Is Isner America's answer?

Tennis Betting Lines

08/06/2007 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - "Big" John Isner has played in only two ATP events in the infantile stage of his pro career, but he's already appeared in one final by virtue of his very surprising showing in the nation's capital last week.

Unfortunately for the towering American, he was unable to defeat top-seeded Andy Roddick in Sunday's finale at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, in a bout that marked the ATP's first all-American championship match in over a year.

By the way, Roddick's victory marked his third championship at the quality DC event.

Isner headed to Washington ranked 416th in the world, and exited the tournament at No. 193. He was ranked down in the 800s as recently as six weeks ago.

"This was an amazing week," Isner said after succumbing to Roddick. "I couldn't ask for a better week. I got to play against Andy Roddick in an ATP final, it doesn't get much better than that."

The week before DC, the skyscraping American captured a Challenger event in Lexington. The Challenger circuit is basically the minor leagues of tennis.

Even at a beanstalkish 6-foot-9, Isner is only the second-tallest player on the tour, eclipsed only by 6-foot-10 Croatian slugger Ivo Karlovic.

Fortunately for the Greensboro, North Carolina native Isner, his game is almost as big as he is. As you would imagine, a tennis player approaching the seven-foot mark typically has a monster service game, and the 22-year-old "Is" is no exception.

He starred collegiately at the University of Georgia, which, led by its top star Isner, captured the men's NCAA tennis title this past season. And his beloved Bulldogs were the national team runner-up in 2006. As a matter of fact, mighty Georgia lost only one match in Isner's final two years in Athens.

In Washington, the lanky American beat the likes of once-solid Brit Tim Henman, German star Tommy Haas and still-promising Frenchman Gael Monfils en route to the final. The most eye-catching win of all came against Haas, who's been one of the top players on the circuit over the past several months. The large American used 30 aces to help himself stun the talented German in three tough sets.

Isner came from a set down before dismissing Henman in the opening round; he also came from a set down in order to defeat another German, Benjamin Becker, in the second round; and also dropped the first set against his countryman Wayne Odesnik in the third round before rebounding for yet another comeback victory. And in keeping with his dramatic come-from-behind theme, Isner, once again, came from behind in order to best the capable Monfils in the semis.

The altitudinous Isner wound up playing 17 sets in his six matches at the Legg Mason, and 11 of them went to tiebreaks (7-4). Why so many tiebreaks, you say? Well, that's because Isner is very difficult to break, and he has difficulty breaking his opponent, which of course could have something to do with him being a one-trick (massive serve) pony.

FYI, Isner received a wild card entry into the DC draw only after Chilean Aussie Open runner-up Fernando Gonzalez withdrew from the hardcourt tourney. The American promptly went on to record his first-ever wins against Top-100 players -- no less than four of 'em to be exact -- as Henman, Becker, Haas and Monfils all reside in that Top-Hundy neck of the woods.

Tall Tale: The Redwood-like Isner's first-ever ATP match resulted in a loss against 6-foot-8 Belgian Dick Norman on the grass courts in Newport last month. Can you say men in trees? Or is it men like trees?

And the 6-9 Isner came really close to facing the even-taller 6-10 Karlovic last week, but "Dr. Ivo" came up short (get it?) in his semifinal against Roddick.

As far as I know, that Isner-Norman clash in Newport is the record for the all-time tallest matchup on tour. You can probably look it up, but why would you?

Okay, I'm not gonna sit here and say that Isner is the second coming of Pete Sampras, far from it, but it's certainly nice to see a young American doing well somewhere on the ultra-competitive ATP.

Isner's next ATP outing will come at next week's Masters/US Open Series event in Cincinnati.

How high will he soar?

Stay tuned.

Hankoooki Tennis Betting News

<< Devil Rays continue to struggle
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Devil Rays began the month of August on a down note, dropping two out of three games to the Baltimore Orioles. The series loss brought the Devil Rays to a major league-worst 42-68 on the season. Tampa Bay has

<< Umpires balk at background checks
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The World Umpires Association is refusing to cooperate with a Major League Baseball request for background checks of its members. The union called the request a "knee-jerk, misguided witch hunt" in resp

<< Report: Driver receives raise from Pack
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver will reportedly receive nearly $11 million in additional money, as well as a one-year extension to his current contract. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel rep

<< ACC - The most improved conference?
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year was a down season for the ACC, as Wake Forest ended up as the highest ranked team in the final AP Top 25 Poll at number 17. The league suffered a considerable drop-off from 2004 when the conferenc

<< Robby runs amok
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robby Gordon went well over the line on Saturday at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, and needs more of a punishment than a one-race suspension. The driver of the No. 55 Camping World Ford made fo

Is Glavine the last of a dying breed? >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Glavine closed out one of the most memorable milestone weekends in recent history, with a feat that may not be seen again for a very long time. Glavine became the 23rd pitcher and just the fifth left-hander in major le

Broncos' Moss injures knee >>
Englewood, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Denver Broncos rookie defensive end Jarvis Moss suffered a left knee injury in practice Monday. Moss, a first-round pick from Florida, was carted off the field after hurting the knee during an individual

Stokes takes new job with ECU hoops; McCarthy promoted >>
Greenville, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - East Carolina men's basketball coach Ricky Stokes has decided to take a new position as associate athletic director for basketball. Stokes spent the past two seasons guiding the Pirate program, which w

Runner-ups to Tiger make moves in world rankings >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods won his sixth WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Sunday and extended his lead atop the Official World Golf Rankings. However, it was the two players who tied for second behind Woods at Fire

Cano, Crawford share AL weekly honor >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano and Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder Carl Crawford were selected as the American League's top players for the week ending August 5. Cano batted .478 wit

SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.