A look at John Isner's first-round matchup
Sometime early tomorrow morning - which will be late evening in Melbourne, Australia - John Isner will take the court in his second-ever grand slam, against Frenchman Fabrice Santoro.
If you're following this tournament at all, you know that Roger Federer would be the likely second-round opponent for Isner if he beats Santoro.
But if you follow this tournament, closely, you know that facing Federer is far, far from Isner's mind. Santoro is a very tough matchup. In fact, noted tennis scribe Jon Wertheim of Sports Illustrated is clearly expecting the Frenchman to advance. Here's what he wrote about Federer in a pre-tournament piece.
"Looking forward to second rounder against Fabrice Santoro."
Ouch! Bonnie Ford of ESPN.com isn't exactly giving an endoresment to Thin Izzy either.
"Roger Federer may be rooting for John Isner, who sneaked into the main draw courtesy of a few injury withdrawals, in the first round so he doesn't have to face the enduringly pesky Fabrice Santoro. Isner took a set off Federer in New York, but the slower courts here will take a little edge off that booming serve."
Double ouch! Don't worry. Folks aren't jumping off the Isner bandwagon. Rather, they're just recognizing two key factors. 1) The new blue surface at the Australian Open is slower than the previous one. That's never a good thing for a dominating server like Isner. 2) Fabrice Santoro, and we mean this in the nicest way possible, can be a real pain in the rear to play.
The guy just turned 35 in December. 35! Given that professinal tennis tends to age you in dog years on the court that's remarkable. Santoro's been able to keep going - and going quite well when you consider that he's ranked No. 36 in the world and just reached the semifinals in Sydney, one of the big prep tournaments for the Aussie Open - because he's in phenomenal shape, he's a very smart player and he's got one of the widest arrays of shots on the ATP Tour. There's a reason they call this guy "The Magician." He also uses both hands from both sides, a style of play you just don't see every day on the tour.
That said, while Santoro can play some of the best defensive tennis on the tour, he'll never blow you off the court. Isner is the one with the big stick here. If he wields it well and wins most of his service games easily, he'll get a chance here and there on Santoro's serve. But if Isner gives Santoro an opening, the Frenchman is wiley enough to sneak in a break or two.
Prediction? This match features at least two tiebreakers (surprise!) If Isner gets in a bunch of first serves in those games, he wins in four. If not, he goes down in four.
Isner is currently 109th in the world, with 407 rankings points. A win against Santoro would give him 35 more points and probably vault him into the mid 90s in the rankings.