John Isner had a complete meltdown in the fifth set of a 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 third-round U.S. Open loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany. The match started at 11:30 last night and ended just before 2:30 this morning.
In a 10-minute span, the ninth-seeded American fired a ball into the crowd, abused his racket and yelled at a line judge. He slammed his racket several times and shattered it in the early goings of the fifth set. And that was after winning a game.
With Isner serving the first game of the final set, he launched a ball into the seats after he was displeased with a call. Then, unhappy with the line judges call of a foot foul against him on the game before yelled, “Worst call ever!” and the chair umpire hit him with a point penalty.
It was all downhill from there, as he lost that final set — including the last game on his serve — and the match after holding a 2-1 set lead and appearing well on his way to the fourth round.
Isner and the 19th-seeded Kohlschreiber had to wait long enough for his match to start after Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova played three sets and were delayed by rain.
The 27-year old Isner is perhaps best known for playing the longest match in tennis history, an 11-hour, five-minute match at Wimbledon in 2010. He never has quite lived up to expectations, winning just five career titles and only advancing past the fourth round in a Grand Slam tournament in his professional career. He made 58 unforced errors yesterday, in addition to breaking down.
“It’s very tough to play against John. John is the guy you never break. Ninety-percent service wins over the whole year, so I think I did it quite well today,” Kohlschreiber said on court after the match ended.
Isner made the quarterfinals last year. Now all the Americans have left on the men’s side is Andy Roddick, who advanced to the fourth round yesterday, and Mardy Fish, who plays Rodger Federer in the fourth round today.
david.satriano@nypost.com