Well, you have to realize that the Isner-Mahut match was something of a perfect storm. A big server facing a guy (Mahut) that couldn’t see his serve, first or second. Isner was able to hold serve mostly because nearly every big serve wasn’t coming back. That lead to many games with easy enough holds. Similarly, Isner had a hard time seeing Mahut’s serves. Mahut would come to net, or try to push Isner around at the baseline, and Isner wasn’t in any shape to chase down a lot of Mahut’s shots.
Although Isner came out the victor, it was Pyrrhic victory. For those not well-versed in classic history, the phrase came from a battle lead by King Pyrrhus of Epirus who took on the Romans during the Pyrrhic War. Although Pyrrhus’s army was victorious, he lost so many men, compared to the number of men the Romans could continue to bring to battle, that Pyrrhus is often quoted as saying “Another such victory and I shall come to Epirus alone”.
People say that in the Isner-Mahut match, there were no losers. Both players won by surviving this epic match where it came down to a few points. And that’s fine if this match were seen in isolation, like a boxing bout.
But this is a tournament, and that was a first round match. And the winner needed to play a second round match. So although there may have been no losers, one could argue there were no winners either. Mahut, most obviously, lost. But Isner’s victory left him so depleted that he was not in any shape to win a second round match. de Bakker is a talented player and if he managed to get returns into play and force rallies, Isner was going to be in for a long (or, really, short) day.
Has Isner played de Bakker in the first round, the match would not have gone an epic 183 games. Although Isner is fully capable of rallying, you don’t play a 138 game fifth set with monster rallies. Both players would have to be insanely fit, and even then, rallies tend to put both players even. To play this long means the server must have a huge advantage most times which means few rallies, lots of errors. Isner’s big fear must have been Mahut getting a read on his serve and forcing rallies. By the third day, Mahut was attacking more off the ground, and it seemed if Mahut could do that on the Isner game, then Isner would be done in. But Mahut never could pick up the Isner serve, and so Isner continued to hold with a combination of the serve, or a big forehand on a weak return, or a volley on an approach.
de Bakker must have figured that all he needed to do was get returns into play. de Bakker is a talented player (indeed, he and Mahut both won junior Wimbledons) and knew he could rally with Isner, even on a good day for Isner.
The match, alas, didn’t go Isner’s way. Isner’s first serve percentage was still pretty high, but he was no longer finding his mark. His average serve speed dropped about 10 mph on first and second serves plus his accuracy was also not as good. And that difference was enough for de Bakker to see the ball better. It’s a telling stat that although Isner served a healthy 74%, he had no aces in the match. By contrast with the Mahut match where there were few meaningful rallies, this match featured more rallies, and it was clear Isner wasn’t in a position to win most of these rallies.
When de Bakker took the first set, 6-0, the announcers felt he should retire and there would be no shame in doing so. Apparently Isner’s neck was bothering him, his toes were worn raw from the lengthy match. And yet, the big man, who didn’t retired in 183 games, chose (not surprisingly) to soldier on in this match. Isner won a few more games, but lost the second set, 6-3, and lost the third, 6-2. Yet, he completed the match and didn’t throw in the towel.
In principle, Isner is still in the doubles with Querrey. The question is whether he chooses to play or decides to go to the US to recover. Isner is such a battler that he might end up playing doubles!
Novak Djokovic looks like he is having his easiest match so far. He’s won the first set over Montanes, 6-1, and the second set, 2-1.
Youzhny and Mathieu have split sets. This is a second round match and was delayed because of the Isner-de Bakker match, to keep them more aligned. Mathieu took the first set 6-4 and Youzhny took the second 6-2.
