John Isner Quickly Distancing Himself From the American Pack

The scoreline, 7-6(3), 6-4, was fairly close.  But the widening gap between young Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey was clear during Isner's win over his friend and compatriot in their third round match at the

Isner's rise to the upper echelon of the sport has been meteoric.  He needed a wild card to get into this tournament last year and was a lowly #147 in the ATP rankings.  Since that time he made the fourth rounds at both the US and Australian Opens, won his first ATP title, and was the top American on his Davis Cup debut last week.  He is now ranked inside the top twenty for the first time in his career, and was deservedly named ATP Most Improved Player of 2009 this week.

Isner's rise is especially messianic since it has come at the same time that most other Americans have stalled.  While American #1 Andy Roddick continues to be a consistent and formidable presence in the top ten, the rest of the top Americans have disappointed recently.  James Blake has played fairly well so far this year, but he had an atrocious 2009, as his ranking fell from inside the top ten to outside the top fifty.  Mardy Fish, who made the finals of Indian Wells only two years ago, has completely fallen off the radar, falling from the top twenty to outside the top 100 within the last year.  Sam Querrey has been putting up some decent results and has won a couple titles, but the big wins at the big events just aren't coming the way many thought they would be by now.  And peripheral American hopes like Wayne Odesnik, Rajeev Ram, and Jesse Levine haven't been terrible, but none is emerging as a potential breakout star.

The obvious discrepancy in Isner's dominance over the rest is his choking loss to Querrey in the finals of Memphis a few weeks ago, a result that really can't be explained.  But even in defeat, Isner was clearly the better player throughout the match.  He was two points from winning the match in straight sets, but couldn't close the deal.  It would be a more alarming collapse if Isner wasn't so known for being clutch in nearly other instance that it's easy to write off this one loss as an anomaly.

I can't help but make Isner, the #15 seed at this tournament, the favorite in my mind against his next opponent.  It may seem ridiculous once you realize that said opponent is none other than #3 Rafael Nadal, but I really think that everything is stacking in Isner's favor.  Isner is healthier, and a hard court in the United States should help his cause as much as any surface could.  The Indian Wells courts are significantly slower than the faster courts of the US Open, but I still think that Isner has the edge when he clashes with Nadal on Wednesday.