Calkins: John Isner and Sam Querrey to play a special exhibition in Memphis
Geoff Calkins | Daily Memphian
Sam Querrey is a big guy with a big serve. John Isner is a bigger guy with a bigger serve.
On a memorable Sunday in Memphis back in 2010, they met in an ATP match for the first time.
“It was one of those weeks when everything felt good,” Isner said.
OK, except for the ending, maybe.
Isner won the first set and led in a second-set tiebreak before Querrey prevailed, 6-7 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Oh, and then, just hours later, the two men combined to win the doubles title.
“It was a big day,” Isner said, on the phone from the Dallas airport as he headed for television work at the French Open. “Memphis is just a great tennis town. It will be fun to be back.”
Isner and Querrey are returning this summer to help celebrate the return of professional tennis to the city.
The Memphis Classic — a Women’s Tennis Association event — will be played at Leftwich Tennis Center from July 25 to Aug. 2.
Isner, Querrey and former ATP pro Steve Johnson will help get it all started. The three men host “Nothing Major,” a popular tennis podcast.
“They’ll play; they’ll do Q&A with fans; it will be a lot of fun,” said Sam Duvall, the producer of the Memphis Classic and Isner’s longtime agent. “That event in 2010 was big for both of them.”
Isner and Querrey wound up winning 26 ATP singles titles between them. They both made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon.
Isner holds the ATP record for fastest serve ever (157.2 mph).
Querrey holds the record for most aces in a row (10).
But this was relatively early in their careers. The two men had no sense that they would both wind up in the finals at The Racquet Club.
“We were all hanging out all week,” Duvall said. “John and Sam are such good friends. Because they were playing doubles together, everyone — all the families — we were sitting together all the time. I remember there being a discussion before the singles final, ‘Let’s just sit together then, too.’
“It got to be a little awkward. Nobody wanted to cheer too loud.”
The match got billing in national stories as “the tallest match in ATP history.” Querrey is 6-foot-6. Isner is 6-foot-10.
“I remember being up in the tiebreak,” said Isner, who led that second-set tiebreak 5-2. “But I couldn’t hold on.”
Later that summer, Isner lost to Querrey again at the Serbian Open.
“In that one I served for the match,” Isner said. “I always tell him he took two titles from me. I should have 18, not 16.”
The two men wound up meeting in 10 matches over the course of their careers. Each won five times.
So will this be the rubber match?
Nah.
“I think first and foremost, we’ll try not to hurt ourselves,” Isner said. “We’ll try to entertain.
“Memphis is a town with a very rich tradition. All the greats played that event. Obviously, it’s going to be different not being at the Racquet Club — not making the walk over from the DoubleTree — but it will be cool to be back.”
Tickets for the exhibition, as well as championship week packages for July 31-Aug. 2, will be on sale beginning Wednesday, May 20, at memphisclassic.com.