I watched John Isner’s emotional retirement at the 2023 U.S. Open and immediately decided that I wanted to do a player feature on him.
Isner ended a rich tennis career that lasted over 17 years. There is much to celebrate in his career. He has the most aces ever and he played in the longest tennis match in history. He is also a smiling, cheerful, good guy.
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John Isner was born (April 26, 1985) and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina.
He helped his high school tennis team win the state championship and his college team at the University of Georgia win the NCAA title in 2007. Isner turned professional in 2007 after graduating college.
Isner Won 16 Titles
John Isner won 16 ATP titles during his career. His highest ranking was #8 in the world. In his career, he earned over $22 million dollars in prize money. From 2016 till his retirement, he was sponsored by FILA.
Isner won most of his titles on hard and grass courts, which are faster than clay courts. This makes sense because of his massive power, particularly his serve. He was particularly dominant at the Atlanta Open, where he triumphed six times.
Isner actually won all the titles in his career at just a few different tournaments. In addition to his six wins in Atlanta, he was a two-time winner at the tournaments in Auckland and Winston-Salem and a four-time winner at Newport.
He also managed to win one title on clay when he won the 2013 U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas. The biggest success of his career was when he won a Masters 1000 tournament at the 2018 Miami Open.
In that match, he defeated Alexander Zverev in three sets 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 in the final. Fittingly, Isner won the last point with an ace!
Isner never managed to reach the finals of any Grand Slam tournament, although he did reach the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2018. In that semi-final match, Isner faced Kevin Anderson, another player with a great serve.
It was a great match that lasted more than six and a half hours, making it the fourth longest match in tennis history and the second longest Grand Slam match ever.
After a great fight, Isner was defeated in a match that had three tie-breaks and a 5th set that lasted 50 games. In the end, Anderson won 6-7,7-6,7-6,4-6, 26-24.
Isner had over 14,000 aces in his career
John Isner is tall at 6’10’’ and had a very powerful serve. In fact, he is credited with the fastest “official” serve ever at an ATP (Association of Professional Tennis) event when he served a ball 157.2 miles per hour at a 2016 Davis Cup match (this is not the fastest serve ever as Sam Groth had an “unofficial” serve that was clocked at 163.4 miles per hour).
Due to his huge serve and the longevity of his career, John Isner ended his career with a total of 14,470 aces.
This is an extraordinary record. In comparison, Federer had 11,478 aces and Djokovic currently has only 6,930 aces. It is hard to imagine this record being broken any time soon.
This record is even more incredible when considering that Isner only played 772 matches in his career.
In comparison, Federer (with approximately 3,000 fewer aces than Isner) played in 1,462 matches! Isner averaged 18.74 serves per match throughout his career!
The Longest Match in Tennis History
John Isner also famously played, and won, the longest match in the history of tennis, which I previously wrote about in an article dedicated to fun facts about Wimbledon.
This record will likely never be broken at a Grand Slam due a rule change that now provides for a 5th set tiebreaker in Grand Slam tournaments.
The historic match was played in the first round at the 2010 Wimbledon when Isner met Nicolas Mahut. Isner ultimately defeated Mahut, from France, after more than 11 hours of fighting. The match was played over three days with Isner winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68.
The final set lasted an incredible 138 games! In this match, Isner served 113 aces, which is also a record for the most aces ever in a match.
Isner’s Last Dance at the U.S. Open
Isner said goodbye to professional tennis at the 2023 U.S. Open. His last match was played against fellow American, Michael Mmoh. Isner won the first two sets but was ultimately defeated in five sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-7).
After that, he played adoubles match with his partner Jack Sock, and on September 1, 2023 his career ended at the age of 38. Isner’s retirement interview following his last single’s match was extremely emotional. I am a big fan of John Isner!
