John Isner won the longest match in tennis history after beating Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon in over 11 hours – but his career ended earlier than anticipated.
John Isner’s tennis career is often summed up by moments, whether that be the split-second it took for his serve to whistle by or the pin-point backhand down the line which ended the longest match in tennis history.
Standing tall at nearly seven foot, Isner is known for his serve and still today holds the record for the most aces hit on the ATP tour, with 14,470 to his name, around 3000 ahead of Roger Federer, and over 5000 ahead of Andy Roddick.
With a semi-final appearance at Wimbledon his finest achievement in the singles, Isner was nearly always the bridesmaid and never the bride as he crept around the periphery of the top five, ultimately achieving a career-high ranking of eight.
After calling time on his long career at the US Open in 2023, Isner has ventured into some punditry work, as well as picking up pickleball, making his doubles debut at the Texas Open in June.
John Isner highlights the circumstances that caused his ranking nosedive
Isner has been part of a number of surprising tennis storylines, as he took part in the longest tiebreak in ATP history against compatriot and fellow giant Reilly Opelka in the 2022 Dallas Open.
Speaking on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast, Isner reflected on his major drop in the rankings towards the end of his career.
He said: “I had a long career. I played until 38 and a half, something I could never have imagined.
“Would I have liked to play longer? Yes. Going into last year I didn’t have plans on retiring but for me my body finally let me down last year,” he revealed.
“It gave me a lot of good years. But somewhere along the way last year my foot started to hurt, maybe in retrospect I should have taken time off at that point and protected my ranking, but I tried to play through a foot injury and it didn’t really go so well.
“I was playing matches without any practice and my ranking plummeted. It just was time but I certainly miss it.”
Having spent so much of his career in the top 30, his career decline is not necessarily unusual or embarrassing with very few players leaving the sport while still at their top level.
John Isner has beaten every member of the ‘Big Four’
Despite never achieving grand-slam singles success, it’s worth remembering that Isner’s career more or less directly coincided with the greatest generation of male tennis players.
With Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray all at their very best while Isner was playing, it’s hardly surprising he did not get much of a look in at the very top.
However, the towering American still holds an enviable record, having beaten all four of these tennis heavyweights at least once in his career.
With Canada’s Milos Raonic the only remaining active player featuring in the top 10 of the ATP’s record ace-hitters on 8445, Isner’s record looks unlikely to be beaten for some time.
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