Forgotten tennis star who won longest-ever match at Wimbledon set to retire after one more shot at US Open
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pAMERICAN tennis icon John Isner has announced he will retire after the 2023 US Open./p
pThe 38-year-old hasn#8217;t won a Grand Slam title in his 17-year career, but he still managed to get himself in the span id=e3970af9-2896-49a0-8265-f22b1c2784df class=suggested-linkhistory/span books with a legendary performance in 2010./p
figure id=attachment_23643038 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 970pximg decoding=async loading=lazy src=https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/08/john-isner-united-states-returns-839862634.jpg?strip=allamp;w=960 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23643038 width=960 height=640 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditGetty/figcredit/figureJohn Isner has announced he will retire from tennis after the 2023 US Open[/caption]
figure id=attachment_23643040 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 679pximg decoding=async loading=lazy src=https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/08/2010-forced-quit-second-round-839862609.jpg?strip=allamp;w=669 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23643040 width=669 height=960 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditAFP/figcredit/figureIsner holds the record for playing the longest-ever tennis match when he squared off with Nicolas Mahut at the 2010 Wimbledon[/caption]
pAs a 6-foot-10 player with a powerful serve and nerves of steel, Isner always made it extremely hard for opponents to play a break point – let alone win it./p
pTherefore, the North Carolina native#8217;s games would often be competitive and long./p
pThat came to be on full display at the 2010 Wimbledon when he squared off with French qualifier Nicolas Mahut in the first round./p
pIsner, the world#8217;s No. 19 at the time, and Mahut ended up playing for 11 hours and five minutes, setting a new record for the longest match in tennis history./p
pThe two players duked it out over three days with the fifth set lasting a total of eight hours and 11 minutes – alone longer than the previous longest contest./p
pIsner eventually edged Mahut, winning the final set 70-68 before losing to Thiemo de Bakker in the span id=baa33658-ad8b-4a27-b049-8653be6bd2bd class=suggested-linknext/span round./p
pThe iconic clash is likely to remain the longest-ever match under current Wimbledon rules, which introduced a tiebreak when the score in the final set of a men#8217;s contest reaches 12-12./p
pIsner#8217;s heyday is long gone with the American ranking 158th ahead of the 2023 US Open, for which he received a wild card invitation./p
pAnd a few days before the tournament#8217;s start, he announced that his trip to Flushing Meadows would be his farewell./p
pIsner said that bowing out after the last Grand Slam event of the year #8220;feels like the right way to go#8221; in a touching a href=https://www.instagram.com/p/CwTe_gdOiI_/ target=_blank aria-label=Instagram post (opens in a new tab) rel=noreferrer noopenerInstagram post/a on Wednesday./p
p#8220;I can’t think of a better way to go out than competing in New York City,” he wrote. /p
p#8220;I have participated in the US Open for each of the 17 years of my career and I’m looking forward to playing my last match in front of the American fans in Flushing Meadows.#8221;/p
pIsner won 16 titles in his career, his last triumph coming in Atlanta two years ago./p
pHis career-high ATP rank was 8th in July 2018 after reaching his first-ever Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon./p
pThe tennis ace dropped out of the ATP#8217;s top 50 in April 2023 for the first time since 2009./p
pThe 38-year-old hasn#8217;t won a Grand Slam title in his 17-year career, but he still managed to get himself in the span id=e3970af9-2896-49a0-8265-f22b1c2784df class=suggested-linkhistory/span books with a legendary performance in 2010./p
figure id=attachment_23643038 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 970pximg decoding=async loading=lazy src=https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/08/john-isner-united-states-returns-839862634.jpg?strip=allamp;w=960 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23643038 width=960 height=640 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditGetty/figcredit/figureJohn Isner has announced he will retire from tennis after the 2023 US Open[/caption]
figure id=attachment_23643040 class=wp-caption alignnone style=width: 679pximg decoding=async loading=lazy src=https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2023/08/2010-forced-quit-second-round-839862609.jpg?strip=allamp;w=669 alt= class=alignnone size-thesun-article-image wp-image-23643040 width=669 height=960 /figcaption class=wp-caption-text/figcaptionfigcreditAFP/figcredit/figureIsner holds the record for playing the longest-ever tennis match when he squared off with Nicolas Mahut at the 2010 Wimbledon[/caption]
pAs a 6-foot-10 player with a powerful serve and nerves of steel, Isner always made it extremely hard for opponents to play a break point – let alone win it./p
pTherefore, the North Carolina native#8217;s games would often be competitive and long./p
pThat came to be on full display at the 2010 Wimbledon when he squared off with French qualifier Nicolas Mahut in the first round./p
pIsner, the world#8217;s No. 19 at the time, and Mahut ended up playing for 11 hours and five minutes, setting a new record for the longest match in tennis history./p
pThe two players duked it out over three days with the fifth set lasting a total of eight hours and 11 minutes – alone longer than the previous longest contest./p
pIsner eventually edged Mahut, winning the final set 70-68 before losing to Thiemo de Bakker in the span id=baa33658-ad8b-4a27-b049-8653be6bd2bd class=suggested-linknext/span round./p
pThe iconic clash is likely to remain the longest-ever match under current Wimbledon rules, which introduced a tiebreak when the score in the final set of a men#8217;s contest reaches 12-12./p
pIsner#8217;s heyday is long gone with the American ranking 158th ahead of the 2023 US Open, for which he received a wild card invitation./p
pAnd a few days before the tournament#8217;s start, he announced that his trip to Flushing Meadows would be his farewell./p
pIsner said that bowing out after the last Grand Slam event of the year #8220;feels like the right way to go#8221; in a touching a href=https://www.instagram.com/p/CwTe_gdOiI_/ target=_blank aria-label=Instagram post (opens in a new tab) rel=noreferrer noopenerInstagram post/a on Wednesday./p
p#8220;I can’t think of a better way to go out than competing in New York City,” he wrote. /p
p#8220;I have participated in the US Open for each of the 17 years of my career and I’m looking forward to playing my last match in front of the American fans in Flushing Meadows.#8221;/p
pIsner won 16 titles in his career, his last triumph coming in Atlanta two years ago./p
pHis career-high ATP rank was 8th in July 2018 after reaching his first-ever Grand Slam semifinal at Wimbledon./p
pThe tennis ace dropped out of the ATP#8217;s top 50 in April 2023 for the first time since 2009./p