Isner Loses in 2nd Round of French Open

John Isner fell to Paul Henri-Mathieu in another epic grand slam five set match 6-7, 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 18-16. I really hate it when I'm right. Here's what I said last night:

This will not be easy, but it's a match Isner should win. I don't think we'll see as routine an outing as John had in round 1. In fact, this could be one of those long matches John has become known for.

I still stand by all of that. This is a match that Isner should have won. He had 98 unforced errors. 98! Granted, 45 came in the 5th set which was 34 games long (that's more games than the first three sets combined). John just didn't have his A game in the 2nd or 3rd set. He got back into a groove in the 4th. In the 5th, Mathieu had the huge advantage of serving first in the fifth set of a grand slam. It's so hard to constantly be playing from behind when you have to win by two.

This probably sounds like sour grapes at the moment, but I think it's time for all grand slams to play a tiebreaker in the 5th like the US Open does. I'm not alone here either.

No tie breaks was the tradition, that doesn't make it right. Whoever wins this match is cooked for the next one, you can't train for this.

— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) May 31, 2012

What really concerns me for John is that the marathon Wimbledon match a few years ago pretty much ruined the rest of his year. Now, that match was much longer and spanned three days. So while this match won't take the same toll, it will still be a significant one. I'd like to see John get some rest and play less tournaments in the hard court season. Specifically, I'd like to see him skip the Winston-Salem tournament right before the US Open, but there is no way he will skip a tournament that close to his home town. Hopefully he will take some measures to rest up and get his body right.

John Isner: French Open Round 1 Schedule

John Isner is scheduled to play in the third match on court 2 tomorrow (Monday) against Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil. Play on court 2 begins at 11 am local time. If you have DirecTV, I think you can catch the match on channel 706. Otherwise, you'll need to rely on network coverage. The French Open will be on either ESPN2 or Tennis Channel depending on what time the match starts. Here's the Fed Ex ATP Head 2 Head between Isner and Silva.

French Open Draw Released: Isner's Path to the Quarterfinals

The French Open draw was released today, and I think it sets up nicely for John Isner. For the past few years, tennis has been dominated by the "big four" of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray. Only one of those four, Andy Murray, has yet to win a grand slam tournament. Isner landed in Murray's section of the draw, which is where you want to be.

I think a realistic goal for Isner would be to make the quarterfinals. To do this, he would likely only have to "upset" one opponent. Let's take a look at what Isner's path to the quarterfinals could look like.

For the sake of projecting players forward, I used seed or current ranking. The only exception is with Mathieu over Phau. I just have a feeling the Frenchman will advance in that spot. If this holds, John is facing a player that plays predominantly on clay in every round shown.

Mathieu could be a tough out in round 2. John would be playing against both Mathieu and the partisan crowd. Sticking to the predictions above, Isner would then have to face Spaniards in back to back rounds in Marcel Granollers and David Ferrer.

Can John get through all of these players and face Andy Murray in the quarterfinals? He can, but I would have felt a lot better about it if you'd asked me that question a month ago. However, the odds of this portion of the draw looking like I have it are slim to none. Someone will be upset. I think the winner of the Haase / Youzhny match (no offense to James Blake) has a legitimate shot at taking out Ferrer in the third round.

Play begins on Sunday 5/27, but I don't know when Isner plays yet. The first round is played over three days, so he could play his first round match as late as Tuesday. Bulldawg Blawg will keep you up to date throughout the tournament as long as Isner is involved. Let's hope that is all the way through it!

John Isner Update: Internazionali BNL d'Italia Day Two

John Isner and Sam Querrey lost their first round doubles match to Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Philipp Petzschner of Germany 3-6, 7-6 (7), 10-5. I can't say that I'm surprised by this loss, especially considering Querrey won his singles match against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 7-6 (4), 5-7, 6-4 earlier today. It's tough to go right back out there and play doubles after a tough 3 setter like that.

Up next for John in singles is Andreas Seppi of Italy. Seppi is currently ranked number 30 in the world. Isner and Seppi are scheduled to be the fourth match played on Pietrangeli court. Play on this court begins at 11AM local time, which is 5AM Eastern. So to be honest, I have no idea when this match will start! My best suggestion is to follow Courtney Nguyen (@SI_BTBaseline). Courtney is all over the ATP, and will likely tweet when the match is set to begin.

Tennis Channel has had great coverage thus far. You should be able to catch the match live depending on who else is playing at the same time. Tennis Channel is on channel 217 for DirecTV subscribers. Check with your provider if you have another service. If you can't get Tennis Channel, you could also get a one month subscription to TennisTV.com for $19.99.

John Isner Update: Internazionali BNL d'Italia Day One

John Isner defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in his first round match at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2-6, 7-6 (3), 6-2. You can catch a few highlights here. Up next for John is Andreas Seppi of Italy. Seppi is currently ranked number 30 in the world.

Should Isner continue to advance, his likely opponents would be number nine seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the round of 16, followed by some guy named Roger Federer in the quarterfinals. Isner would most likely then face world number one Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, followed by some other guy named Rafael Nadal in the finals. Here is a link to the draw if you would like to look at other scenarios.

That all may seem a little ridiculous, but let's not forget Isner has already defeated both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic earlier this year.

John has tomorrow off as far as single goes, but he will be playing doubles with Sam Querrey. They will face off against Jurgen Melzer of Austria and Philipp Petzschner of Germany.

I'll be sure to keep you posted on John's progress through this tournament. If you have the Tennis Channel, you can catch the matches live. Once Wednesday's schedule of play is announced, I'll post John's match time.