We know what we know.
Drop shots are for scramblers.
Huge men can’t be quick.
Brits don’t win Wimbledon.
Spaniards love to grind.
Americans get stuck in Euro clay.
In fact the slow, sticky red dust of the continent is a kind quicksand for Americans. Just ask Jack Kramer, Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, Pete Sampras, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, Andy Roddick, Todd Martin, James Blake or Mardy Fish.
But now we know something else.
Huge John Isner is a player apart.
He stayed in college. His “from out the trees” serve is a force unto itself. He picks his spots and imposes. His power forehand, when he’s set, is one of the most imposing in the game. He can stroke backhand winners and move quite nimbly for a giant. He has solid volleys, vastly improved defensive skills, a step-in return of serve that can do harm and a wicked forehand drop shot that (if there were justice in sports) would be banned. And remember, Isner was the survivor who prevailed in that three-day, eleven-hour marathon at Wimbledon.
The man competes with a near-lethal quietude and rises to the moment. Few love the big stage more than the Georgia Bulldog who beat Roddick in five at the U.S. Open and pushed Nadal to the limit at the French Open. More recently, he beat Federer on clay in Switzerland.
But, skeptics asked, was that just a one-off, perhaps a fluke? No way. Isner, with his surging confidence, convincingly dismissed No. 1 Novak Djokovic to reach the BNP Paribas Open final. Now, with warrior Andy Roddick off the Davis Cup roster and No. 8 Mardy Fish sidelined by fatigue, Isner emerged as America’s “go to” Davis Cup man. And after Jo-Willie Tsonga dismissed the brave, but overmatched Davis Cup rookie Ryan Harrison in the opening match, Isner stepped in and easily dismantled Giles Simon – France’s No. 2 player and the No. 13 in the world.
Not surprisingly, Mike and Bob Bryan broke from the gate fast, never looked back and again delivered their semi-automatic doubles point. Their (“leave no prisoners behind”) 6-4, 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over a befuddled Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau brought their underappreciated Davis Cup record to 19-2, with an unblemished 10-0 record on the road and an 8-0 mark on clay.
With the U.S. now holding to 2-1 lead, Isner could now call on his inner Mariano Rivera and again beat a Top 10 player on away clay to clinch the quarterfinal win. But it’s no accident that Frenchman Jo-Willie Tsonga is No. 6 in the world. Powerful and athletic, in the opening match he made 6’ 1’’ Ryan Harrison seem small and out of sorts – a bit of lightweight. But now against the 245-pound Isner, the 200-pound Ali look-alike seemed like an outclassed middleweight, absorbing one blow after another.
Fussing about perfectly fine calls, wincing when pinned by power shots, Tsonga moaned and groaned as he ran almost haplessly from corner to corner or was brought to his knees by his foe’s combinations. Few mutter with more disbelief than the French.
But you would too. Isner imposes a cumulative pressure. His punches are brutal – the pain deepens. Bending (to stick low volleys), but not being broken until the third set, Isner protected his backhand, rarely got tangled up in his massive limbs and, with more time on clay, calmly implemented his game plan: huge serve, blistering forehand. No one quite plays like Isner. “I have the ability,” he said, “to frustrate any of my opponents.” The game suddenly becomes larger in his considerable hands. And now we are told that aside from the top four in tennis – Murray, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic (who was in the stands watching, not playing with his fellow Serbs against the Czechs) – Isner has the best chance of any player to win a Slam.
Ultimately, at the Monte Carlo Country Club on one of the most beautiful show courts in the world, tennis buffs savored a beautiful athletic performance. Okay, here there was little grace. Rather, the beauty was in sensing the subtle evolution of an athlete and the unfolding of a new dimension of play in an old sport. Isner is simply transforming the notion of how tennis can be played by big men. Against Tsonga and Simon, he dropped serve just once. He has a commanding 12-3 record in tie-breaks and in a just a couple of months, despite some perplexing losses, he’s beaten the No. 1, No. 3, No. 6 and No. 13 players in the universe. Sure, no American has reached a French Open semi in 13 years. But one North Carolina native seems to be saying, I may be a Tar Heel but this is one American who will not get stuck in European clay. His 6-3, 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-3 win provided the U.S. with a back-to-back Davis Cup World Group win for the first time in 22 years and added key things to that old tennis knowledge-bank of things we know.
We know that Captain Jim Courier – always kind of sassy – has imbued an unmistakable swagger in these (“we actually don’t need Roddick to win”) guys.
We know whether it is clay, grass, mud, Federer, Monte Carlo –varied surfaces, sites or foes, it doesn’t seem to matter. Yes, the U.S. will next have to go to the land of the most powerful Davis Cup dynasty of our era. The upcoming semis will be a “big ask” against the relentless Spaniards, who are gunning for their fourth championship in five years. But with their new-found belief and a certain ‘tude, one senses when these fearless Americans arrive to play in mid-September, there’s no doubt that the reign of Spain will be on their brain.
