Tennis: Isner wants to return despite exit

John Isner. Photo / Getty Images

Crowd favourite John Isner says he wants to keep coming back to the tournament he won in Auckland last year despite a less than memorable performance in 2011.

Isner looked disconsolate at a media conference yesterday after being beaten in straight sets 6-4 7-6 by former world number three David Nalbandian of Argentina.

It followed a shaky win in his only other match at the tournament but the big American said he still had great affection for the tournament, the only one he has won in his career to date.

Nalbandian was in good form and may have been too tough anyway but Isner said he wish he'd given his supporters more.

"I love this tournament. As far as I can tell I would love to keep coming back here. I don't see any reason why not to," Isner said.

"You never want to go out in the quarters, especially to a tournament you won the year before, but that being said, the guy I lost to is world class."

Isner's efforts were surprising as he had played very well as the United States won the Hopman Cup mixed teams event in Perth last week, though he noted on Wednesday that he had been poor in that tournament the year before and then came to Auckland to win.

He said he felt he'd improved on his game against Robin Haase of the Netherlands on Wednesday night but that he still felt he could have done everything better.

Other than the long five-hour flight from Perth, which can be tough on a player's body clock, Isner said a lack of training at the end of last year due to injury might have been an issue.

"I actually didn't hit a ball all off-season, my ankle was still bothering me, the one that I hurt against Nalbandian (in Washington) in the summer," he said.

"I rested up, which was nice, but I wasn't able to get to work the way I would have liked to. Maybe that has something to do with it but it's going to continue to get better.

"I'll be back and I'll play better in Melbourne, that's for sure."

Perhaps the biggest indication Isner was off his game was that he couldn't win his tiebreak against Nalbandian. Last year he won 34 tiebreaks, more than anyone on the tour, of the 52 he played in.

His failure to defend his title is likely to see Isner drop at least one place from his current world ranking of 20. He would also fall behind Nalbandian, currently ranked 26, if the Argentine wins the tournament.

The Argentine faces Nicolas Almagro of Spain in today's semifinal after Almagro beat French qualifier Adrian Mannarino 7-6 6-7 6-2.

Almagro also has a doubles semifinal today after he and fellow Spaniard Marc Lopez won in straight sets.

The other singles semifinal is between top seed David Ferrer of Spain, a three-set winner over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber today, and unseeded Colombian Santiago Giraldo, who beat seventh seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in straight sets.

- NZPA