American No. 1 John Isner once again finds himself the object of extra scrutiny as he gears up for yet another summer on the U.S. hard courts. The 30-year-old Isner enters this week's Citi Open in Washington D.C. fresh off winning his third straight title in Atlanta last week.

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But Isner is trying something different this year on the road to New York. While he again has a busy schedule of lead-up tournaments, Isner is not currently on the player list for what he considers his hometown event, the Winston-Salem Open.

"It's tough, of course. I love that tournament," Isner said after his opening round win against Victor Estrella Burgos in D.C. "I've played well in the past, I've won twice and have unbelievable support there."

Isner cites the event's timing, a week before the US Open, that this year made him decide to not play there. Partially because he doesn't want to play too many matches heading into the last major of the year.

"I'm playing week every week up until Winston-Salem. If I feel like I need the matches, I would hope the tournament would give me a wildcard to play there. But, it was tough decision not to enter being as it is my hometown tournament."

Isner, who has reached the US Open quarterfinals in 2011 is trying to replicate, or improve, on that result this year. Though his plan to not play every event while at home is new this year, his strategy leading up to each Grand Slam changes.

"It's a slam-by-slam thing. I played the week before the French Open this year and I didn't play the week before Wimbledon, and I didn't play the week before Australia. So it's always changing, but the main thing is just to take care of myself and believing that I will have enough matches and wins under my belt going into the US Open that I'm going to be tough out there."

Isner will next play Canada's Vasek Pospisil in the Citi Open third round on Thursday.