John Isner Announces Plan to Retire After U.S. Open

The 6’ 10” player was the highest-ranked American man for nine consecutive years.

American tennis player John Isner announced on Wednesday that this year’s U.S. Open will be his final tennis tournament before he retires.

“There comes a time in every athletes’ career that they have to decide to hang it up, for me, that time is now,” Isner wrote in a post on Instagram. “I didn’t come at this decision lightly, but I feel it is the right way to go.

“The U.S. Open will be my last tournament, and I can’t think of a better way to go out than competing in New York City. I have participated in the U.S. Open for each of the 17 years of my career and I’m looking forward to playing my last match in front of the American fans in Flushing Meadows.”

The 38-year-old is best-known for the fact that he played in the longest tennis match in history, which lasted 11 hours and five minutes at Wimbledon in 2010. Standing at 6’ 10”, he also holds the record for serving the most aces of all-time on the ATP Tour with 14,411 and was the top-ranked American man from 2012 to ’20, reaching a peak of No. 8 in the world.

Isner won 16 ATP singles titles and eight doubles titles in his career. The furthest he reached in a Grand Slam tournament was the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2018.

Isner will begin his final tournament when the U.S. Open begins on Monday, Aug. 28. The main draw will be released later this week.