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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS WIMBLEDON

July 4, 2017

John Isner

Wimbledon, London, England

J. ISNER/T. Fritz

6-4, 7-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Nice first win. How are you feeling?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, it was a good match. I thought I did a lot of good things well. I served extremely well and serve and volleyed a lot, which felt very comfortable out there today. Doing that in Queen's and in Eastbourne didn't feel comfortable to me.

So I committed to that big time today, and didn't relent at all.

It paid off. It was a good match.

Q. Big thing for you is health and how you're feeling.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah.

Q. So how are you at this point?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I feel great. I'm healthy. Strong, and I'm fit. Not much bothering me at all. Of course there is always something here or there that needs to get worked on before a match, but all in all, I consider myself very healthy.

Q. Just general grass comfort level. It hasn't been your favorite surface.
JOHN ISNER: For sure, I think today I won a lot of free points, of course, but I won a lot of points when Taylor hit good returns back. So that's very encouraging. I kept up with that throughout the whole match.

These courts at Wimbledon, especially, I like them. I think they're a bit, maybe a bit slower and a bit firmer, if that kind of goes -- two different things. But the courts in Queen's I felt a bit slippery but these courts are great. The practice courts are great, as well.

It was a good match to win. My prep coming in, I mean, I lost to two good grass court players, which is, I guess, pretty tough draws.

But I feel good right now.

Q. You have said in the past that you like playing on clay in part because the slowness of the surface is not going to dull your serve. Your serve is going to be fine no matter what you're playing on, but it gives you help maybe in other aspects.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah.

Q. So is it the case then that maybe if the courts are slower here that actually is okay or may be beneficial?
JOHN ISNER: No, it's okay. I'm comparing, you know, the courts here to the other grass court events I played. These courts are faster than a clay court.

But these courts can do a lot of very good things for me. Mainly my serve, my serve-and-volley technique, and my serve-and-volley game, does a lot of very, very good things.

It rewards generally the most aggressive player. It's tough to play defense here. Tough to play defense for anyone, really, especially for a guy like me.

If I can free up and play the right way and play aggressively on return games, this can be a very good surface.

Q. You have been coming here for a while. Do you notice differences year to year in the grass here and the courts here, or does it tend to be consistent, if you like?
JOHN ISNER: I think it's pretty consistent. Since I have been playing here I haven't noticed anything too different. The ball bounces pretty pure for a grass court.

I have heard it's much slower than it was 20 years ago, but I like these courts a lot.

Q. Seven retirements in the men's draw, first round, and only one on the women's. I don't know if that's indicative of anything. Or it's always more men to women.
JOHN ISNER: No, it is, for sure. I think you get a situation where, especially when you're playing a guy like Novak or Roger, you have to be 100% fit if you want to have any chance to beat them. It's sort of the same thing, if you're not feeling fit, if something's bothering you then you really have zero chance to win. Those guys are going to pull the plug.

It never happens to me. I have played over 550 matches or something, I have had one retirement. I was up two sets to Love, and I didn't want it, either. I don't know.

Q. You're talking against?
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I have never had one before a match and I have had one...

Q. Opponent retiring, you mean?
JOHN ISNER: Against me. I get it, I'm a different player than Djokovic. Maybe if they are tweaked a little bit they can keep it closer with me. I understand that part.

Q. Djokovic got three at the US Open.
JOHN ISNER: Yeah, you know, that's right, a couple years ago.

You know, again, as I said, going up against a guy like that who returns everything and is just pretty relentless out there, if you're not feeling 100% fit, it's tough to play.

Q. If the guy isn't feeling 100% fit and playing against Djokovic, do you think he has an obligation to stay out there for the whole match?
JOHN ISNER: I do think so. I do think so unless there is something -- you don't really know what the player is going through. If it's just excruciating pain, okay, you can't play. If something is tweaked here or there and you feel like you can give it a decent go without hurting yourself, I think they should stay out there and I think you owe it to the fans.

I know the Wimbledon Centre Court didn't get their money's worth today. That's for sure.

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