Isner's exit reveals dire state of US men's game

Published on Tuesday 8 September 2009 23:06

THE threadbare state of American men's tennis surfaced again on Monday when John Isner lost to Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round of the US Open to make it the worst home showing in the professional era.

Isner, who knocked out American No 1 Andy Roddick in a five-set epic on Saturday, started well but succumbed 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to the tenth-seeded Spaniard who had too much baseline firepower for the world No 55.

Isner, 24, fired down 13 aces against Verdasco but his hopes of joining fellow Georgian Melanie Oudin, the new darling of American women's tennis, in the quarter-finals fizzled out.

Six American men reached the third round here for the first time since 2003 but the fact that none of them proved capable of going deep into the second week left a dark cloud hanging over Flushing Meadows despite the exploits of 17-year-old Oudin.

"I got outplayed today," admitted Isner, whose victory over Roddick was his first against a top-five player.

Sam Querrey, the second-highest ranked American man at 22, lost to Swede Robin Soderling in the third round while James Blake was outplayed by Spaniard Tommy Robredo.

Qualifier Jesse Witten pushed world No 4 Novak Djokovic hard in round three but at 26 is hardly the future of American tennis while Taylor Dent, who was outclassed by Andy Murray, is just happy to be swinging a racket after a career-threatening back injury.

"We had a handful of people in the round of 32," Isner said. "It's just unfortunate we couldn't get that many past that.

"If you would have told me I'd be the last American, only one American make the final 16, I probably would have thought maybe one or two more would have."