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Isner speaks to ATPTour.com about his comeback
When American John Isner hurt his left foot in the Miami Open presented by Itau final against Roger Federer, he originally hoped to return in Madrid in the second week of May. But it turned out that the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals qualifier actually broke his foot, and he is first making his return to action at Wimbledon, where he reached the semi-finals last year.

“The expectations are low. Most importantly, it’s about getting out of this tournament healthy because that will give me confidence going forward. I am fully fit, my foot is fully healed. You really never know, but of course you have to get out there eventually and I do believe that I’m healthy now, so I think first and foremost it’s that,” Isner told ATPTour.com Friday with his nine-month-old daughter, Hunter Grace, by his side. “I don’t really know what would be a successful tournament or not. I do know that if I could get some momentum and get comfortable, I can be very, very dangerous. The hard part is going to be trying to establish that momentum and establish that comfort on the court.

“It could just be one match. It could be I lose in the first round and I’m healthy and I’m happy with that as well, so I’ll take whatever comes.”

The hope at first was that Isner would miss between four to six weeks with a stress reaction/fracture. And at the very least, he hoped to be ready for Roland Garros. The early images were inconclusive due to initial inflammation and when Isner found out about five weeks after Miami that he had indeed broken his foot, his sights turned to Wimbledon.

“If anything it just changed my expectations a bit. I think a lot of times getting over an injury is just about knowing what you’re dealing with and I actually didn’t quite know what I was dealing with,” Isner said. “I knew I was in a lot of pain and I guess I had heard something I wanted to hear, which was maybe that I could get back in four to six weeks, but that was unrealistic given the injury I had.

“It was relieving and I guess less frustrating because I was getting pretty frustrated every morning when I woke up and my foot would still hurt a bit. Any athlete will tell you that if you have any pain in your foot, you can’t do anything. You certainly can’t play through it, that’s actually impossible, especially when there’s an injury to your bone.”


Isner was only able to start walking normally again about three weeks ago, and he used the stationary bike as much as he could to stay in shape. He wasn’t able to practise at all until last week.

“It was just uncomfortable to walk or try to walk. It was a big issue. You have to learn how to walk before you can run,” Isner said. “For a long time I couldn’t walk normally at all.”

Isner likes to look at the positive side of things, and this injury meant he got more time to spend with his family at home.

“It’s not that we wouldn’t have had that time, I think they would have travelled during the clay-court season. It’s just waking up in the morning and being with my daughter for a few hours as opposed to 30 minutes as I’m getting ready for practice and going about my day,” Isner said. “It’s very, very special for sure. She’s in her formative years, and it’s just been great.

“She watched a lot of NHL playoffs with me. I was home throughout the whole deal. I actually went to a bunch of games in Dallas where I live, went to a few games in Raleigh because I’m a big Carolina Hurricanes fan. She got to take in some sports. Too early to tell what she’s a big fan of, though.”


Isner will now turn his attention to The Championships, where he is defending 720 ATP Ranking points from reaching the last four last year. But the American says that points come and go, and he doesn’t focus much on the points that are on the line.

“It’d be crazy if I think I could make it back to the semi-finals this year,” Isner said. “Anything is possible, but the facts are that I have not been able to practise at all up until last week.”

In the first round Isner faces #NextGenATP Norwegian Casper Ruud for the first time. Ruud has never played a tour-level grass-court tournament.

“I know he’s a very, very solid player. He’s a very young guy, too. His best years are way ahead of him, so I’m going to have to use experience to my advantage, if possible,” Isner said. “But grass has not necessarily become a bad surface for smaller, baseline guys like Casper. So I know he’s going to be ready to play. He’s an exceptional player. He’s one of the best young players that we have in the game as well, so it’ll be a very big challenge for me.”

Goran rode his first serve to a Wimbledon title but Roger’s sustained grass success can be found in his second-serve stats
Who has the best first serve on grass? Goran Ivanisevic, that’s who…

The 6’4” Croatian won Wimbledon in 2001, defeating Patrick Rafter in the final, and lost the 1994 and 1998 finals to Pete Sampras, and the 1992 final to Andre Agassi. His lefty serve was feared just as much down the middle as out wide on both sides, with his lightning-quick motion pretty much impossible to read.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of career first-serve points won on grass sees Ivanisevic sitting at the top of the table, being the only player to win north of 85 per cent behind first serves.

Top 10 Career First-Serve Points Won On Grass

Ranking

Player

First-Serve Win Percentage

Matches

1

Goran Ivanisevic

86.98%

85

2

Marc-Kevin Goellner

84.82%

32

3

Pete Sampras

84.70%

105

4

Ivo Karlovic

84.60%

113

5

Mark Philippoussis

84.08%

70

6

Richard Krajicek

84.03%

88

7

Wayne Arthurs

83.64%

60

8

Greg Rusedski

82.77%

116

9

Milos Raonic

82.71%

66

10

Sam Groth

82.08%

25

What’s fascinating is that Ivanisevic’s first-serve prowess did not spill over to his second serve. He is ranked way down the list with the 159th best second-serve win percentage on grass, at 50.47 per cent (1823/3612). His first serve was a hammer, but if he missed it, he barely won half of his second-serve points on grass.

It’s also interesting to note that Australia boasts three players in the Top 10 of the category, while Croatia has two. Germany, The Netherlands, Great Britain, USA ad Canada all have one Top 10 representative.

One player that is conspicuous by his absence from this Top 10 list is eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer. The Swiss star is ranked only 32nd with first-serve points won on grass, at 79.54 per cent (9097/11437). Federer has performed much better behind his second serve, being ranked second with a win percentage of 59.05 per cent (3550/6012).

Wimbledon 2001
Ivanisevic steamrolled to the 2001 title, continually taking out big names and fellow big servers as the tournament progressed.

2001 Wimbledon: Ivanisevic Opponents & First-Serve Win Percentage

Round

Opponent

First-Serve Win Percentage

First-Serve Points Won

First-Serve Total Points

1

Fredrik Jonsson

90.70%

39

43

2

Carlos Moya

87.32%

62

71

3

Andy Roddick

87.50%

70

80

4

Greg Rusedski

92.59%

50

54

QF

Marat Safin

90.24%

74

82

SF

Tim Henman

80.37%

86

107

Final

Patrick Rafter

81.32%

74

91

-

Average / Total

87.15%

455

528

Ivanisevic’s first-serve performance taking the title in 2001 was slightly better than his career average, winning 87.15 per cent, compared to 86.98 per cent for his career on grass. He was in especially devastating first-serve form in the middle of the tournament against Greg Rusedski and Marat Safin, losing only 12 first-serve points against both of them combined in seven sets.

In the final against Rafter, Ivanisevic won a thrilling encounter 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7. His first-serve performance was at its very best in the thrilling fifth and deciding set.

2001 Wimbledon Final Per Set: Ivanisevic First-Serve Points Won Percentage & Aces

Set

First-Serve Points Won

Aces

1

81%

3

2

77%

5

3

83%

4

4

73%

5

5

86%

10

Ivanisevic won 22 titles from 1990 to 2001, with the Wimbledon title being his last. What a way to go out with a bang.