John Isner – “Federer, Nadal, Djokovic Are Selfish”

John Isner and Roger Federer were swinging their tennis racquets in Tokyo, Japan for an exhibition match organized by Uniqlo. The American has been touring on the ATP Tour since 2007, and he is grateful to share the era with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic and at the same time, he considers himself to be unfortunate as he couldn’t win enough number of titles.

“When you do get to play those players, it’s such a big moment, a big occasion on the big court and it’s a lot of fun in that regard. But you could also argue that it’s unlucky because those guys are pretty selfish and they take all the titles away from a lot of us,” John Isner said.

However, he feels its an honor tour on the ATP circuit along with the ‘Big Three’ and plays on the prestigious courts of tennis. During, Roland-Garros 2011, Rafael Nadal survived a scary five-setter match against Isner in the opening round of the Paris major.

It was a dogfight which stretched for four arduous hours and Nadal was on the brink of exiting from the tournament and Spaniard had to dig deep to remain in the French Open 2011 with 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory. 

“It was like a penalty shoot-out,” relieved Nadal said at Roland-Garros 2011. “Isner’s serve is almost unstoppable at the moment. I want to congratulate him on a fantastic match and wish him all the best for the rest of the season. It’s always a very, very close match against John because you play under pressure all the time and at moments in the tie-breaks, I didn’t play very well, I was too nervous.”

John Isner continued to laud the Goliaths of the sport and felt it’s a privilege to share the ‘strong era of tennis’ with the most consistency men. “But, no, for me personally, I think it’s been a great pleasure to be, look for me, 11 years now, and those guys have been at the very top of the game ever since I entered the tour as well,” he added.

Against the ‘Big Three’ of tennis John Isner has won five matches out of the 27 times he played against them.