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John Isner - Wimbledon 2023

John Isner announces that he will retire at the US Open


John Isner has announced that his 17-year professional tennis career will come to an end at his home major, with the 6’10” American revealing that he is ‘proud’ of his accomplishments. 

Isner took to social media to release a statement confirming that he would play a final tournament before hanging up his rackets, “There comes a time in every athlete’s career that they have to decide to hang it up. For me, that time is now.”

The 38-year-old continued, “I didn’t come [to] this decision lightly, but I feel it is the right way to go. When I left the University of Georgia in 2007, there was no way I could have imagined playing 17 years on the ATP Tour.

“Of course, there are countless matches I wish I could have back, but I am proud of what I was able to accomplish. The journey was nothing short of incredible. The US Open will be my final event. Time to lace ’em up one last time.”

 

Isner is one of the tallest ever tennis players and holds the record for the most amount of aces (14,411) in ATP history.

He also famously competed in the longest ever tennis match at Wimbledon back in 2010, when he beat Nicolas Mahut, 6-4 3-6 6-7 7-6 70-68.

The match lasted 11 hours and five minutes, and took place over three days, with Isner hitting a record 113 aces.

Isner also competed in the second longest match at a major tournament, of 6 hours and 36 minutes, in his only Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon in 2018.

It is widely thought that Isner’s lengthy encounters have lead to major tournaments implementing final set tie-breaks, removing the possibility of this happening again.

Isner will compete in his final tournament next week, when the US Open begins on Monday 28th August.

John Isner Career Achievements 

Isner will most likely be remembered for his long matches and huge serve, but the American has also had a very decorated career that have seen him beat the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Here are some of his career achievements:

Career-high ranking: No.8

ATP Titles: 16

Masters 1000 titles: 1 (Miami Open 2018)

Best Grand Slam result: Semi-final (Wimbledon 2018)

Best ATP Finals Result: Round-Robin (2018)

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Matthew Johns, Tennishead Writer, is a professional tennis journalist with a specialist degree in Sports Journalism. He's a keen tennis player having represented his local club and University plus he's also a qualified tennis coach. Matthew has a deep knowledge of tennis especially the ATP Tour and thrives on breaking big tennis news stories for Tennishead.