By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday February 11, 2023
John Isner, aka tiebreak machine.
It’s never been any secret that the American has been a legendary performer in tiebreaks over the course of his career. But winning 500? Isner achieved that feat on Friday in Dallas, to become the first ATP player to ever reach the lofty number.
"I've won a lot of tie-breaks in my career, and in the first set I won a big number of them," he said in his on-court interview in Dallas after defeating Emilio Gomez, 7-6(8), 7-5. "I'm very glad I didn't have to win 501.
"A lot of times I live by the sword, like I have this week, and a lot of times I die by the sword. I take the good with the bad.".
Per ATP media, Isner's 500 tie-break wins put him 34 ahead of legend Roger Federer on the Open Era all-time list, with Pete Sampras (328), Andy Roddick (303), Novak Djokovic (299) and Rafael Nadal (263) also in the Top 10.
Here are how the top five tiebreak winners shape up, with their win-loss records in tiebreaks.
1. Isner 500-319
2. Federer 466-247
3. Karlovic 398-403
4. Sampras 328-194
5. F. Lopez 325-278