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My Point: Isner Inspired By Mom's Courage

  • Posted: Apr 11, 2018

My Point: Isner Inspired By Mom’s Courage

In the first of a new series of first-person essays on ATPWorldTour.com, top American John Isner opens up about the toughest moments of his life: When his mother, Karen, was diagnosed with colon cancer

Looking back on it, it was weird that I hadn’t heard from Mom in a few days. We usually talked every day, sometimes more, even if I was busy with tennis and classes at the University of Georgia.

It was February 2004, and I was in the second semester of my freshman year. We were beginning our spring tennis season, my game was in a good place, and we had just finished another weekend of matches. Life was good.

But when I woke up at around 8 a.m. in my McWhorter Hall dorm room to two missed calls, I thought something was definitely up. Maybe something had happened to one of my grandparents? Maybe, but surely nothing to Mom, not to the woman who had survived raising my two older brothers and me. Besides, she was in good health – she played tennis, lifted weights, ran – and she was only 50.

I was alone when I called her back.

I’m going to tell you something but I don’t want you to worry. It’s going to be OK,” she said.

But there’s a reason why I haven’t spoken to you the last few days.

I have cancer.”

***

Cancer, at that point in my life – I was 18, two months away from my 19th birthday – had been something I had read about in the news or something, unfortunately, that had happened to relatives or parents of friends. It wasn’t something that I had personally experienced.

But by the time I talked with my mom, cancer had already affected my family. She hadn’t called because she had been rushed into emergency surgery. Mom had been so ill – deathly sick, really – that she had gone to the hospital for what she had thought was appendicitis. She woke up to learn that she had “stage four” – very developed – colon cancer. A tumour had formed, and they had to remove it, immediately.

She didn’t tell me during the weekend because she wanted me to focus on my matches. We talked for a few minutes. She told me about her upcoming chemotherapy and her brutal path ahead.

I hung up, and I bawled. I sat there on my dorm room bed, with my Carolina Panthers poster on the cement wall, and cried and cried and cried. My mind was blank.

Less than six weeks earlier, I had been at home, celebrating Christmas with my family. Everyone was healthy, everything was perfect. Now I thought I was going to lose my mom.

***

I had actually wanted to get away from my parents. When I was deciding which college to attend, I picked Georgia because, No. 1, it was the right place for me and the tennis program was – and remains – incredible, but also because the university was perfectly located.

I wanted to leave North Carolina, where I had grown up, but I didn’t want to leave the South. The University of Georgia, about four hours away from my parents’ home in Greensboro, North Carolina, was the best of everything: easy enough to drive home to if I needed to but far enough away that my parents couldn’t come visit every weekend. Funny, isn’t it?

Because as I drove home on 106 North and then I-85 North, speeding past forests coming to life and two-stoplight towns in the South, I wanted to be nowhere else but home, in Greensboro, with my family.

We had shared so many ridiculous times at home. I remember my two older brothers – Nathan and Jordan – and I would eat so much food that my parents eventually bought a second refrigerator and put it in the laundry room. But we were eating that food so rapidly as well that my mom put a combination lock on the extra fridge.

My brothers and I, however, were smart kids. One time, one of us slyly peered over Mom’s shoulder as she entered the combination, and we again had reins to both refrigerators, until she noticed the attrition and changed the lock.

We ate so much, a cheeseburger counted as a snack. But we were good eaters, too: Every year my mom would plant a huge vegetable garden in the backyard, and we’d devour carrots and tomatoes.

We got into our share of trouble as well. One time, when I was maybe 7 or 8, my oldest brother Nathan took a “U” bicycle lock, shoved my head through it and locked me to his brass bed post. He left me there for a few hours until my mom came home and found me.

She was also the person waiting for me after Nathan would make me walk the three miles from the tennis courts to our house after I’d beaten him. He’d get so mad, he’d just take off – and this was before cell phones, so I couldn’t call or text someone for a ride.

But I knew this trip home would be a lot different. My usual road-trip music – CDs of The Allman Brothers Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doobie Brothers – wouldn’t cut it; I spent most of the next four hours on the phone, talking with family.

***

Mom had six months of chemotherapy waiting for her. On Monday through Wednesday, she’d sit for hours with a tube connected to her as the medicine seeped into her veins. Every other week, she’d go back.

