Tennis-Record-chasing Isner Bids to Serve up Murray Upset
LONDON on June 28 (Reuters) - American John Isner could make his mark as the best player in the game on Wednesday, with the record for the most aces of all time in his sights but standing in his way at Wimbledon is a player with a the reputation of taking on big servers, Andy Murray.
Isner has played over 13,000 aces over the course of his 15-year career. He is currently 40 short of Ivo Karlovic's record of 13,728 on ATP Tour.
There would be the best place to do it than Centre Court but the 37-year-old American has lost eight times he has played twice Wimbledon champion Murray. But they've never met on grass.
"Andy is a completely different animal. He's a lot harder to hit because his anticipation is just amazing," said Isner, who fired down 54 aces in his first-round win of five sets.
"He's so much more comfortable on the grass than me. He has more wins in this tournament that I do.
"Grass could be his best surface but it's not mine." It's very good for my serve.
Murray however, is no longer at his peak since hip surgery and the 35-year-old who last beat Isner in 2016 is concerned about losing his rhythm against the American who also has one of the fastest recorded serves in the history of tennis.
"You aren't always in control of (the games). You can go four or five games of service return without having any chances," Murray said.
"But for whatever reason, I've always played well against them (big servers). The match-ups have been good for me."
Centre Court will welcome back day one winners and will feature Briton Emma Raducanu facing Caroline Garcia of France and Novak Djokovic facing Thanasi Kokkinakis from Australia.
"Caroline is an extremely tough opponent. I played her earlier on in the year at Indian Wells and it was an intense match. She plays a very fast tennis I'm up for it," said Raducanu.
Kokkinakis, who is ranked 79th in the world, admitted that he wasn't the favourite against Djokovic.
"It's going to be good fun out there , and I'm going to swing free hopefully and play my game," he said.
"He's a brick wall, so you have to beat him - he's not going to take it easy on himself.