john-isner Page index.xml - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Ben Shelton feels limitless
There’s been a lament, until recently, that on the men’s side American tennis just had a ceiling. And that ceiling wasn’t anywhere close to winning a Grand Slam. Which is a little unfair to Andy Roddick, who without the existence of Roger Federer would have been a multi-Wimbledon champion and probab...
Get to the net, Taylor Fritz!
American tennis, on the men’s side, has been a desolate wasteland for over 20 years now, pretty much. Since Andy Roddick took the U.S. Open in 2003 and then spent the rest of his career getting clubbed by Roger Federer in the biggest matches of his career, no Yank has taken a major. No Yank has even...
This Ball Was Called In Then Out Then In
John Isner had his second match point over Jordan Thompson, at 6-5 in the third-set tiebreak of their Rogers Cup match, when a Thompson forehand landed somewhere near the left sideline, well out of Isner’s reach. There was no call from the linespeople or ump; Isner used his last remaining challenge....
Will Justin Gimelstob's Violent History Ever Make Him A Tennis Pariah?
Justin Gimelstob—the former tennis player and current coach, Tennis Channel commentator, ATP board member, and owner of a television production company who infamously weathered a shitstorm of his own making back in 2008 for being a sexist dick—is one of the most powerful people in tennis. For years...
Huge American Servebot Reilly Opelka Will Render John Isner Obsolete<em></em>
John Isner, the leading American man in tennis, has a simple calling card: being 6-foot-10 and serving bombs. He’s the most prominent purveyor of the American Man Style of tennis: giant delivery, giant forehand, full stop. That’s been enough to make him a top-20 fixture, a historically successful h...
Wimbledon Weenies Finally Make A Little Progress With New Fifth-Set Tiebreak Rule
In order to solve the problem of damagingly long and pointless marathon men’s matches at Grand Slams—like this year’s men’s semifinal between Kevin Anderson and John Isner, which lasted a painful six and a half hours, including a three-hour fifth set which Anderson eventually took 26-24—Wimbledon br...
Kevin Anderson Hopped Off His Butt, Put The Racket In His Off Hand, And Survived
Some tennis, like the ongoing Nadal-Djokovic semifinal at Wimbledon, is so clean and crisp that it makes you want to get out on a court and whale on some balls. Other tennis might cause you to enter the fetal position and stay there for a long time—hypothetically speaking, six hours and 36 minutes. ...
Let's Watch This Never-Ending Monstrosity Together: Your Hastily Made Anderson-Isner Wimbledon Liveblog
It would be difficult to endorse the ongoing John Isner vs. Kevin Anderson Wimbledon semifinal as a sports-viewing experience, per se—maybe more as a masochistic endurance sport. It’s been over four-and-a-half hours. Serves are big. Points are short. When they are not, they are not exactly ... good,...
Wimbledon's Tall Men Semifinal Might Be Dull, But Don't Miss A Novak-Rafa Classic
Back by popular demand, Various Tall Men have thrived once again at the Wimbledon Championships: Kevin Anderson and John Isner will face off in a men’s semifinal. The universe is stupid and cruel, so it is not possible to rule out the outcome that Isner will win that match, then serve 120-something ...
Two Of Tennis's Best Young Guns Dismantled A Pair Of Hard-Serving Robots
Both Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev, the two most promising players aged 21 or under, survived their third-round tests yesterday against two aging serve-bots. Neither win came easy. When your competition moves around the court with the grace of a mannequin but can still regularly whoop 130 mph ac...
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Beats John Isner After 36-Game Final Set
John Isner, whose 2010 match against Nicolas Mahut was the longest in history, faced another marathon today at Wimbledon against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga—and came out on the losing end, this time, 6-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 19-17 as the Frenchman overcame a double fault in the decisive game to beat the American....
This Is The Meanest Canada Has Ever Been To Anybody
After talking shit about Stan Wawrinka’s girlfriend last night, Nick Kyrgios took on John Isner in the third round of the Rogers Cup today. The crowd in Montreal was well aware of his comments, and booed him when he walked onto the court. Kyrgios lost to Isner in two sets, and fans gave an encore as...
Here's American Tennis Player John Isner Captured As A Nifty, Janky Shadow
Every now and then you run across a photo so distinct it reminds you that when photographers cover an event such as, say, the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championship, they like writers can grow weary of saying the same thing first once and then again, on repeat, on and on....
Stories That Don't Suck: SportsFeat's Guide To Wimbledon
A quick primer on SportsFeat: Every day, we post great sports writing from across the web, both new stuff and classics. A companion to Longform.org, the site is designed to be used with services like Instapaper and Read It Later, so you can read the stories later on your phone, iPad or Kindle. You c...
Last Night's Winner: The Man Who Feasted On John Isner's Dessicated Corpse
In sports, everyone is a winner—some people just win better than others. Like unseeded Thiemo De Bakker, who was granted a rare Wimbledon bye by being matched up with the injured, exhausted Isner....
Wimbledon Live Blog Devolves Into Poetry And Madness
Xan Brooks is an editor for The Guardian who was tasked with what would appear to be a pleasant two-week assignment: Live blogging Wimbledon. Then Isner-Mahut happened. Come join him on his descent into hell....
How Should We Resolve The Isner-Mahut Stalemate?
If there's one thing we learned today, it's this: John Isner and Nicolas Mahut have exactly the same amount of tennis skill. But that still doesn't solve the problem of how to end their ridiculous grudge match....
The Longest Tennis Match Ever Is Happening Right Now (Update: Suspended For Darkness)
John Isner and Nicolas Mahut are currently mired in a fifth-set 46-46 tie; the match is in its seventh hour. ESPN2 just cut back to the World Cup. Follow the action at SBNation or the Guardian's liveblog. Or turn on ESPNU....
Chauvinist Tennis Player Not Too Young To Admire Bobby Riggs
Fourth-round U.S. Open loser John Isner says the No. 1 female tennis player in the world couldn't beat the 700 or 800th best man. You've come a long way, baby....