Isner and Schwartzman had no happy ending in Rome. Photo: AFP
There is a 38 centimeter difference between John Isner and Diego Schwartzman. However, the American and the Argentine, despite the distances in their height, have shown that they can form a high level of mating. They made it to the doubles tournament of the Masters 1000 in Rome, where they reached the final and even had a championship point. However, there is no happy ending for “Isnerman”, as fans call them. Croatians Nikola Metkic and Mate Pavic, an integrated duo, asserted their favoritism and won 6-2, 6-7 (6) and 12-10 to be crowned in the Foro Italico
Despite the defeat, Isner and Schwartzman had a great week in the Italian capital. The American gave power to his 2.08 meters and the Argentine cooperated with his intelligence and mobility thanks to his 1.70 meters. Yes, a strange couple. But in a lot of chemistry.
They never played together until they decided to try their luck in the Italian tournament. And they didn’t do bad to the point that they left some specialists on their knees: First they defeated Santiago González and Andrés Molteni, then Juan Sebastián Cabal and Robert Farah and later Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara. In the semifinals, they signed a hard win by 6-4, 4-6 and 11-9 against Kazakh Andrey Golubev and Argentine Máximo González in an hour and 41 minutes of play.
In the finals they were unable to beat Croatians Mektic and Pavic who had just eliminated locals Simone Bolelli and Fognini 6-3, 7-6 (5). And that they were able to snatch the second set from them – they hadn’t lost up to the definition – and reached the super tie break where they had the ball to win the game.
It can’t be. The Europeans, number three in the world in doubles players and winning Wimbledon in 2021 — in the sense that they beat Horacio Zeballos and Marcel Granollers—, defended their crown in Rome and added their fourth Masters 1000 tournament.
Now the question is whether there will be even more Isnerman adventures. Is Roland Garros waiting for Isner and Schwartzman? Why not?
Source: agencies
Source: Clarin
