NEW YORK—Roger Federer, who will face John Isner in the fourth round of the U.S. Open, hasn't played him since 2012 and isn’t sure how he will play him this time. The 17-time Grand Slam champion is 4-1 against Isner, with his one loss coming on indoor clay in Davis Cup (in Switzerland) in 2012. Federer. Federer has won all three meetings on hard courts, including at the 2007 U.S. Open, just after Isner had graduated from the University at Georgia.
The 6-foot-10 Isner has one of the tour’s biggest serves. Coming into the U.S. Open, the 30-year-old had hit 946 aces over his career.
“He's got the power,” Federer said. “He's so tall clearly he finds the impossible angles for us, really. And he's got a great second serve, as well. Obviously best-of-three-set match he's even more dangerous. Best-of-five you feel like you have a bit more time, but clearly he can also run three, four, five sets serving great."
The world No. 2 was unsure whether he would use his new attacking return against Isner. "I have done pretty well over the years against big servers, so clearly I will think about it, but I don't think that's going to be the turning point of the match. I need to make sure I protect my own serve first.”
The 34-year-old said that Isner has a tendency to get upset when he is unable to break his opponents.
“Obviously John can hold easy, that we know,” Federer said. “That I can hold my serve a lot and stay very focused, that I know as well. That's part of trying to beat him, as well, is just to stay with him. He also wants to break, and he gets frustrated. Like any other big server, as well, if they can't get a break, because they also don’t want to play breaker after breaker.”