Does Isner Have a Chance?

I thought Gilles Simon would get enough returns in play to dominate John Isner in rallies.  I figured Isner might win one set in a tie-break, but that Simon would be too much.  I was wrong.  Can he beat Andy Murray?

The positive side of me thinks Isner has one of the top 5 serves in the world, has played great tennis this Summer with 2 titles and 1 runner-up finish prior to this US Open, and has just faced an ideal sparring partner for preparing for Andy Murray.  Also, Murray has had a habit of head scratching losses and lapses of concentration during matches.  If Isner can take two sets off of Rafa on clay, then to paraphrase George C. Scott in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, “Hell yeah, he’s got a chance!”

However, it is a puncher’s chance.  If Andy Murray plays up to his potential, he will beat Isner and reach his fourth Grand Slam semifinal of 2011.

Roddick vs. Rafa

Andy Roddick has a great chance of advancing to the semifinal round of the 2011 US Open.  For one, Roddick has felt disrespected.  His play at Wimbledon in 2009 versus Andy Murray was fueled in part by Lleyton Hewitt implying that Roddick had no chance of beating Murray.   Roddick is mad at John McEnroe, mad at the USTA and mad at tennis writers in general.  Roddick versus the world, plus a favorable crowd, plus a surface that Rafa has never loved means Roddick can play up his over the hill underdog status and attempt to shock the world.  I may be crazy, but I am going to pick Roddick to win in 4 tight sets.

Nadal may also be in a no quarter sort of mood given the scheduling of the US Open.  If both guys come out snarling at the world and the powers that be in tennis, this could be an instant classic.