For superb servers Milos Raonic and John Isner, will the US Open be closing time?

HIGHLIGHTS: Milos Raonic ousts Frances Tiafoe in Toronto

The importance of the serve cannot be overstated. It can start points productively and end them instantly. It can repeatedly demoralize an opponent, as well as save energy over the course of a long match. Its execution is strictly in the hands of a single player. Without a doubt, the serve is the most important shot in tennis.

Milos Raonic and John Isner are two of the greatest servers of recent times. “From a technical standpoint, they’re both textbook,” said Mark Kovacs, a tennis scientist who heads the Atlanta-based Kovacs Institute. As Kovacs sees it, the 6’5” Raonic is a first-rate practitioner of the “platform,” wherein the feet stay spread throughout the motion. Roger Federer was also a superb platform server.

The 6’10” Isner’s technique is unsurpassed when it comes to what instructors call the “pinpoint” motion. This is when the server’s back foot moves forward prior to launching the delivery. Another great recent pinpoint server: Goran Ivanisevic.

Just as Raonic and Isner differ in their technique, each is currently navigating through the lead-up to the US Open—perhaps the final major for each man—in his own way.

Raonic has had a difficult last two years. Most recently, beginning in June 2021, the 32-year-old Canadian endured a horrible injury medley, from calf to Achilles to toe. There were times when Raonic considered retirement. During his exile from tennis, Raonic in April 2022 married Camille Ringoir.

“One thing I did learn,” he said in an ATP Tour story, “which is a nice lesson, is life will be OK after tennis, which is kind of a fear because you put so much time into one thing and a singular skill.”

Aided by a protected ranking, Raonic returned to the ATP Tour in June, went 2-2 during the grass season and this week received a wild card into the Masers 1000 event played in Toronto. Monday night, in the first round, he upset ninth-seeded Frances Tiafoe, 6-7 (12), 7-6 (4), 6-3, in a match that lasted nearly three hours. Along the way, Raonic struck 37 aces.

“Two years away, five years from playing in Toronto, a whole four years since I got to play in front of my parents, who were there for the majority of my matches as junior and a majority of my matches as a pro,” reflected Raonic. “All of these things came together for a great night for me and I'm incredibly grateful for it.”

On Wednesday, Raonic plays a qualifier, 115th-ranked Taro Daniel. Raonic leads their head-to-heaa 2-0, their last match coming five years ago in Delray Beach.

While Raonic seeks to squeeze more daylight, Isner might well be nearing midnight. In June, following a first-round loss at Roland Garros, Isner fell out of the Top 100 for the first time since 2009.

Isner has currently won 488 ATP Tour matches. “I'm a bit short of 500 wins, but it is something I would like to accomplish,” he said in an article that ran last month on the ATP Tour website. “I know very well that it might not happen this year. So we'll see. A lot of it depends on my body and whether it would be up to playing another year.

“While I would like to accomplish the goal, I’m not going to lose sleep over it if it doesn’t happen. I'm in a situation that not many players are in, where tennis is not my priority right now. Of course I want to do well, but family always comes first.”

Just this April, the 38-year-old Isner and his wife, Madison, welcomed their fourth child.

To explain how tennis looks from the vantage point of a big server, I contacted two of the most effective servers of recent times, Australian Open champions Roscoe Tanner (in 1977) and Brian Teacher (in 1980). Tanner owned not just the classic lefty slice, but also a flat serve, and—exceptionally rare for southpaw—a twist. The Tanner delivery was enhanced by his ability to hit the toss precisely at its apex.

The right-handed Teacher, a rangy 6’3”, smothered opponents with precision and relentless pace, including a kick serve that bounced extremely high. Shortly after his run to the 1979 Wimbledon final, Tanner reached a career-high of No. 4 in the world. Teacher peaked at No. 7 in 1981.

“John had the most formidable serve that ever played the game,” said Teacher. “When you’re that tall, you are literally hitting down into the court.”

