A long time ago, I stood along the free throw lane in a high school basketball game next to a towering seven foot tall giant by the name of Robert Parish. Yes, the Boston Celtics’ Hall of Fame center once soared over my nearly 6-foot feeble frame as I barely came up to the left armpit of Shreveport-Woodlawn High School’s legendary number 00. I have never felt more vertically challenged!
On the tennis court, though, most players from my generation were more my size. Though much better at basketball than on the tennis courts, I never came across another tennis player who physically towered over the court in the same way that Robert Parish did in that high school basketball gymnasium.
Until now.
Meet John Isner. Who, you ask? Though far from a household name, this 33-year old 6′ 10″ American professional tennis player, ranked #10 in the world, has quietly won his way into the semifinals at the famed Wimbledon Championships in London. He defeated Milos Raonic of Canada today to earn his first Grand Slam semifinal berth ever and will next play the man who defeated Roger Federer earlier this week, Kevin Anderson.
This semifinal match-up will be tennis’ version of the clash of the titans as South African Anderson stands at a treetop height of 6’8″.
Much has been made of the warm and dry weather conditions at Wimbledon this year favoring the big servers such as John Isner and Kevin Anderson. When going against more averaged sized players, the relative height advantage these giants possess provides a more generous launch angle to fire away on their first serve. When you add harder grass court conditions to the mix, the effect is magnified even more.
A former Georgia Bulldog, Isner leads the men’s field with an astounding 160 aces served in his first five matches. That is an incredible 32 service aces per match.
Isner’s upcoming opponent, Kevin Anderson, is also manhandling opponents with 124 first serve aces over his five matches.
This particular Wimbledon semifinal doesn’t seem to have the trappings of a classic chess-like match of serve and volley.
If you think you could hit a tennis ball coming from either of these two guys, think again. Isner clocks in with a 144 mph first serve, while Anderson is right behind at “only” 140 miles per hour. In comparison, a John McEnroe serve in the 1980’s was usually 110-120 mph.
John Isner is hoping to become the first American male to win a Wimbledon singles title since the year 2000 when Pete Sampras was victorious. Of the current top 100 tennis players in the world, John Isner’s #10 ranking is America’s highest men’s seed.
Should America’s John Isner take down yet another tennis giant and lumber his way into this weekend’s Wimbledon finals, I will be rooting for Big John and his Big Serve to bring finally home the Big Trophy.