It was John Isner who stopped Juan Martin Del Potro one match short of a berth in the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals. Will it be Isner who prevents Del Potro from capturing the Indian Wells-Miami Sunshine Double?
The Argentine, who is coming off consecutive titles in Acapulco and Indian Wells while enjoying a current 15-match winning streak, is now set for a Miami Open semifinal showdown against Isner on Friday. Del Potro leads the head-to-head series 6-3, but Isner has won three of their last five meetings after most recently prevailing 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4 at the Paris Masters last fall. They previously faced each other in 2017 at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, where Del Potro improved to 4-1 lifetime against Isner on outdoor hard courts by getting the job done 7-5, 7-5.
Nobody–not just Isner–has found much success against Del Potro of late. The world No. 6 went 20-5 in his last 25 matches during the 2017 campaign and he is 21-3 so far this season. Del Potro beat three top-10 opponents (Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev, and Kevin Anderson) in Acapulco, upset Roger Federer in the Indian Wells final, and has advanced so far in Miami with victories over Robin Haase, Kei Nishikori, Filip Krajinovic, and Milos Raonic–the latter in a 5-7, 7-6(1), 7-6(3) thriller on Wednesday night.
“I always think this may be my last match (of the tournament), so I put in a lot of effort to give myself a chance to win,” Miami’s fifth seed commented. “I’m pleased with my level of tennis and all my success, but of course I’d like to reach the final.”
“Del Potro is playing the best tennis in the world right now,” Isner praised. “I don’t think that can be argued.”
Arguably no one, however, has been better than Isner so far this fortnight. The 6’10” American dropped one set to Jiri Vesely in his opener while struggling with an apparent groin issue, but he picked up the pace to take down Mikhail Youzhny, Marin Cilic, and Hyeon Chung in straight sets while playing only one tiebreaker–and winning it 7-0 over Cilic.
“This is actually the best I’ve moved all year,” Isner said following his 6-1, 6-4 quarterfinal rout of Chung on Wednesday afternoon. “That’s not working harder, or training harder off the court; that’s just from me being more confident on the court. More than anything it’s all between the ears…. The way I (have) played this week is a lot of fun.”
The world No. 17’s previous struggles (a 2-6 record this season prior to Miami) kept him well-rested for this fortnight, whereas his opponent is clearly running on fumes. Del Potro cannot expect to get the same kind of service gifts in the semis that he got from Raonic in the two tiebreakers and early in the third set. Isner has been broken just once in his last three matches and has faced only one break point in his last two outings. Moreover, his favorite shots are a kick serve out wide to the backhand side and an inside-out forehand–both of which exploit Del Potro’s weaker side.
This will undoubtedly be competitive, but a fresher Isner should have an easier time coming up with the goods on serve during the latter stages of each set.
Pick: Isner in 2
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Love it!!! Even the commentators didn’t know what to say! They thought Delpo had it all the way! So happy for Isner!
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Delpo get dominated from the baseline like he did in that first set.
Isner’s play in this match reminded me of how he played against Rafa at the Laver Cup. Except this time the match actually counted for something…
Joe Smith, USO 2nd set. He was bageled by Nadal.
Delpo could have helped himself by hanging on to his serve which would have made Isner less confident in going full blast on every serve especially as Isner’s ROS wasn’t great. Delpo gave up in the middle of the 1st set.
Tennis is a sport which we are widely entertained by. The ball doesn’t care what your ranking is or your political affiliation. Not sure how politics fits into that scenario. But whatever. Delpo was tired and Isner played that to his advantage. Shoulda, coulda, woulda’s don’t matter either. If the roles were reversed, Delpo would have done the same. Isner played great, Delpo lost, end of story.
Isner was so good.
Vicki Hensley-
You’re right- I shouldn’t care that John Isner is a die-hard Trump lover, and I truly wish I were capable of being able to ignore it. But the truth is that I just can’t help it! I’ve tried to ignore this about people like Isner, CoCo, and Harrison, but just ignoring that I think they are morally bankrupt in some ways is not possible for me. It’s not even remotely a political thing for me- it’s strictly moral…
But also, I’ve just never liked John Isner’s game at all. The very few times in his career where he’s played like he did against Del Po, he was awesome! I don’t understand why he hardly ever plays like that. It’s not even necessarily the ace-fest that I dislike. It’s the lack of aggression, and willingness to really take it to his opponent. Maybe this will be some sort of breakout moment for him? We shall see. From the perspective that he has had a pretty long career now, and has come close to winning Masters titles before but always came up against a Big 4 guy, he would certainly be very deserving of a Masters title tomorrow…
Well said Kevin. All of the above. Straight white privileged male supporting Trump hate. Tom Brady a Trump fan also. Really.
I think Vicky might be Isner’s mom or aunt lol.
In all seriousness, what bugs me most about Isner besides the one dimensional nature of his game is his inconsistency that ends up making him nothing but a spoiler that takes away great matchups. I’d much rather see a Delpo Zverev final than Isner.
Kevin, I think it’s a long road to nowhere if you think like that. Dislike Isner’s game if you want (you’ve got plenty of company including me), but I don’t think you should dislike a 2nd tier player because he happens to support a moronic President. For one, even if Trump’s former opponent isn’t a moron (she definitely isn’t), she’s still (in my book) a warmonger and a corporate tool. Lots of people were proud to support and admired her, and not just because she was Trump’s opponent. They were wrong imo, even if she was the lesser of two evils.
If we look around more widely, many much more famous and accomplished people have done much worse than Isner. A notable one is John Lennon, who I idolized in my youth, and of whose music I’m a huge fan. Nevertheless, Lennon was a violent thug for much of his life, particularly to women. He beat them up regularly, by his own admission, and could easily be compared to Floyd Mayweather in that respect (Lennon was probably worse). He also once beat the hell out of his good friend and early Beatles bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, which may have had a role in his early death, according to a credible biography I once read.
Very few great sportspersons are like Muhammad Ali. Most these days are more like Michael Jordan, all about the money and averse to voicing any political opinion. Federer certainly falls into that camp. When someone like Colin Kaepernick comes along, I think they should be praised, but in general I wouldn’t criticize someone like Isner.
Morally bankrupt, what a hypocrite.
Most of this people you are criticizing are better than you are in so many ways including morally, look at mirror my friend and stop being a blind hypocrite.
The men’s side of this tournament has seen more giants into the late stages than I can ever remember. If Anderson hadn’t been upset by PCB, then Delpo and Zverev would have been the shorties in the SFs.
Incidentally, Raonic is listed at 6’5″ but when he shook hands with 6′ 6″ del Potro after the match, Milos looked at least an inch taller.