After three ATP Cup loses, Isner aims to "regroup" before Aussie Open

John Isner wants to find his game before the Australian Open. The 34-year-old American started his season with three singles defeats in the ATP Cup round robin—falling to Casper Ruud, Daniil Medvedev and Fabio Fognini—and was unhappy with his level of play.

“I got my ass kicked out there. He did what he does well, which is make a lot of balls,” Isner said, having won just a handful of games against Medvedev. “And so I wasn't even close. Generally with my game I can keep matches close and make it depend on a few points here or there, but that wasn't the case.”

Despite winning 15 career ATP title and reaching Wimbledon semifinals in 2018, Isner has never gone past the fourth round of the first major of the season. In 2017,  he lost in the second round to Mischa Zverev, 9-7 in the fifth; in 2018, he lost in the first round to Matthew Ebden; and in 2019, he fell to compatriot Reilly Opelka in the first round.

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“I’ve been really bad down here three, four years, so that trend's certainly continuing right now," said Isner. "But I've definitely not played well, in Australia, recently."

Still, Isner says he is not putting pressure on himself to reach a specific round.

"I just work hard and take care of myself and see where the chips fall, and that's what I've always done. I've never, I have never really set performance goals for myself."

Instead, he plans to recharge mentally before getting back to practice with his coach.

"Maybe take a little break, put the racquets up for a day or two, try to regroup and see if I can start playing better," he said following his defeat against Fognini.

Isner is No. 19 in the rankings.