But she never went alone. Someone – either myself, my dad, my aunt or uncle, or my brothers – would go with her, holding her hand or just trying to talk to her about anything else.

She’d feel OK for the first day or two after a session, but then she’d feel awful for days. Nauseated. Vomiting. She didn’t want to leave her bed. I’d call and ask how she was doing, “Oh, I’m fine,” she’d say. But then, later, I’d talk with my dad, who would tell me the truth.

My first trip back, right after I heard the news, I stayed for about a week, but then I returned to Georgia. I hated leaving my family, but, to be honest, it was easy to go back and keep playing tennis.

That was the one thing my mom wanted me to do – to keep playing – and because of that, I felt like, in some small way, I was able to do something for her.

She was right there with me, too: Mom came to every home tennis match that spring. She’d go to chemotherapy in the beginning of the week, drive down with my dad on Friday and, in between sleeping all weekend, she’d watch tennis.

I went home every couple of weeks during that spring season. Usually I headed back on a Monday, after a weekend of matches, and I’d come back to Athens on Wednesday. My coach, Manny Diaz, and my professors were so understanding. The tennis team secretary, who knew about my mom’s health, even baked me a cake on my birthday, 26 April.

***

The six months of chemotherapy had removed the cancer. Mom was in the clear, so we thought.

But she still came in for checkups so they could test her blood, and every time we learned she was OK, until October 2007, when doctors noticed something abnormal in her blood. The cancer had returned.

This time, however, we took her to the University of North Carolina Lineberger in Chapel Hill, and they started treating it even more aggressively. Doctors there attacked it with 28 radiation treatments and constant chemotherapy. For about six weeks, Mom carried around a chemotherapy bag so that the drugs could constantly be infused in her.

It worked. The tumour shrunk, and they surgically removed it. The rounds of checkups began again, but this time, they happened less frequently and less frequently until, finally, my mom didn’t have to go back at all.

She and my dad could come watch me play whenever they wanted, and they have. They’ve seen me in Indian Wells, Miami, New York, Cincinnati, Winston-Salem and Atlanta. Anywhere they can drive, they usually go.

During my 12-year ATP World Tour career, I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of intense matches. But I’ve never experienced anything like the pain my mom had to endure.

What I felt when it was 68-68 against Nicolas Mahut at 2010 Wimbledon? Doesn’t compare. The exhaustion I had during the first set of the Miami Open final against Alexander Zverev, before I won my first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title? Not even close.

My mom is also why we’ve raised more than $200,000 for UNC Lineberger during charity exhibitions. This year we’re raffling off a chance to come to Wimbledon, with proceeds benefiting the hospital, where the doctors saved my mom’s life and save lives every day.

When I think about whining about the heat or about what time I’m scheduled to play, one thought about the courage Mom has shown over the years places everything in perspective.

I’m one of the lucky ones. I play a game for a living, and, whether she’s at home or in the stands, I have the support of my mom.

– as told to Jonathon Braden

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Five Players With Surprising Stats In 2018

  • Posted: Apr 11, 2018

Five Players With Surprising Stats In 2018

Frenchman Herbert is 2018’s clutch player on break point

The first quarter of the year is in the books. Here are five fresh faces who are enjoying a fast start to the 2018 season that you need to keep an eye on in the coming months.

This Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis focuses on players ranked in the Top 10 in specific serve and return categories whom you might not expect to be ranked that high.

1. Pierre-Hugues Herbert
No. 1 – Break Points Saved
No. 1 – Break Points Converted

The Frenchman, currently No. 80 in the ATP Rankings, is 10-8 on the season, including a solid run to the Round of 16 at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Interestingly, he is 4-2 on the year against fellow Frenchmen, and has saved 72.36 per cent (89/123) of break points he has faced when serving. Amazingly, he also leads the Tour in 2018 in the other break point metric – break points converted when receiving. Herbert has converted 51.47 per cent (35/68) of break point opportunities in the first quarter of 2018.

2. Alex de Minaur
No. 5 – Second-Serve Points Won

The 19-year-old #NextGenATP Aussie has won an impressive 55 per cent (192/349) of his second-serve points through 14 matches (8-6) so far this year. He currently is at his career-best ATP Ranking of No. 114, primarily off the back of reaching the semi-finals of the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp and the final of the Sydney International in January, a run that included six victories over Top 50 opponents.

