DAVIS CUP FINALS

November 26, 2021

John Isner

Team USA

Press Conference

J. SINNER/J. Isner

6-2, 6-0

Italy - 2

USA - 0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. It's kind of the same story with Lorenzo and Jannik, they virtually made no errors today. Is that how it felt for you on court today playing Jannik?

JOHN ISNER: Yeah, it was certainly tough. I definitely ran up against a buzz saw today. You know, he was entirely too good. I didn't really have a chance out there.

There's not many times I can think back where I didn't at least give myself a shot, a chance to maybe turn things around in a match. That was the case today.

Of course all the credit goes to him. He's an incredible talent, and I think more importantly than that, he's a very, very nice kid, too.

Q. You met him in Cincinnati a couple months ago. Has he made adjustments since then or were things different today at all?

JOHN ISNER: Yeah, the conditions are definitely different in Cincinnati, for sure. I think they might favor me a little bit there.

Seemed to be like a good court for him here, but, you know, there's not much I could have done today, really. I mean, I wish I could have been in a little better form. I think I could have given him a better match.

I just haven't played much. He's been playing a lot, so that has something to do with it a little bit. Maybe if I had little more matches under my belt, I could make the match a little closer, but I don't know if there is many people that can beat him on this court. He played well, for sure.

Q. Physically are you feeling all right? Are you ready to...

JOHN ISNER: Physically I'm fine. That was like a match warmup out there. I wasn't on the court that long. I definitely think Frances is going to play one of the singles, there's no doubt, and it's just a matter of me and Reilly or even Jack, too. We have a lot of options. We'll see what happens.

Q. I went back 15 years in your activity. I never found you losing with this score. Do you remember some kind of similar score or some sort of one-sided match that you lost in this way? How do you explain it?

JOHN ISNER: The answer is no, I don't. I can't remember a match that I lost that easily. We kind of spoke about that in the locker room just now, too. I can't remember a match that I have lost like that. Maybe this is the first time.

I felt he had a lot of time out there and I wasn't getting any free points. It made it very tough for me. He was locked in. He's hitting the ball extremely well and has a lot of confidence, too. There were a lot of things that kind of snowballed into what happened out there today.

As I said earlier, even if I played at my absolute best, I don't know if I could have beaten him today. So he was very good.

Q. Do you see him becoming a top 3 player? I know it's very difficult to make that kind of predictions, but the way he plays and on this surface more than somewhere else, or...

JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I mean, I'm sure he hears it a lot maybe from, you know, guys like you and girls like you in the media, so there is going to be a lot of pressure on him to do well, but the answer is yes, I do see him as a top 3 player.

I think a surface like this indoors is probably maybe his best surface. I don't know. He had really good results indoors this year, won some tournaments, stuff like that.

I think he's just 20 years old maybe. Yeah, he's got a super bright future. Our sport is going to be lucky to have him around, I think, for sure.

Q. Tough match today. How was the experience of dealing with the crowd? I know he played well on his own, of course, but did you feel he was able to lean into the crowd to get more momentum as things were going his way?

JOHN ISNER: Yeah. I mean, the crowd was great. The crowd was super fun to play in front of. I wish I could have given them something to, you know, cheer against me for or something.

I thought the crowd was great, super patriotic for Italy. It was a very cool atmosphere to play in front of. We haven't, in the last two years, we haven't had many atmospheres like that. Super fun crowd to play in front of. I wish I could still be on the court playing right now, competing and trying to win for the USA, but didn't happen. Wasn't even close.

But the crowd was fantastic. The people in this city are very passionate about their sport, and I think it showed today.

Q. You mentioned the court itself was maybe not best suited to you today. May be the same for Reilly. Can you expand a little bit about that, maybe why it was better for Jannik than your game?

JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I mean, it's a big court, so for these guys, they have the option of obviously staying on the baseline or going back as far as they want. The court's a little bit slower, and after a few games with new balls, the balls sort of fluff up. It's real hard to hit winners, especially against great movers.

I think Jannik is considered one of those guys who moves extremely well. Yeah, it was I think a pretty good surface for him. It's not a surface that I dislike. It's just, you know, he has been playing a lot, and he was just way too good.

Q. I just wanted to know what you think about the reports of moving the event to Abu Dhabi, and if the players are going to have anything to say about that, just in general? What do you think about the format changes the last few years?

JOHN ISNER: Okay, moving the Davis Cup to Abu Dhabi?

Q. Right.

JOHN ISNER: Okay. I haven't heard that report. I don't have a great sample size with the new format. It was canceled last year, and this is only the second year it's been played like this.

I mean, I think our team likes it here, so I can't speak for anyone else. I think the format is cool. It's pretty unique. You know what you have to do to advance to the final eight.

I'm sorry, but I can't speak to the reports about Abu Dhabi, because I simply haven't heard about that.