or... maybe better said.. the first player ever to take more than one set from Nadal at Roland Garros after 7 years of competing at the most physically demanding tournament in sport of tennis... if you think about that.. this guy nadal is not such a bad player on clay after all.. really..
@@sebastianciarfella3061 I think everyone knows what the match of Isner’s life is. In fact that match screwed Isner up for a while. This match was when he started getting back in the groove.
@@user-mf5ue6rc5n fed stopped djokers 43 match winning streak (sorry if its 41 i cant remember) in like a 4 hour match, which isnt super long. but those two played so fucking good for those 4 sets, federer was defending perfectly, they had so many long rallies and it was the first time we saw peak djokovic outplayed in his prime. it was federers greatest clay court match of his life
Image if Isner won this, this would’ve been the biggest upset not only in Roland Garros history, but also in Tennis History in my opinion. Cause this was a 1st round match and at the time Nadal had 5 Roland Garros titles.
If Isner had won this match, actually, Federer would habe two trophy of RG. Nonetheless, the 2011 edition really was a wasted opportunity for Federer to win RG. The first set of the final still hurts.
@@claudioburgosgonzalez2844 yea that final was brutal. he could have easily gone at least 5 sets, the only thing that makes me doubt that he could have won it was the score in the 4th set being 6-1. but then again, its a big mental block when u go down, so fed def could've taken it. 2007 too.. he was like 1/23 on break points or something
Nah. Dustin Brown over Nadal in 4 sets in R2 at Wimbledon still is the craziest upset to me. Because Nadal didn't play bad. He just got smoked by a guy who you never know what's going to come off his racquet.
Isner is 6-11 and Nadal's heavy top spin kick ground strokes jump into his strike zone. Isner has decent ground stokes especially on the forehand. Add to that , Isner gets many free points with arguably the greatest serve in tennis history and that's a recipe for an upset. If this were best of 3, Rafa would have lost. Also, Isner defeated Roger Federer on Red clay too. Isner is a tough out for any player with a serve like that. It forces the opponent to hold. It's incredible pressure even on clay against Nadal. This was a magnificent match from both players. One of the best in French history because of the huge imposing game Isner presents versus the relentless ground game from Rafa.
Isner is about 6”10, that’s why Nadal’s topspin forehands weren’t affecting him, they were actually popping up perfectly for John. This is why Nadal struggled in this match, he wasn’t able to get Isner out of his comfort zone with the his bread and butter forehand.
No, thats not why, lmao.. Isner's height doesnt give him some insurance against Rafa who is unable against height of a certain player... he just didnt play that well for 3 sets. Normal day in the office he wipes Isner off the court.
It's beyond me how Nadal won RG in 2011. Was surely his worst run there just as worse as in 2015, but he still won. In fact he had to fight through very, very tough draw. I mean Isner for first round, then Ljubicic for round of 16, last year's finalist Soderling for quaters, then Murray at semi and Federer in the final.
Well, I guess Nadal can play at 50%, and still probably win the tournament. Where as how he played there in 2017, it's probably the closest thing to impossible within tennis to beat him there that year
NLLeFa its beyond me how you can exagerate like this. You really call Murray, Ljubicic and Isner great challenges for Nadal on clay ? The guy has 11h roland garros titles, a record of 2 defeats ever on surface in five sets play. Even for me , a big Federer fan, I just knew would happen the same in the final again. Soderling was devasteted in RG 2010 final in straight sets, and he played a really decent match. The only player that can challenge Nadal on clay is Djokovic at his very best, the others dont have weapons to hurt Nadal, sad but true.
@@@dusanperez9422 Thiem can challenge Nadal in other clay tournaments, yes, but not RG yet. Nadal and Thiem have played 3 times at RG, and it's been one sided every time so far. So I'm not convinced Thiem can really challenge Nadal at RG until I see it
Its just unfair with Thiem. Isner have the greatest serve on tour, that gives him tons of free points. Thiem had to play 5 sets against Djokovic, the number 1 in the world. Besides, its totally different to play Nadal on early stages than playing him in the final. He is undefeated in the final (12-0), never pushed to a decider none of those occasions.
@21Youngstars ZH97 Could be a reason, but the main reason was obviously Isner's serve. Nadal faced only one break point in the entire match, which means he was not having problems to confirm his service games. You know, in tie breaks anything can happen.