3. Nicolas Jarry
No. 9 – Service Games Won

The 22-year-old Chilean went 14-7 in the first quarter, reaching the finals of the Brasil Open, the semis of the Rio Open presented by Claro, and the quarter-finals of the Ecuador Open. Jarry turned 22 at the end of last year, and his 6’6” frame has helped him win 86.21 per cent (209/241) of his service games so far in 2018. Jarry started the year ranked No. 113, and has shot up to World No. 64 after the first three months.

4. Andrey Rublev
No. 1 – Second-Serve Return Points Won

The #NextGenATP Russian leads the Tour in this critical metric, winning 55.78 per cent (328/588) of second-serve points so far this season. The 20-year-old is ranked second in Return Games Won, winning 30.95 per cent (65/210). Rublev started 2018 on a tear, reaching the final of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, and the Australian Open third round.

5. Kevin Anderson
No 1 – Aces hit

Anderson typically trails players such as Ivo Karlovic, John Isner and Milos Raonic in the aces department. Not so this year. Anderson has stuck 373 aces so far in 22 matches to be almost 100 aces ahead of Karlovic (281). His favorite target is down the T, with 124 struck there in both Deuce and Ad courts, and 99 hit out wide.

Anderson: 2018 Ace Direction

  • Deuce Court Wide = 57
  • Deuce Court T = 68
  • Ad Court Wide = 31
  • Ad Court T = 56

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Simon Advances To Marrakech QFs

  • Posted: Apr 11, 2018

Simon Advances To Marrakech QFs

Seeds Ramos-Vinolas and Kohlschreiber fall

Gilles Simon emerged victorious in a battle of 2018 ATP World Tour titlists at the Grand Prix Hassan II on Wednesday.

The Tata Open Maharashtra champion overcame surprise Ecuador Open winner Roberto Carballes Baena 7-5, 6-1 in one hour and 49 minutes to book his place in the quarter-finals. The French veteran won 66 per cent of points behind his first serve and will next meet 2014 champion Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or fourth seed Richard Gasquet.

Morocco’s Lamine Ouahab produced a huge shock to open the day on Court Central, coming from a set down to defeat World No. 34 Philipp Kohlschreiber 2-6, 6-0, 7-6(3). Ouahab, competing in his first main draw match on the ATP World Tour in two years, won 69 per cent of points behind his first serve and broke last year’s finalist (l. to Coric) on four occasions to seal the one-hour, 34-minute victory in a decisive final-set tie-break. The World No. 617 will next face Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili, for a place in the quarter-finals.

“I was quite tense at the beginning,” admitted Ouahab. “This is my only chance to play an ATP World Tour 250-level event and it means a lot to me with a lot at stake.

“After a while I relaxed and focused on playing my game. That’s when I started playing better. I love playing at home and the support from the crowd is great. It helped a lot, especially in the final set.”

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Qualifier Alexey Vatutin produced one of the upsets of the day to beat top seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas 7-6(4), 6-2. The Russian, competing in his first ATP World Tour event, backed up his surprise win over Jan-Lennard Struff in style, taking just under two hours to knock the 2012 finalist out of the tournament.

Vatutin broke the World No. 23 on five occasions and will meet Pablo Andujar for a place in the semi-finals. Andujar, who recently won the Ferrero Challenger Open in Alicante, dropped just two games to advance, beating Andrea Arnaboldi 6-0, 6-2.

You May Also Like: Three Surgeries Later, Andujar Returns To Winners’ Circle

There was also success for Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri, who scored an impressive comeback win over Marton Fucsovics 1-6, 6-4, 6-2. The wild card, who reached the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals (l. to Bautista Agut) in February, upset the Hungarian No. 1 in two hours and seven minutes to book a second-round meeting against No. 8 seed Mischa Zverev.

Radu Albot also followed the trend of the day in Marrakech, recovering from losing a one-sided first-set to win 12 of the next 15 games and beat Italy’s Andreas Seppi 1-6, 6-3, 6-0. The Moldovan had lost all four previous sets played against the World No. 62, but found notable success behind his second serve (22/34) on the Moroccan clay to earn his place in a second-round clash with second seed Kyle Edmund.

Did You Know?
Ouahab reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II in 2015, when the event was played in Casablanca, defeating Robin Haase and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez before falling to Daniel Gimeno-Traver.

