Isner inches past Djokovic

John Isner inched past world number one Novak Djokovic in the Cincinnati Quarter-finals 7-6 (5), 3-6, 7-5.

While the American iches past Novak quite easily height wise, career wise and game wise the two are very far apart. But the fast hard courts of Cincinnati are prime for Isner to get a win over the Serbian, his huge serve and forehand more advantageous than anywhere else. And there is the home court advantage, too. Just as Isner makes the most of his height to bolt down those huge serves, he makes the most of the home court crowd, too, with some of his biggest successes coming on home soil.

The match started out unsurprisingly. That Isner should take the first set is no shock, being as he is a king of tiebreaks. Djokovic’ s comeback to take the second set did not raise any eyebrows either. After all, who comes back better than the most aggressive defender in the game?

No, it was the manner of the third set that shocked and pleased the crowd, and upset Novak. At 5-6, Djokovic serving to stay in the match, Isner played perhaps the best return game he ever has in a big match. The American is infamous for losing tight final setters, his return game too flabby in contrast to his supremely toned service one. But he has clearly been working out his return, and his defense, too.

At 40-15 Djokovic, Isner hit a winning running forehand down the line passing shot. At 40-30, the American kept the margins for error high, hitting the return into the middle of the court. He then charged in on a short ball to take time away from Djokovic and force a backhand error. At deuce, the pressure on Djokovic, who subconsciously may have been thinking back to the final set tiebreaker he lost to Isner in Indian Wells ’12, was too much, which is quite something for a man who has made a career out of absorbing pressure and then releasing it with the free hitting fearlessness of a player with nothing to lose. The Serbian attacked, moving into the court and striking a backhand down the line, his instincts as fearless as ever, but Isner got the ball back in play and Djokovic faltered, hitting a routine cross-court backhand into the net. Down match point, Djokovic did what he does best, hitting a clutch ace down the tee. But back at deuce, he faltered again, serving a double fault to help Isner out in what is considered his weakest department, breaking serve in critical moments. On his second match point, Isner got a look on a second serve. This time though Isner hit another return down the middle of the court, playing it safe, and Djokovic hit another backhand into the net. The match was Isner’s.

Isner gave a wry smile to his box from under his cap. This was what he had been working on, putting on the pressure on his opponent’s serve at the business end of a big match. The quarters of a Masters on home turf less than a fortnight before the start of the US Open, your home slam, against the world number one on a bid to win the one Masters title to elude him, is as big as Isner is tall. And a return game like that will give him the experience and confidence to make it through the next match at a Major when matters get tight in the fifth, another advantage for a man who seems to be learning how to make effective use of the ones belonging to him.