ATLANTA - Sometime over the past two years the USTA had a brilliant idea. It took some prodding from various individuals including Atlanta Tennis Championships Tournament Director Bill Oakes, but a national playoff open to anyone was instituted this year with a U.S. Open qualifying wildcard going to the winner.  The U.S. Open National Playoff was born. 

All you had to do was be at least 14-years old, pay a $125 entry fee and travel to one of the 16 sectional qualifying sites. Young and old tried to qualify, even U.S. Olympic Skier Bode Miller who was a promising junior tennis player dusted off his rackets and played.

The final 16 players from all over the country advanced to Atlanta and played out the tournament alongside The Atlanta Tennis Championships last week, with the finals to be televised live on Tennis Channel.

The players that advanced to Atlanta weren't your local club players. They included players with world rankings of 500-1000, former and current college players as well as a Haitian displaced by the earthquake in his homeland who now resides in the States.

Blake Strode, a former college player at Arkansas who has a world ranking in the 500's won the event and the wildcard into qualifying in New York. He said it was a lot of hard work and his patience was tested throughout the four matches he won in Atlanta. He defeated former top-100 player Cecil Mamitt of California in the finals in a 3-set epic.  Strode is also a future law school student at Harvard where he has been accepted on a deferred basis.

Advancing to the semis were Chris Wettengel, a former player at The University of Minnesota, and young Haitian Olivier Sajous, who earlier in the week almost qualified for the main draw of the Atlanta ATP event.

The players had great support all tournament from family and friends as well as the fans in Atlanta, as they were playing in extreme heat.

The women's playoff will be contested this week during the Bank of the West event at Stanford's tennis center.

The U.S. Open now is truly an "open" championship.

ATLANTA--It may not look pretty and is usually a struggle, but more often than not John Isner finds a way to advance.

As previously evidenced by his 11-hour plus Wimbledon marathon, Isner has again proved he's one of the toughest opponents on the ATP Tour in Atlanta.

Saturday, Isner battled a determined opponent and extreme heat on the court to advance to Sunday's Atlanta Tennis Championship's finals at the Atlanta Athletic Club.

If playing South African Kevin Anderson wasn't enough, the heat on the court was over 140 degrees at times.  But Isner conserved his energy when he had to, and received the benefit of some cloud cover in the 3rd set.

Isner had a match point in the 2nd set, but couldn't convert.

"That sure would've made life easier for me, if I could've won in two," laughed Isner after the match.

"I give credit to my coach and trainer.  We train long days in the Tampa heat, kind of like football training camp", added the 6'9" Isner.

Isner agreed when a reporter pointed out that Anderson was giving him a taste of his own medicine with the high kicking serves. Isner, Anderson, and Ivo Karlovic are the three tallest players on the ATP Tour, and when any combination of the three play it's always something fun to watch.

Isner improved his professional record against Anderson to 3-1 as he advanced to face another American, Mardy Fish in the finals.

As if Isner didn't have enough tennis on Saturday, about 6:15 in the evening Isner and James Blake took to the court for a doubles semi-final against Rajeev Ram and Scott Lipsky. Isner and Blake fell in straight sets, but Isner said he'll be ready for another long battle on Sunday.

"It won't be 11 hours, so I should be okay", smiled isner as he left the press conference.

New Daily Forehand staff writer Rick Limpert is covering the first US Open Series tournament of the year, the Atlanta Tennis Championships.  This is his first report: