally gracious speeches from both of them. Didn’t know that Isner had schooled Zev since he was a 14 year old.
Happy for the Big Dawg…class act!!!
Just saw this video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/3okEWD-Ne-k
I never saw that exho match at the Laver Cup between Isner and Rafa and holy crap Isner was INSANE. When he is confident and relaxed, his groundies are unreal. I mean he is literally firing rockets the whole time in that video. So glad he played at this high level in Miami. He has always been capable of this I just wish he could show it more. I have a really good feeling about his upcoming clay court season. Anyways just wanted to share this video with u guys. Couldn’t just watch it and marvel at it myself 😂
Thanks for this Benny. Isner has always had a fairly well-rounded game; it’s just his monster serve that overwhelms everything else. His ground-stroke technique is good, and he has nice touch on the volley.
Isner’s main problem is his limited mobility, which makes him less consistent than the top guys from the ground. I’ve also been surprised that he always tries to drive the ROS, rarely slicing it back. When he’s on, as he is here against Nadal, it works great. But it leads to a lot of errors when he’s not on.
You didn’t watch the Laver Cup? Did you watch Beijing Open 2017 and saw how Rafa dismantled the same Isner there?
When the big four plus Delpo played their A game, no matter how well Isner played, he’s no match for them! He’s 0-7 vs Rafa and 0-8 vs Murray, that speaks of how he fares vs the big four.
Delpo was obviously gassed and couldn’t play his best in that SF match and Isner could sustain his level throughout the two sets.
AZverev had his chances but he’s too inexperienced and couldn’t stay calm in the third set; I’m certain a top form Delpo would fare better than AZverev against Isner.
Lucky, it wasn’t a shot at Rafa and I wasn’t saying Isner is better or as good as the best when he is on. And I know Rafa at his best beats Isner. I’m just saying Isner not a guy who only hits serves and has no ground game. Also I did watch some of the laver cup but not this particular match and I just didn’t realize what kind of thunderous groundstrokes Isner was capable of until seeing him live in Miami at his final two matches and then seeing this video of him at the Laver Cup.
Benny, you haven’t been watching Isner then! He’s not JUST a servebot! He also has a big FH and his net game is great!
He’s certainly not an easy opponent for anyone! If not he won’t be beating Fed and Djoko (twice each)! I’m sure the big four won’t want to meet Isner anywhere on the tennis court.
I know. Some people only see him as a servebot though and just wanted to show he’s not. Considering you’re a very knowledgeable fan on this site, it doesn’t surprise me that you already know Isner is not as one dimensional as he seems.
Also I did know he can rip his groundies. What I should have said is I didn’t realize he was capable of consistently doing it throughout a match which really impressed me in Miami. I’ve watched a lot of matches of his where he is too tentative with his groundies and I wish he would play more relaxed and aggressive like he is capable of.
I’d like to see the number of winners Isner hit on points from 2-5, 6-9 and 10+ shots. I’m willing to bet that the vast majority came on the shorter points where his serve set up short return put aways allowing him to hit those angles. Basic geometry. Not possible with deep returns regardless who you are.
Also lucky, did you watch Isner this week? Particularly his last two matches… Basically he was ripping winners left and right with both his serve and his groundstrokes and completely deserved the wins. He fought hard and was too good for his opponents. He believed in himself and played with more confidence in big moments than I’ve ever seen from him and it earned him a much deserved maiden masters title. He deserves all the credit for this monumental win. And even more impressive, he accomplished this at 32 years old!
Reminded me of Roddick back in his heyday.
🙂
Haha lowkey true 😂
One thing I find interesting about Isner is how he seems to be able to generate extreme angles from the ground, particularly the inside-out FH. I’m not sure why that should be. Obviously, height gives one a greater ability to hit sharp angles off the serve. But it shouldn’t make any difference off the ground: the ball simply doesn’t bounce high enough off an average ground-stroke to make height an advantage.
J. Isner was amazing, he even wrote “He is Risen” on the camera after he won his first masters, what a nice player and person.
He started the year poorly but he is back.
I hope he wins more titles, he just has to be confident and improve some of his weaknesses.
A. Zverev was really angry 😂, after he lost his serve in the 3rd set 🤣😂🤣, that look and reaction was priceless 😭😭😭😂, I like A. Z but I was with Isner on Sunday, so happy for him.