John Isner vs Steve Johnson is one of the very best rivalries in pro tennis today and they will battle it out once again in a couple of hours in Acapulco:
YEAR EVENT SURFACE RND WINNER RESULT
2017 Auckland New Zealand Outdoor Hard QF Steve Johnson 63 57 76(3)
2016 Washington DC, U.S.A. Outdoor Hard QF Steve Johnson 76(7) 76(15)
2015 Washington DC, U.S.A. Outdoor Hard SF John Isner 63 36 76(9)
2015 Nice France R16 Outdoor Clay John Isner 76(3) 46 63
2015 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo Clay R64 John Isner 64 64
2014 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai Outdoor Hard R32 John Isner 76(6) 76(7)
2014 Washington DC, U.S.A. Outdoor Hard R32 Steve Johnson 67(5) 63 76(6) 
Best rivarly in the ATP today?
25 comments
<< Just a question to all: What do you rate the higher achievement?
Scoop Malinowski · February 27, 2017 at 3:03 pm
Consistently close results every single day they play – expect nothing different today – should be another hard fought classic because both are just off bitterly tough losses and both need a quality win –
Dan Markowitz · February 28, 2017 at 2:19 am
SteveJo wins again against Izzie 4 and 4. Didn’t see the match, but Izzie really looks at the backside of career as he’s losing matches to top Americans now like SteveJo and Sock.
Bad loss for Fritz against Mannarino because he won the first set rather easily 6-3 and Yo Adrian had not won a match on the ATP Tour this year so far and had bagged two Challengers, but had not beaten a player ranked higher than 167. Fritz has really hit a sophomore slump.
The Koz took a beating from Escobedo, losing two sets at 1 and love and somehow winning the middle set at 2. We’ll see how Tiafoe does against Delpo, but so far none of the Next Gen Americans, except perhaps Escobedo, who was the Forgotten Man amongst the Top 5–Fritz, Tiafoe, Donaldson, Kozlov and Opelka–has really had decent results. I wonder it’s because he’s an Hispanic American?
But besides Rubin, Escobedo might be the only hombre who’s won a match, he’s actually won two, this year on the ATP Tour and he gave Edmund all he wanted in Brisbane. He’s another guy coached by Peter Lucassen.
Vince hit with the Koz a couple of times at Everts in Boca Raton over the last month and he said the like the Koz, he has a good feel for the game, a solid backhand, his serve is getting better and he’s working on his forehand and can use it as a weapon times, but he says all these young guys have to learn how to compete for an entire match. It’s like Bill Belicek telling the Patriots, you have to play hard for 60 minutes, not 55 minutes. Vince says these young guys play a good set or two in a slam, but a lot of them don’t know how to compete hard throughout an entire match.
Andrew Miller · February 28, 2017 at 9:23 am
Escobedo’s dad played semi pro similar to Fritzy’s parents. I’d assume Fritz had nothing left in the tank after qualifying for the tournament with two match wins before the first round. Spadea is right, these guys have a tough time competing across a match because despite their youth they have zero physical base.
Scoop once devoted a post to Thiem’soff season training that basically threw him through the ringer and was grueling like basic training for athletes. Thiem has never looked back since acquiring the physicality required for today’s pro level.
Acapulco is a hard draw and a good preview for Indian Wells and Miami.
Isner despite a good Paris indoors tournament last year has not been the same since losing Gimelstob. I never thought I’d say it, Gimelstob must be a decent tennis mind, someone who probably knew what he needed to do on the court but rarely executed it. I was always aware of his talent but also his self destructive tendencies.
Did anyone ever get to the bottom of Gimelstob’s decision to say goodbye to coaching?
Dan Markowitz · February 28, 2017 at 12:26 pm
Gimel is an egomaniac of the highest order. He supposedly quit because he has a toddler and once he divorced his wife, or she divorced him, apparently, he decided he couldn’t be on the road as much as an ATP coach has to be on the road. Gimel has been humbled a few times in his life, like when his career took a nosedive and he said those misogynist comments about Anna K and then with this quick divorce, but to his credit I guess, Gimel is hard to knock down completely.
I’ve said it before, Gimel I think was right up there with McEnroe, Brad Gilbert and sometimes but not as often, Connors, as being the worst guys I’ve ever seen on the court as far as their actions to the umpires, linespeople, opponents and sometimes even the fans. Kyrgios is a gentleman compared to Gimel.
Andrew Miller · February 28, 2017 at 3:24 pm
Dan, I’m no fan of Gimelstob’s antics, commentary, etc, though I respected his game. I respected his game because he’s mean and found a way to cone back in a match against a hungry opponent. And it was a glimpse of what he could have accomplished if he brought the enthusiasm he had on day one of his career, a loss to Stich I think.
Maybe I shouldn’t attribute Isner’s 2015 surge less to Gimelstob than to the humiliating loss Isner suffered in Davis Cup. Sometimes it takes a brutal let your country down loss to summon your best play.
Andrew Miller · February 28, 2017 at 3:26 pm
And maybe it’s time to admit the obvious, jack sock is the consensus USA #1 men’s player, and Isner has become a patchy player who on occasion puts up a big result like a masters final in Paris in 2016 and his Miami final in 2015.
