Collegiate career
Isner played collegiate tennis at the University of Georgia from 2004 to 2007 and became the school's all-time leader in singles and doubles victories, earning All-American honors each of his four years and leading Georgia to the 2007 NCAA championship.
Professional career
2007
Isner began his professional career in earnest in the summer of 2007. With a world ranking of # 839, he needed wild card entries into the main draws of every tournament, even at the
He won his first tournament of the fall, the USA F14 Futures, beating the top 3 seeds along the way. Then, after first round losses in an Challenger-level and an ATP-level tournament, he beat 5 top-300 players and 3 seeds to win the Lexington challenger in July to improve his ranking to # 416 after just one month.
At the following week's tournament at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C., Fernando González's late withdrawal freed up a wild card spot, which was given at the last minute to Isner.[6] Isner took full advantage of his good fortune, recording his first-ever wins over top-100 players. He won 3rd-set tiebreakers on 5 consecutive days, beating # 73 Tim Henman, # 47 Benjamin Becker, # 189 qualifier Wayne Odesnik, # 12 Tommy Haas, and # 54 Gaël Monfils, to reach the final, where he fell to fellow American Andy Roddick. His incredible week raised his ranking to # 193 in the world after just 6 weeks on the pro tour.
Isner's Washington success earned him wild card entries into three more ATP tournaments: the Masters Series event in Cincinnati a week later, New Haven, and the US Open. He lost in the first round in Cincinnati to quarterfinalist # 15 David Ferrer. The following week in New Haven, he beat # 49 Becker a second time before falling to Ferrer for the 2nd week in a row.
In his US Open debut he defeated the 26th-seeded player, former quarterfinalist Jarkko Nieminen, and fired 34 aces along the way. He proceeded to win his second round match vs. Rik de Voest before losing in the 3rd round to top-seed and eventual champion Roger Federer. Isner was one of only two players to take a set off of Federer in the championship. His US Open performance improved his ranking to # 144.
After the US Open, Isner continued to play exclusively in North America, and finished the year ranked # 107. That year, Isner was added to the United States Davis Cup team as a practice partner.
2008
Isner's #106 ranking in November, 2007 was just good enough to get him direct entry into his first Australian Open, after several players ranked above him dropped out.8] He was defeated in the first round of the 2008 Australian Open by veteran Fabrice Santoro of France. Teamed with Croat Ivo Karlović (the tallest player on the ATP tour), Isner also lost in the first round of doubles.
Isner broke into the top-100 at # 93 in February with a quarter-final appearance at the ATP stop in San Jose, beating #90 Florent Serra and #26 Tommy Haas. He established himself as a top-100 player in the first 3 months of the year, beating 6 players in the top-100 while playing exclusively in ATP-level events. Isner played in his first French Open and Wimbledon, losing in the first round of each. He also played in the US Open, where he lost in the first round. He ended the year ranked #144 in the world.
2009
Isner qualified for the singles draw of the 2009 Heineken Open in Auckland, after winning three consecutive three-set matches in qualifying. His final match saw him bounce back from a 0–3 deficit in the third set to eventually beat Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci in a tie-breaker. In the main draw, Isner beat Albert Montañés and countryman Robby Ginepri before bowing out in the quarter-finals to Robin Söderling.
Isner received a wild card entry into the 2009 Australian Open after winning the United States Tennis Association's wildcard tournament, beating Donald Young and Jesse Levine along the way.[10] Despite serving 39 aces against his first-round opponent, Slovakia's Dominik Hrbatý, he lost in four sets. Isner began working with new coach, Craig Boynton, who had previously coached former world #1 Jim Courier in the 1990s, in March 2009.
At the 2009 Indian Wells tournament, Isner pulled off a major upset by defeating the number 9 seed, French player Gaël Monfils. This was Isner's first win over a top-10 player after four previous defeats. He then went on to defeat former world # 1 Marat Safin, before losing to world # 6 Juan Martín del Potro in the fourth round.
In April 2009 at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston, Texas at River Oaks Country Club, Isner made it as far as the quarterfinals, where he was defeated by fellow American Wayne Odesnik.[12] Isner qualified for the French Open, but had to withdraw after being diagnosed with mononucleosis, which caused him to miss Wimbledon as well.
In August 2009, he defeated world #7 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and world #18 Tomáš Berdych en route to the semifinals of the ATP World Tour 500 event in Washington before losing to world #5 Andy Roddick. This performance brought him to a career-high ranking of 55, and a special exemption into the Masters 1000 Series event in Montreal, where he defeated Jesse Levine before losing to Mikhail Youzhny. He earned a wildcard into the Masters 1000 Series event in Cincinnati, where he defeated World #21 Tommy Haas before losing to world #35 Jérémy Chardy in the second round.
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