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Konta & Watson in GB team for Fed Cup play-off

  • Posted: Apr 11, 2018
Japan v Great Britain – Fed Cup 2018 play-offs
Venue: Bourbon Beans Dome, Miki, Japan Dates: 21-22 April
Coverage: Live coverage on BBC Radio 5 live, the BBC Sport website and mobile app.

Johanna Konta will lead Great Britain’s Fed Cup team when they play Japan in the World Group II play-offs on 21-22 April.

Wimbledon semi-finalist and British number one Konta, 26, and Heather Watson, 25, will be the singles players for the tie on hard courts at the Bourbon Beans Dome in Miki, Japan.

Doubles specialist Anna Smith, 29, and debutant Gabi Taylor, 20, also feature.

Britain have not played in the World Group since 1993.

A win would secure their place in World Group II in 2019 but a loss would mean they return to the Europe/Africa Zone next year.

Konta and Watson won singles matches as Britain beat Hungary 2-0 in February to reach the play-offs.

After the win over Hungary, British captain Anne Keothavong said: “It’s been a great effort to get out of this zone and I don’t want to be back here next year.”

Britain lost 3-2 in Romania in the World Group II play-offs in 2017.

They were also beaten at the same stage in Argentina in 2013 and in Sweden in 2012.

Keothavong said: “I am delighted to name our strongest possible team. We have been so close since 2012 and hopefully the fourth will be a charm.”

Konta has slipped from ninth in the world rankings at the start of the year to 23rd, while Watson, ranked 77th, is on a run of seven straight losses and has not won a match since January.

Taylor has won three lower-tier titles this year to climb from 323 to 175 in the rankings.

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Out Wide: Denis Kudla

  • Posted: Apr 11, 2018

Out Wide: Denis Kudla

American weighs in on music, sports and more

From tennis to tattoos, literature to world leaders, name a topic, and Denis Kudla likely has an opinion.

Born in Kiev, Ukraine and raised in the Washington D.C. area, Kudla is well-traveled, well-read, and well-versed in sports, the arts, politics and just about everything in between. ATPWorldTour.com recently caught up with the 25-year-old to find out more.

What’s your biggest passion outside of sports, and why?
My biggest passion outside of sports would be music. I played piano when I was younger but I have a passion for all genres of music. I think it’s amazing to listen to the art that comes from a musician’s mind. It’s something that’s always intrigued me.

Do you have a favourite genre of music?
I’m into deep house and I also like alternative a lot. Alter Bridge has always been my favourite band. Right now, I’m listening to old school bands like Puddle of Mudd and stuff like that. Nothing too crazy, just music that gets the adrenaline going.

What was the last concert you attended?
The Red Hot Chili Peppers during their farewell tour. It was pretty good. I wouldn’t say it was the best concert I’ve ever been to or anything, but it’s the Red Hot Chili Peppers and they’re legendary.

What’s the last book you read?
The last book I read was Bang Bang: My Life in Ink by Bang Bang. He’s a tattoo artist from Manhattan and he does tattoos for all the big celebrities. He started with Rihanna — he was her personal tattoo artist. He’s done work on Justin Bieber and a bunch of athletes like Thierry Henry… he shared his stories in the book and I’ve always liked tattoos. I’ve got two.

And your favourite book of all time?
That would be Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. It described how these great people didn’t just come about by luck, it fell into place for them at a young age by a snowball effect. They managed to find their way through things and through different situations. It was very, very interesting.

What historic world leader do you admire the most and why?
Nelson Mandela, for what he did in South Africa in bringing equality there, and what he meant to the world by standing up for what he believed.

What’s your favourite sport to watch outside of tennis, and why?
I’ve always loved hockey. Being from Washington D.C., with the franchise championship droughts — even conference championship droughts — I’ve always been into hockey. My family is from Eastern Europe, hockey’s been in our family. My brother and I have a huge passion for it.

Outside of your immediate family and a significant other, whom do you admire the most?
My coach, Dustin Taylor, just because of the way he’s able to bring perspective into my life in a variety of ways. I think that’s an incredible ability for a coach to have and I admire that.

My tennis career will be a success if I…
If I’m able to leave the sport knowing that I gave it my all, and that I put it all on the line. It’s a cheesy answer, but it’s something a lot of (pro players) truly believe.

After my tennis career, I want to…
Have a lot of money (laughs). I want to coach. I want to stay in the sport. It’s what I’ve known my whole life. To be able to help others in tennis would be something special, something important.

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