As the world has seen now for more than 15 years, Isner in full flight is nearly impossible to break. With that in mind, how best to build an effective playing style?

Tanner was in Washington, D.C. in 2007 when Isner first made a big splash. Just weeks after finishing his college career at the University of Georgia, the 416th-ranked Isner went all the way to the final. All five of his victories came in third-set tiebreakers.

“He was chipping and charging all the time, putting tons of pressure on the other guy’s serve,” said Tanner. “I thought that was a perfect way for him to play. It seems like he got away from that and began to try and rally more with guys. If I’d have coached him, I’d have said, ‘let’s forget the baseline.’”

But while in another era, Isner might have been a fully committed net rusher, contemporary tennis is played differently, due to everything from the increased quality of service returns and groundstrokes to far slower surfaces. “His big thing was the serve and the forehand,” said Teacher. “His volleys were OK, but no one would say John was a great volleyer.”

For a big server these days, the development of skills and a playing style is a complicated matter.

“When you serve that well, you get spoiled,” said Teacher. “John got a lot of freebies.”

While Isner did improve his volley technique—particularly when he worked with Justin Gimelstob—to do that work while also competing versus a generation of great groundstrokers is not easy. Besides, Isner continued to win plenty of matches with a mix of baseline play, forward movement and, of course, tremendous serving. Starting in 2010, Isner finished the year ranked inside the Top 25 an impressive 12 straight times. Said Tanner, “He’s had a great career. Ten years on the tour means you’ve had a great career.”

Currently ranked 111th, Isner was given a wild card into the Western & Southern Open, next week’s Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati. That possibility might also be in play for the tournament after that in Winston-Salem, N.C., as well at the US Open. Isner grew up in North Carolina, has won Winston-Salem twice, and was America’s top-ranked male for many years. But as Isner has mentioned repeatedly, tennis these days is not his biggest focus. Speaking about his family last month, Isner said, “They'll certainly come to New York if I decide that it could be my last tournament.”

To a great degree, Isner has been the beneficiary of expectation. Scarcely touted as a junior, Isner played college tennis under the radar and perhaps even caught himself by surprise to have emerged as an excellent pro.

“He was a latebloomer,” said Teacher. “That’s very unusual in today’s game.”

They'll certainly come to New York if I decide that it could be my last tournament. John Isner

It’s been different for Raonic. Less than a month after turning 20, he burst on the scene at the 2011 Australian Open with a run from the qualifying to the round of 16. Soon after, in San Jose, Raonic won his first ATP title, a week also highlighted by a face-to-face meeting with his tennis hero and stylistic role model, Pete Sampras. Call it a youthful notion of destiny, propelled by one heck of a sweet serve, validated by incrementally strong results.

A year later, Raonic had cracked the Top 15 and appeared on his way to sustained glory. He made it to the semis of Wimbledon in 2014 and in 2016 there beat Federer in the semis, losing to Andy Murray in the finals. By year's end, Raonic reached a career-high ranking of No. 3 in the world.

“His serve was a rocket,” said Kovacs. “He had the weapons.”

But throughout his entire career, injuries have hindered Raonic; quad, hips, adductor, leg were among the trouble spots prior to 2021. Through all these struggles, Raonic has sought to reconcile recovery and fitness, all the while trying to improve in such areas as movement and net play (he worked with all-time great volleyer John McEnroe during his 2016 Wimbledon run).

So now the question for Raonic becomes one of health, fitness, and the ability to execute successfully after a long layoff from competition. According to Teacher, “It’s easier for a guy with a big serve to come back after two years. He can still get cheap points.”

Kovacs concurs, adding that, “If he gets himself in great shape and is as fit as possible and moving well, he’s got four to five years of good tennis in him.”

Raonic’s approach is less long-term. Earlier this summer, he expressed his plan to play Wimbledon, Toronto and the US Open.

“And then,” he said, “I have to have a conversation with myself.”