By Erik Gudris                                                 Photo Credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve

(February 16th, 2012) “Last year I had a great year, and I still think my best tennis is three, four years ahead of me, even though I'm 25 right now. That's just how I feel. It's just going to take a little time.” – John Isner at Indian Wells after being asked if he thought he would start peaking in 2011.

The SAP Open in San Jose is packed with American players but the one man everyone is still talking about isn’t even on the west coast this week. After earning the best win of his career against Roger Federer in the USA’s sweep of Switzerland in Davis Cup, John Isner has found himself being touted as the next U.S. No. 1 and as a possible darkhorse contender for Roland Garros. But even with his breakthrough performance against the man called “GOAT”, is it still too soon to view “Big John” as the savior of American tennis?

The last twelve months have seen a dramatic turnaround in Isner’s game after a tough loss to Marin Cilic in Melbourne at the start of 2011 appeared to spin the Greensboro, North Carolina native into an almost terminal downward spiral of lost confidence and lost opportunities. Early round defeats in Delray Beach, Memphis and Indian Wells pushed Isner further into a slump that saw him fall out of the top 30 by the time Roland Garros came around and had Isner struggling to come with up a good reason as to why his game and his confidence were nowhere to be found.

Unseeded going into Paris, it looked like Isner was cursed by the fates as he drew defending champion Rafael Nadal in the first round in what many expected would be a straight set thrashing by the Spaniard that would sink Isner even further into the doldrums. But, like his recent match against Federer, Isner shocked everyone including Nadal by leading the six-time champion two sets to one before Nadal turned the match around winning in over four grueling hours. Isner earned high praise for his performance and proved to many, including Isner, that he could indeed challenge the very best on what appeared to be an almost home court advantage for his opponent.

Despite another early loss at Wimbledon, the rot was over for Isner as he spent the rest of the summer winning three titles and reaching the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open for the first time losing in four tough sets to Andy Murray. Isner wrapped up the year with another unlikely run to the semis of Bercy that placed him back inside the top 20 again. In four months, Isner was a new man and once again a force to be reckoned with.

Now with the win of his career over Federer, the question is how will Isner use it to fuel the rest of his season? Described as "disruptive" by Davis Cup captain Jim Courier, as no one on tour really wants to deal with the huge serve from the 6'10 Isner, Isner's game and confidence rely on him serving well week in and week out. But a big serve does not ensure success for anyone and it's actually Isner's return game that could be the deciding factor for him moving forward in the year.

What was the shocking part of his win over Federer was the final game when Isner hit three return winners to break Federer's serve to seal the win. Isner has never been known as a clutch returner and it's been a liability for him in other matches when his inability to break opponents has put even more pressure on his big serve to bail him out of tight sets. If Isner can continue returning well, then he truly could become a formidable opponent no matter what the surface is.

Sitting a career high No. 14 in the world, reaching the top ten appears to be a formality for Isner in the next few months and if his current form holds, the likelihood of him surpassing Mardy Fish as U.S. No. 1 sometime this year could be a safe bet too. But how the tall American performs at Majors, which have seen him in the past get bogged down in long early round five set matches, not including his epic duel with Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon, will be the real test to see if Isner can climb even higher and become a worthy challenger to the "fantastic four" currently dominating the final stages of the Grand Slams. And then there will be the additional test of handling all the pent-up expectation from American tennis fans who have been waiting in vain for almost ten years now for another men's Major champion. Isner definitely thrives on pressure, but how he handles the honor and burden of being the face of U.S. tennis as Andy Roddick has done for so many years, will be something to watch.

It's a lot to ask of John Isner. But as he said back at Indian Wells, if his best tennis is actually three or four years ahead of him, then who knows to what lofty heights he will climb not only in 2012, but for the rest of his career.