'He really is a legend' - John Isner breaks the all-time aces record in his defeat to Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon
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ByEurosport
Updated 01/07/2022 at 18:33 GMT
John Isner has surpassed the all-time aces record previously held by Ivo Karlovic. Isner played the longest match in tennis history at Wimbledon against Nicolas Mahut which lasted 11 hours and five minutes in 2010. The 6ft 10in American was also involved in the third-longest match against Kevin Anderson in the 2018 Wimbledon semi-final which lasted six hours, 36 minutes.
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John Isner has broken the all-time aces record during his third round match against Jannik Sinner at Wimbledon.
It took less than two service games for the American to overtake Ivo Karlovic's tally of 13,728. He celebrated by simply shaking his racquet to acknowledge the achievement and now sits on 13,748 aces.
The 37-year-old, who beat Andy Murray in the second round , said on Wednesday: "Once I hit that number, whatever, not going to make an announcement or anything, but I'll know I have the record and it will be pretty cool."
Eurosport tennis expert Mats Wilander says Isner is a "legend" on the ATP tour and that he is more than just a big server.
"He’s got great hands," he said.
"We always sort of say, for a big man, he’s got great hands and I can never figure out why big men and big women cannot have great hands. But, he’s using them more these days.
"He’s hitting slice backhands, he’s hitting a lot of drop shots, he’s coming to the net. He absolutely rips the ball on the service return against his opponents’ second serve. But, he takes the racquet out of your hand, and I have to say, he’s a legend. He really is a legend.
"He’s obviously a legend here at Wimbledon because he played the longest match in the history of our sport, and he played that famous one against Kevin Anderson (2018 Wimbledon semi-final).
"Of course, because of those two matches, I believe we now have a tie-breaker [after 6-6 in the fifth set], first to ten points.
"But, more than that. He’s a legend because he can play so many close matches and he wins so many tie-breakers.
"I bet you he’s got the best tie-breaker record in the history of our sport - somebody at home maybe should check that out. But that’s what I feel like. You don’t want to get to a tie-breaker with John Isner."
Isner's run at Wimbledon came to an end on Friday as he lost to 20-year-old Jannik Sinner 6-4 7-6(4) 6-3 on Court 2.
Sinner will play Spain's Carlos Alcaraz in a highly-anticipated fourth round match on Sunday.
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Watch daily highlights from Wimbledon at 10pm on Eurosport 2 and discovery+ from June 27, as well as the two singles finals live on July 9 and 10.
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