John Isner bids emotional farewell to tennis following defeat to Michael Mmoh

John Isner officially retired from professional tennis after suffering a defeat to Michael Mmoh in the second round of the US Open.

It was only fitting that Isner’s last tennis match went the distance, with the American bowing out to countryman Mmoh in a fifth set tiebreak, but not before pummelling down a characteristic 48 aces.

The former world No. 8 ends his 17-year-long career with 16 tour-level titles, 14 of which were claimed on home soil, and a staggering 14,450 aces to his name.

38-year-old Isner was also the No. 1 American in the year-end Pepperstone ATP Rankings from 2012-20 and has 489 wins among the top 60 in ATP Tour history.

‘’What my legacy is? I’m not sure,’’ reflected Isner after the match.

‘’I just want to be remembered most importantly from my colleagues, as a guy that’s pretty easy to get along with off court.

‘’I think I’ve had great relationships with the guys before me, my contemporaries, and then the young guys.

“I’m always gonna be in their corner when I’m long gone. I’d just want my legacy to be someone that was pretty affable & easy to get along with.’’

Along with the record for the greatest number of aces, Isner jointly owns the record for the longest tennis match ever played, having beaten Nicolas Mahut 70-68 in the fifth set of their first-round encounter at Wimbledon back in 2010 after a gruelling 11 hours and five minutes of play.

The grass court slam holds even more sentimental value for the American, whose deepest run into a major was at The Championships in 2018 when he reached the semi finals, which consequently propelled him to his career-high ranking of world No. 8.

25-year-old Mmoh was quick to pay tribute to his fellow American.

‘’I want to give a massive congrats to John,’’ Mmoh said on-court.

‘’Unbelievable career. Obviously this is a special moment for me but even more special for John.

‘’Everything he’s done the last 20 years. He’s been top 20 for 10 years in a row. Stuff like that isn’t easy to do.’’