Scoop Malinowski · February 28, 2017 at 6:34 pm
Dan these guys are all fresh out of juniors and still basically rookies in ATP – They’re in the deep water now and you have to expect these hiccups – Johnson has taken it to a new level with his fitness and defense and he runs around scrapping as well as any player in the ATP – Johnson has super fast wheels and defensive skills which Isner can’t handle now – Isner has to step it up if he can – Not sure if Isner can play any better he could have hit his ceiling as a player –
Scoop Malinowski · February 28, 2017 at 6:37 pm
Gimelstob is a brilliant tennis mind and his TV commentating is amongst the best – he does a fine job or breaking down matches both singles and doubles – The guy is a two time Grand Slam champion and he did not get those for free he earned them and the wisdom and experience which comes along with it – Gimelstob should still coach as I believe he has a lot to offer any player –
Andrew Miller · February 28, 2017 at 7:27 pm
The new USA men’s players are doing fine. The fact is there are a ton of them (as compared with other countries) and sooner or later one of them will do what Sock did and make their way to the top thirty, top twenty, etc. US men’s players of recent years (since 2002 at least) have taken longer to break into the ATP tournaments and tend to lag their European peers in terms of the maturity of their game.
Nothing new. No matter who it is it takes longer to break into the top twenty and to get to a slam second week. Otherwise we’d have seen the European next generation players winning masters and gaining slam quarterfinals. That has not happened.
Andrew Miller · February 28, 2017 at 7:33 pm
As for Gimelstob, no I don’t like his announcing. I just felt it was true that Gimelstob helped Isner get his confidence back and there was a noticeable drop in Isner’s performance when Gimelstob quit. Isner recovered , won a tournament and made the Paris masters, but it took a long time. I thought all of that had to do with Gimelstob.
But it could very well be we can’t expect much more outside of patchy results for Isner. He’s huge and no one can replicate the serve, but he’s been losing to his us peers and has not had a good year.
As jon Wertheim from si says fortunes change quickly in tennis. You can win two slams the year before this year lose to players you could beat in your sleep.
Kerber and Djokovic, we’re looking at you!!!!
Andrew Miller · February 28, 2017 at 11:09 pm
I liked the Maleeva girls. Three Bulgarians right? Three different styles.
Andrew Miller · February 28, 2017 at 11:10 pm
Most upset by Jamie Hampton. She had Talent.
Dan Markowitz · March 1, 2017 at 6:42 am
No Gimel was a good coach. Good player too as Scoop points out. And generally a nice guy. I twice made the trip out to Jersey, once for the charity event he held, and once to do a story on working out with Gimel at this gym run by a former pro football player, and I always say this about Gimel, which was real rare for a player, whenever you called him, he got right back to you.
I’m just saying he’s a little crazy and his family had some severe issues, but what family doesn’t? Gomel is a true success story in tennis, but he didn’t live up to the hype he had fomented when he came out of UCLA and I think took a set off of Agassi in his first US Open.
Scoop Malinowski · March 1, 2017 at 8:18 am
For all the tennis facilities and coaching in the USTA Easter Gimelstob is the last prominent accomplished (male) player USTA Eastern has produced and that’s incredible if you think about the sheer numbers and all the quality players – Noah Rubin could be the next one and if he can match what Gimelstob accomplished I’d call that a very good career –
Andrew Miller · March 1, 2017 at 9:28 am
Gimelstob did not live up to the UCLA billing by any means. UCLA hasn’t produced a top tier player since Connors! MacMac will be going against the grain if he can light a fire from the UCLA ranks, like Isner did for Georgia or Johnson for USC
Scoop Malinowski · March 1, 2017 at 9:35 am
Gimelstob won two major titles in xds = nuff said –
Dan Markowitz · March 1, 2017 at 9:48 am
Looks like Tiafoe played Delpo very tough, losing in third set breaker. Good win for Qball beating Edmund. Man, Nadal looked good yesterday.
What about Blake, Scoop? He came out of the Eastern section, Trumbell, Ct., specifically and he far surpassed Gimel.
Scoop Malinowski · March 1, 2017 at 10:18 am
Tiafoe is consistently playing top players like Delpo very closely – he had a five setter with Isner at US Open too – Blake is actually a product of USTA New England –
Dan Markowitz · March 1, 2017 at 10:52 am
Well, you got me there with Blake, you’re right. But he grew up in NYC, Yonkers, at start and Trumbell is closer to NYC than it is Boston.
catherine bell · March 1, 2017 at 12:10 pm
Connors was at UCLA for less than a year – he can hardly be called a product of the college system. His game was more or less fully formed before he set foot on the campus. Jimmy had no interest in staying around.
Scoop Malinowski · March 1, 2017 at 2:11 pm
Matkowski also played at UCLA – excellent doubles player –
Jg · March 1, 2017 at 3:21 pm
Tiafoe also had match points against Goffin at Indian Wells last year but couldn’t close it out, should probably spend time with Nadal, maybe the killer instinct can run off.
Scoop Malinowski · March 1, 2017 at 3:34 pm
Say what? Donskoy (not even listen in 2017 ATP media guide) upsets Federer in Dubai 36 76 76 – All I know about Donskoy is what a Russian journalist told me at the CITI Open a few years ago – that he is (or was) funded by Safin –
Scoop Malinowski · March 1, 2017 at 3:36 pm
Jg: I think the fact that Tiafoe is getting into the winning position against the ATP elites is a very positive sign and it could be the most impressive achievement so far by any of the USA NEXT GEN brigade –
Andrew Miller · March 1, 2017 at 4:28 pm
We can’t count losses as wins. Otherwise we should hand an award to Fritz for losing to Sock in five sets in two slams. We can call it the close but no cigar award.
I agree that if you lose but played as hard as possible and came close that builds confidence. Depends on how you lose. If you lose from two sets up, that match is more like two matches! You win the best of three and lost the best of five. Pleased with the first two sets and dejected by the next three.
For confidence you need to have takeaways. If you played tooth and nail that’s good and should help. If you double served your way to a loss, that’s not so great.