What makes Nadal practically impossible to beat on clay is that aside from his consistently aggressive, yet safe groundstrokes on clay you are forced to play Nadal's game on the dirt. It dictates that you do. On hard or grass you can try to outhit him or go for broke and succeed. Clay doesn't let you do that. The surface forces you to play into Nadal's hands. On top of his great defense on any surface, you can't redline or play a very offensive strategy on clay long enough over 5 sets to get the best of Nadal. Especially when he's playing at a high level. Only Djokovic in his prime could possibly hang with an in form Nadal on clay over 5 sets.
Good point there. On clay you have to outplay your opponent. You have to earn your points and be patient. The serve is not a good weapon unlike on fast surfaces, so every point you win is due to huge work mainly from the baseline. You depend on yourself on that surface, howerver on fast courts even the best can lose to the worst if the worst has his day on serve. Even if you want to get into rallies and then control the point with your shots, the opponent can just go for his shots from any angle, as you said ''go for broke and succeed''. Main reason why I hate grass court tennis. Of course that's my opinion, I may be wrong, but I don't see how the grass court shows the quality of a player except for the serve and who goes to the net more often/faster.
yeah so what roger has done by dominating on surfaces that gives everyone a fare chance to play their game is more impressive than a very strong player in nadal who plays loopy shots over and over again to players weaker backhand shots that bounces to players shoulders hoping for misses which usually happens and what you admitted its hard to do anything about it because the crappy surface allows hum to do it while not allowing you to go for your own shots so if your are a fan of this surface knock yourself out but i would take federers all surface accomplishments and pure style of playing over nadals any day
NLLeFa because tennis is also a game about reflexed and skill. Grass forces you to react faster and hit more delicate shots which also require a lot of skill. Clay is mostly a battle of attrition whereas fast courts are about reflexes, timing and playing aggressively.
Rickey Brace grass produces the most boring tennis unless both the two players don't have big serves.Nadal-Djokovich on clay or slow hard court is much more entertaining than Federer-Isner on grass.Just two guys trying to out ace each other where most of the rallies are just three shots.
Rickey Brace not just loopy backhands but with a devastating forehand that produced a lot of winners.If Federer can't handle Nadal's backhand that's his problem.
First class editing, and thank you so much for showing the score, it makes so much difference. I have watched loads of tennis uploads on RU-vid, many of which never show the score at all, which loses a lot of the tension when you don't know if it's game point, break point, or even what the set score is. I have asked why they can't show the score, and never get a reply.
Great match. We can see massive serves, heavy shotmaking and some shots rallies. In Nadal standards we could say that we needed play in "God Mode", trying to short rallies and Isner probably had the stronger serves and heavy forehand, for example. It bring diversity of strategies in Nadal standards, because American Tennis isn't defensive.
Isner took more sets off Nadal here (2) than Nadal's next 6 opponents combined (1). Those 6 opponents included Federer (1 set), Murray (0), and Soderling (0); Soderling had reached the prior two FO finals. Part of this wild stat was Isner playing his best clay match, and part was Nadal coming into the French with an apparent huge loss of confidence after losing to Djokovic in 2 consecutive clay masters finals. This Isner match helped Nadal a lot; see his fire at the end.
I grew up in the US most my life and only played on clay when I lived in Mexico for 3 years when I was 18-21 yrs old. Clay surface is so different. I honestly love it.
@GTS Djokovic did it against worse version Rafa and only one time and soderling the man who got his ass handed to him two straight years after his victory Conclusion:Nadal on clay the highest level tennis world has ever seen
@GTS Hahaha saltiness level:1000 if you say that I can say the same for Roger Who runs like a cheetah on court at 38 etc... Maybe even Novak who knows ? Like it or not he will go down as the most invincible player on a specific surface in tennis history Cheers 🍺🍺🍺
@GTS Soderling yes. However, Chokovic was super lucky since he faced an injured Nadal. What's hilarious is that he still couldn't vulture the title that year.
@GTS Soderling and Djokovic were only able to catch the hobbling, diminished version on the One-Man Armada, Captain Rafael Barbossa. The other 9 times at Roland Garros, when facing Captain Nadal, they had to walk the plank.
The fans didn't want to see Nadal lose but they wanted to see him struggle to win. Isner was great and he has the mindset of a winner even he doesn't have the skills
Imagine you sign up for the The French Open during a season where you are playing the best tennis of your life, and in round 1 in the very first match, they tell you you are playing against Rafa Nadal.
