After his five-set win over 18-year-old Frances Tiafoe, 31-year-old American has high praise for the youngster.
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“I think the best thing he has going for him is he's just an incredible athlete,” Isner said. “You can't really teach that. He's got wheels; he's got the hands; he's got shots on both sides. One area, if he improves his second serve a little bit. But I would certainly buy stock in him right now for sure. He's a great player.”
Tiafoe served for the match against Isner with a 5-3 lead in set five. He also missed a backhand that would have given him a match point at 5-5 in the third-set tiebreaker.
It was a stinging loss, but the youngster still had a brave face on after the match. He smiled his way through press, and genuinely seemed to relish the experience.
“I mean, toughest loss of my career so far for sure,” Tiafoe said. “But, you know, think I'm getting over it now a little bit. I mean, not much to really say. It's tough. I was so excited serving for it 5-3; the crowd is going nuts; I'm going nuts. You have so much adrenaline going… Come up a little short, it hurts.”
Isner said that Tiafoe showed the rare ability to read his serve and even compared him to Djokovic. “He was handling my serve better than anyone really, maybe outside of Novak. I mean, he was really on it… As I said earlier, he's such an incredible athlete. He's got that on his side. That's not going to go anywhere, so... He's got a very bright future.”
Isner advances to face Belgium’s Steve Darcis in the second round.