John Isner isn’t all that young.  He’s 24 years old.  When players like Nadal started winning in his teens, Isner looks like a veteran.  Isner took the college route playing tennis for the Georgia Bulldogs.  He never won the NCAA Championships, but was runner-up.  Perhaps like Querrey who was runner-up to Donald Young, Querrey’s career has taken a more positive trajectory than Somdev Devvarman, the man who beat him to take the title.  Compared to his German opponent, Tommy Haas, a veteran at 31, Isner looks like a rookie.

Isner had a good tournament at Washington DC losing to Andy Roddick in the semifinals.  DC has been a good event to tall John Isner.  Two years ago, he made the final on the strength of his strong serve.

When you have a serve as big as Isner, you tend to hold serve a lot.  However, it still takes a presence of mind to win matches.  To that end, Isner has a pretty big forehand which he uses when he gets weak replies.  He’s not the steady or powerful groundstroker that the much more talented del Potro is, but he does all right for himself.

Tonight, he played German Tommy Haas.  Haas was last seen in Montreal having to retire against Fernando Gonzalez because his skin peeled off and a blister was irritating it on his hitting hand.  A few days seems to have healed him up.

Haas must not like big servers.  Two weeks ago he lost a match to Sam Querrey and complained that Querrey’s Samurais, the rambunctious group of friends that resemble football fans with text painted on their chests.  Haas said they lacked class and said they interfered with the match.  Haas, in case anyone has failed to notice, is a bit high strung.

Like Querrey, Isner has a huge serve.  It must be comforting to have a serve that big.  Your opponent has to be patient because their opportunities are rare.  Isner has shown quiet confidence these past few weeks.  He’s a shy man by personality, his cap hiding a handsome face that might garner more fans were he not so bashful.

Isner and Haas had split sets.  Isner took the first set in a tiebreak.  Haas had a break in the second and took that 7-5.  One might argue that Haas was serving better.  Isner was having problems winning any points whatsoever on Haas’s first serve.  Yet, he kept holding onto his first serve.  You get to a tiebreak and you never know what might happen.

When the third set did go to tiebreak, Isner caught a lucky break.  At 1-all, Haas served, and had a forehand which he whiffed wide giving Isner the mini-break.  Isner served quite well, but also had one point where he came to net and hit a feathery drop volley.  He would win the match on another approach to the net and hitting a short volley, one which Haas could barely scoop which didn’t clear the net.  It must have been frustrating for the German who was holding his serve a bit more easily to lose it like this.  It may be how some people felt playing Sampras who had such supreme confidence in his serve that he could take chances on the return game.  A big serve allows you to win points without having to react to the other person’s response.

If Isner has learned anything recently, it may be a calm demeanor, to keep serving well and not play loose points.

Up next for Isner is Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, who beat 15th seed Tommy Robredo in the first round.

Tomorrow the big guns all play.  This includes Djokovic, Federer, Murray, and Nadal all playing on the main court, perhaps the best day to go watch tennis at Cincinnati if you can get tickets.  This will be important to three of the four guys who all fell in the quarterfinals.  Only Murray got to the semifinals, and eventually won the tournament and earned the number 2 ranking in the world.  Keep your eyes glued to the tele for exciting tennis action!