Honour list of 5 sets against Nadal in Clay courts 1- Guillermo Coria Roma 2005 2- Roger Federer Roma 2006 3- John Isner Roland Garros 2011 4- Novak Djokovic Roland Garros 2013
The reason we call Nadal a fighter is because he has the ability to stay as mentally aggressive in the 5th set as he does in the first especially on clay where he uses the most energy to hit his shots
After having seen some sequences of him, I really don't understand why so many tennis fans call Isner a "boring player", claiming that he "can't even play". He sure is out of the box due to his size, but I find him very spectacular.
@@davd1986 maybe yes, but be honest with yourself. Did federer ever take nadal to a 5th set in RG? john only needed 1 match to take him that far, meanwhile roger after 6 matches in RG only got as far as get to a 4th set, which means isner was closer to beat nadal in RG than federer, and i tell you this being a fed fan but at least I can see objectibly
@@sandorhajdu1615 AO 2022 final: Rafa wins the greatest match of his career. I think it beats Wimbledon 2008 in epicness because he should have won Wimbledon 2008 F after being ahead 6-4, 6-4, 3-3, 0-40 (Rafa had THREE BREAK POINTS on Roger Federer's serve!). Here is a "washed up" 35 year old Nadal in the AO 2022 final after 6 months not playing and playing the best hard court player of the previous 12 months (25 year old Medvedev) yet he pulled off the miraculous comeback. FO 2022: Rafa wins yet again!!! He had the draw from hell here and he had to beat 4 Top 10 players (including Djokovic in the QF) to win a slam for the first time in his career while he was the #5 seed (not like Roger's #17 seed in 2017AO and Roger played 4 Top 10 players also but it is expected to play many Top 10 players if you are #17). He is still winning of course because he is the GOAT.
Un match de dingo ! Je l'ai regardé pendant les révisions du bac 😅 Nadal avait une Gnak et une qualité de jeu qui lui a permis de gagner contre Isner, qui lui était surpuissant avec ses aces et ses coups droit destructeurs... Un régal à regarder. C'est une époque qui va nous manquer sans un Rafa à Roland Garros 😌
Isner played a great match here, but Rafa really blew it in the second and third sets. If he won even one of those sets he would have had Isner under control.
Best match Isner has ever played in his life. Easily. And it was a R1 loss. If Rafa hadn't gone cheat code on that early return game in the 5th, this might have ended differently. But he's the GOAT for a reason.
The guy Rafa nadal has won 4 French open without dropping a set a record 4 times.. Rafa is a legend.. He might not win any more grand slams but he is the king of kings
il a vraiment souffert dans ce match un premier tour en 5 sets ! je pense que dans ces souvenirs ca sera le plus dur a roland garros avec celui de mathieu 2006 3eme tour
The advantage Isner had was because of his height. For other players returning balls at or above shoulder level is a huge problem in FO. But for Isner it was not the case. All balls were of waist height level for him
Isner did so well against Rafa because Rafa's thing is hitting spinny balls that kick up high on clay. The issue is, "high" is manageable if you're almost 7 feet tall
ha ha...funny... but Rafa runs into the stands once too often... in wimbledon once he had to jump into the crowd because there was no more court left for him to run... he is the ultimate child-champ... the kid who will do anything to return the ball that the other guy fires at him...wonder if there will be another tennis player quite like him...
I really like this match this should have been there in top 5 matches of Rafa in Roland Garros,maybe this is just a round 1 match thats is why it isn't given that much importance,but Isner was close to the biggest shock and gave Rafa run for his money
Tennis Universe Isner was able to do it because of his serve.Isner could probably beat guys on grass who overall are superior to Isner.If Isner had a serve like Nadal he wouldn't even be a top 100 player
Jeffrey Kaufmann I think he could be because of his forehand and net skills.. you can’t be good only because of your serve, otherwise you can’t break other players serve
Actually what really happened was at the beginning of the draw ceremony, they let Ana Ivanovic made the first draw. Since Nadal was the first seed , the first non seeded player picked in the draw ceremony would play Nadal and Ana just so happened to randomly pick Isner. So technically it’s Ana Ivanovic’s fault that Nadal had to play Isner in the first round.
