August 31, 2018 - John Isner in action against Dusan Lajovic during the 2018 US Open.
Portugal’s Nuno Borges will take on John Isner of the US in the first round of the French Open
John Isner is set to be back in action on the ATP tour after a gap of one month. The big American was last seen in action at the ATP Houston tournament in April.
He has only played a handful of tournaments this season and his best result was a runner-up finish at the Dallas Open in February. He hasn’t been in good form since then and lack of game time is another issue that he has heading into this tournament.
Isner is in the twilight of his career but still has the controlled big serve which makes him a tricky opponent to face. In 2022, he became the fifth man to reach 1000 aces at Wimbledon. He has the most aces in the history of the ATP Tour, having served 13,854, as of 2023. It remains to be seen if Isner can use his invaluable experience and the big serve to his advantage to progress deep into the tournament.
Portugese tennis player Nuno Borges is a regular in the Challenger Series but hasn’t quite made a mark at the ATP level yet. His best performance so far this season has been his title-winning campaign at the Phoenix Challenger tournament in March. However, he hasn’t been able to replicate this form in the recent ATP events and is coming to Paris following an early exit from the Italian Open. It remains to be seen if Borges can give a good account of himself at the French Open and go deep into the tournament.
Date – Sunday, 28th May
Court Type – Clay outdoor surface
Telecast – Sony Ten Network
Start Time – To be Announced
Location – Paris
Match details – First Round
Isner and Borges have never played each other before on the ATP tour. This is the first professional head-to-head clash between the two players. On paper, Isner is the slight favourite both in terms of experience and rankings. We can certainly expect Kovacevic to put up a tough fight though and he can drag the match pretty close. We are predicting an intense encounter with John Isner edging out Nuno Borges in five sets.
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