John Isner’s camp is hinting that the big man may indeed have suffered a stress fracture in his left foot during his final with Roger Federer at the Miami Open.
Christopher Clarey of the New York Times reports that Isner is awaiting further test results for clarity, but at the moment they do believe he is dealing with a stress fracture that could potentially keep him out for much of the clay season.
“Somewhere along in the first set I started feeling some pain on the top of my foot, and it didn't go away,” Isner told reporters after he fell to Federer 6-1 6-4 and had his Miami Open winning streak stopped at 11 matches. “It only kept getting worse.”
Isner had the injury looked at during a medical timeout in Sunday’s final. He continued to play but was visibly hobbled by the end of the contest.
“It's a terrible feeling, because you're on an island out there, and, you know, you have no teammates to hide behind and going up against the greatest player ever, you know, playing in this incredible atmosphere, and my foot's killing me.”
Isner told reporters that he had never felt an injury like this before: “I have never had anything like this before, ever. I mean, I have had a few injuries in my career. I have been very fortunate. I have stayed healthy throughout my career. Something happened today. It wasn't like a certain point, either. I just all of a study started feeling something, and it just kept getting a little worse, getting worse and worse as the match went on.”