According to Alec Gearty of the New York Post on Thursday, American tennis giant John Isner of Greensboro, North Carolina will be planning on retiring from professional tennis at the age of 38 following the 2023 United States Open. At 6’10”, Isner is known as being one of the tallest tennis players in the history of the sport.
Most players are known for the number of championships that they won or are defined by their performance in a final. That is not the case for Isner. His most memorable match of his career was a first round match that took place at Wimbledon in 2010. In a match that lasted three days, Isner defeated Nicolas Mahut of France, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68. That is no misprint. The final set in the match lasted 138 games. It would be the longest match in tennis history and it was not even remotely close.
Remarkably, Isner also played the fourth longest tennis match of all-time. In the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2018, Kevin Anderson of South Africa (who recently returned to tennis after announcing his initial retirement), defeated Isner 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 26-24 on July 13, 2018.
One reason why Isner’s matches were so long is because he was a fantastic server, and a lousy returner. Isner has the most aces all-time with 14, 411. Ivo Karlovic of Zagreb, Croatia, who is also a giant at 6’11”, is second on the list with 13, 728 aces.
Isner’s 2018 Wimbledon semifinal result was the best of his career. He also won 16 ATP titles, of which 15 came at the 250 level. His greatest success came at the Atlanta Open, which Isner won six times, and the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Rhode Island, which he won four times.
Isner has won once at the ATP Masters 1000 level. That came at the Miami Masters in 2018, where he beat Alexander Zverev of Germany, 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.
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