News-Record.com

Sorry we didn't get this result in today's paper, but sometimes it can be hard for our humble paper to keep up with the relentless nature of the ATP Tour.

Or maybe we just assumed that John Isner would be took sick to play his first-round match in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship in Memphis on Monday and would withdraw.

Instead, despited reportedly suffering from the flu, Isner dragged his 6-10 frame out on the court and nearly knocked off No. 7 seed Jurgen Melzer, 6-7(8), 6-3, 7-6 (4). Isner actually had a match point in the 12th game of the third set and then was up 4-3 in the tiebreaker before finally running out gas.

Here's the match report from the Commercial Appeal. And here's an interesting read from the Hunstville (Ala.) Times.

Melzer had a quote in the Hunstville story that caught my eye.

""He's a much better tennis player than Karlovic," Melzer said of Isner.

That would be Ivo Karlovic, the 6-10 Croation to whom Isner is frequently compared. Given that Karlovic is the No. 22-ranked player in the world, that's pretty high praise, I'd say.

Isner is scheduled to play doubles with Donald Young again, providing some creedence to Joe Sirera's theory that the USTA would really, really like to see these two paired up. Will Isner be healthy enough to make the match? Not sure, but at least it won't be played until Wednesday at the earliest. We'll be on the lookout for results.

Isner's next tournament after this one will the Tennis Channel Open, in Las Vegas. Heading into Memphis, he was ranked No. 93 in the world. I doubt he'll drop more than a spot or two despite his first-round loss in Memphis. Remember, until his first 12 months on the tour is up, Isner's only adding points.