Tennis: Three-year plan for Isner

The architects might want to pencil in some extra high walls around centre court for the soon-to-begin Stanley St redevelopment.

With massive-serving Heineken Open champion John Isner looking to secure a deal that would bring him back to Auckland for at least the next three years, spectators at the new complex would certainly appreciate the extra protection.

Fans sitting in the front couple of rows of the Robinson Stand were well and truly in the firing line as the towering 2.06m American sent down 78 aces en route to the title last week. Usually Isner's serve, which whistles down at around 220km/h, collected the top of the wall. But, every now and then, an extra effort would push one over the top, sending spectators diving for cover and occasionally leaving them to rub a decent bruise.

On another occasion an Isner smash reached the third row from the back of the Redwood stand.

With Isner's agent, Sam Duvall, already having approached tournament director Richard Palmer to begin negotiations over a three-year deal, Isner's remarkable power game may be a regular feature in Auckland. One of Isner's first acts after seeing off Arnaud Clement in a third-set tiebreak to claim his first ATP title was to pledge to return to Auckland every year of his career.

Auckland tennis fans have heard that sort of talk before from champions caught up in the euphoria of their success. Last year's champions Juan Martin Del Potro and Elena Dementieva both pledged to return, but were then lured elsewhere.

As one reporter somewhat bluntly put it to Isner: "Every year the winner sits there and tells us they'll be back and then they piss off to Kooyong."

If Isner continues his impressive rate of improvement, he will certainly be a target for the big-money exhibitions. But the 24-year-old battler, who thrives on tournament play and the pursuit of precious ranking points, might not be so easily swayed by the lure of easy money in a meaningless knockabout.

Accumulating wealth doesn't seem to be high on Isner's agenda. His second act on Saturday was to pledge US$5000 ($6750) of his US$64,250 winner's cheque to the disaster relief fund for victims of the Haitian earthquake.

"It is really just something I felt like I could easily do and I plan on doing it in Australia as well," he said of the donation. "With all that is going on over there it makes you realise how lucky we are. If I can help out in any way I can, I am just glad to do it.

"I can guarantee you I'll be back, barring injury. You won't see my name at any other event in 2011.

"I'm really happy I came here. This is one of my favourite tournaments. It's definitely my favourite tournament outside of the States. Some people wanted me to play Sydney but I said, 'Nope, I'd rather come back here'."

That proved to be an inspired decision, with Isner capturing his first career title in his second final. He earned it the hard way, with four of his five matches going the full three sets.

"I could have lost any one of those matches," he said. "In the quarter-finals I was down a break in the third set against the No 1 seed [Tommy Robredo]. Most times you are probably going to go down in that situation."

In Saturday's final, with his giant frame wilting in the sweltering conditions, Isner had to survive a match point on serve to scrape through to the decisive tiebreak.

In a gripping match containing frequent swings in fortune, the diminutive but wily Clement seemed to have the big American's number. But Isner dug deep, playing a nerveless serve-volley point to escape the match-point jam before letting his serve do the rest.

"Once I got to six-all I wasn't going to let being a little bit tired stop me," he said.

Isner did not get much time to reflect on his achievement. His next match is today against Italian Andreas Seppi in the first round of the Australian Open.