By Erik Gudris | July 17, 2014

 

U.S. No.1 John Isner once again is booked for a busy summer of hard court tennis. That includes the upcoming Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

Photo Credit: AP

John Isner is not just the go-to guy for American men's tennis. In many ways, he's been the only guy for the U.S with any significant results the last few years. Once again, the U.S. No.1 enters this year's summer hard court season with an ambitious schedule that he hopes will pay off with big results.

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At the moment, Isner is scheduled to compete in all five US Open Series events leading up to the US Open in New York. That includes the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. The ATP 500 event is a special one for Isner. He first played there as a wildcard back in 2007 where he reached the final against Andy Roddick.

Now making his seventh appearance at the event, Isner feels this year's field is stronger than ever. Yet Isner sees it more as an opportunity rather than a challenge.

"I think it's more exciting for me. I always want to go up against…me personally I want to go up against guys that are ranked higher than me because that's normally a good thing," Isner said during a pre-event conference call. "It's going to be a high level of competition, and it's a crucial stop, really. I think it's the big reason why we're seeing some very, very tough European players coming over across the pond pretty early to compete in Washington."

It's no secret that Isner plays his best tennis on the hard courts of America. While some might view Isner's schedule, that kicks off at next week's tournament in Atlanta, as perhaps overkill, he doesn't see it that way. For him, it's about getting in as many matches as he can before New York while finding a balance both mentally and physically between each event.

"Things could happen along the way, but as of right now I plan to enter into every event. If there is a case where certainly I'm not playing so well, then I do want to play as many tournaments as I can, and get some matches in before the US Open. But I'm going to see how the summer plays out and just make some decisions from there, but as of right now my focus is on Atlanta, which starts next week."

Isner tried the same approach last year before New York with mixed results.

He started strong by winning Atlanta and reaching the finals of Washington and Cincinnati. But even after pulling out of his hometown event at Winston-Salem to rest, Isner ending up losing in the US Open third round to Philipp Kohlschreiber.

While some American fans probably wish that Isner would pace himself this summer, organizers at each U.S. tourney rely on Isner to be present. Currently ranked No. 12, Isner remains the lone American man inside the top 20. With no hopes in sight of any other U.S. man even remotely reaching that level anytime soon, Isner remains a big draw card for local fans.

Having been U.S. No. 1 for some time now, Isner is used to the added expectations to do well during this stretch of the season. That pressure could ramp up though considering no American man made it into the fourth round of last year's US Open for the first time ever. Isner, however, only focuses on the pressure he places on himself.

"Yeah, I always naturally put a little pressure on myself because I always want to do very well in every tournament I play in. I absolutely can't stand losing. It's a really bad feeling. I guess knowing that I have done very well when the summer season rolls around in the past, it kind of maybe puts a little pressure on me a little bit to do just as well or even better in this upcoming summer. But I'm really not looking at it that way. I've had a pretty good year so far, and it's super cliché, but you've just got to take it one match at a time, and that's what I did last summer."

Feeling fresher than he did last year, Isner certainly could find himself making deep runs at each stop of the US Open Series. How he manages his itinerary and deal with the added attention of playing at home will once again be one of the summer's big stories.

Isner may be called "Big John" by some. Yet his busy schedule, if he pulls it off, could well earn him a new nickname by summer's end - "Ironman".