In a crowd-pleasing show of sportsmanship, Marcos Baghdatis leaped over the net to help opponent John Isner after he fell and clutched his left leg late in the second set tiebreak today at Straus Stadium during the second round of the LA Tennis Open.
Isner would eventually return after a few minutes of medical attention and take the tiebreak 13-11 to give him the second set 7-6 and the match after a 6-3 first-set win.
Isner fell after slipping while running across the baseline to get a Baghdatis shot. The Cypriot, Baghdatis, did not seem to care about going up 11-10 as he dropped his racket and jumped the net to tend to his opponent’s ankle.
Isner was not surprised.
“He’s such a class act, that’s what people say about him,” Isner said. “It’s for real; he really is a good guy.”
Baghdatis’ move earned him the cheers of thousands in Straus Stadium. After an athletic trainer came to help Isner, the 24-year-old Baghdatis returned to his side of the court and stayed warm.
After returning to play, Isner was not playing with the same agility as he was earlier, but he still managed to take the tiebreak along with the match.
“I was extremely fortunate to get through the match,” Isner said. “I gotta thank my lucky stars.”
Before the injury, Isner had already served two match points in the tiebreak but gave both of them up.
“Nine times out of 10, I’m going to get one of those two,” he said. “I didn’t hit my spots, and he released two balls.”
The 6-foot-8-and-a-half inch, Greensboro, N.C., native was an immediate crowd favorite and took the first set with relative ease. A former NCAA runner-up, Isner out-served Baghdatis five aces to one and had a 71 percent first-serve percentage compared to Baghdatis’ 54 in the first set. He continued his stellar serving in the second set with six aces and a 62 percent first-serve percentage compared to Baghdatis’ two aces with a 47 percent first-serve percentage.
“I was hitting my forehand well, I was serving well,” Isner said. “Getting in that second set, I liked my chances at a tiebreaker. I could have broken him.”
Isner added that though there is no serious ankle damage, he pulled out of the doubles draw.
“I thought (my ankle) was worse than it is,” Isner said.
He was scheduled to play a doubles match after suitable rest today with Southern California native Sam Querrey against the German team of Benjamin Becker and Frank Moser. Becker and Moser will advance to the second round and face Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan and Dusan Vemic of Serbia.
Isner added that he will participate in next week’s Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C.
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