John Isner Challenges Roger Federer to Use SABR Against Him

With John Isner set to take on Roger Federer in the fourth round of the US Open on Labor Day, Isner has challenged the Swiss Maestro to use his new SABR shot against him.

“If he wants to try that against my serve, by all means give it a shot,” Isner said on ESPN. “I think it would be tough but we’ll see what happens.”

Isner made the comment in a lighthearted fashion, and probably knows Federer won’t try the “Sneak Attack by Roger” against the 6-foot-10 former Georgia Bulldog, who once served at 149.9 mph.

On the SABR, Federer sneaks up right behind the service line to attack the opponent’s second serve and rush the net.

“He’s the only guy that could do it,” said Isner, who advanced when Jiri Vesely retired down two sets to love. “He’s in my opinion the greatest player of all time and he’s just so incredibly talented. The stuff he can do with a tennis racket in his hand is second to none. And we’re seeing that with this SABR shot.”

For his part, Federer says he probably won’t utilize the SABR against Isner and his monster serve.

“The idea is not to use it very much against a player like that,” Federer said after his 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Phillip Kohlschreiber.

“I have done pretty well over the years against big servers, so, I mean, clearly I will think about it, but I don’t think that’s going to be the turning point of the match, to be quite honest. I need to make sure I protect my own serve first.”

 

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For those interested in how Federer came up with the SABR, he addressed it in press on Saturday:

Q. Can you explain about the derivation of how you came up with it, whose idea it was? I have also seen some people worried about what you all called it, if you could explain that a little.
ROGER FEDERER: So when I arrived in Cincinnati, I arrived, I don’t know what time it was, maybe after lunchtime, and then I went for a hit. It was Benoit Paire. He had like an ear problem. I was tired from jet lag. We were tired and practicing on center court, which was great.

Last year I couldn’t practice on center court before my first match. This time I had plenty of time. I think it was Friday and Saturday, I guess. So I put in a lot of hours on center court.

But that time I was very tired and he was tired, and at the end we said, Well, let’s still play some games just because it feels like it’s the right thing to do.

I was going to stop already, but Severin said, Play a few games get used to the conditions. I said, Whatever. Let’s play some games.

And, yeah, at the end we were just kidding around almost, and that’s when I said, Okay, I’m going to chip and charge and just keep the points short. I’m tired. I want to get off the court soon anyway. That’s when I started to run in and hit returns. I hit a couple for a winner. They were like ridiculous. He laughed, I laughed, Severin laughed.

Then I did it again in the next practice just to see if it actually would still work again. Then I tried it the next practice and it still worked. That’s what Severin said, Well, what about using it in a match? I was like, Really? (Laughter.)

So he pushed me to keep using it and not shy away from using it on big moments, and not just because you don’t know how you look with a full stadium. He was actually the one who pushed, you know, pushed me to it.

And because we were always talking about that tactic, as well, we sort of came up with that name, you, know, sneak attack by Roger, ^ saber. I don’t know. Call it Fed attack, call it whatever you want, but I thought it was kind of funny.

And, yeah, today again it worked a couple of times. I didn’t get that many second serves when I thought I could use it, but moving forward it’s an option. Clearly I’m very happy it worked so well in Cincy.