American tennis player John Isner won’t play in Tokyo Olympics 2021

John Isner, the highest-ranked U.S. male singles tennis player, won’t play the Tokyo Olympics, liking to remain at or close to home with his family in late July.

Isner, who said in January 2020 that he was inclining toward skipping the Olympics for a second back-to-back time, affirmed on Wednesday that he 1) would not have gone to the Games in 2020 and 2) effectively concluded he won’t do so this mid-year.

“I know the Olympics, it’s a fantastic honor. There’s no doubt about that,” John Isner said in January 2020. “Right now, at this stage in my career, it’s not a huge priority for me. So that’s probably the main reason I won’t be going. I certainly love playing in the summer in America, and I’m going to focus on that.”

John Isner, who turns 36 on April 26, is likely surrendering his last opportunity to play Olympic singles. In his solitary Olympic participation, he arrived at the quarterfinals of the 2012 London Games, in addition to lost an opening-round doubles match there with Andy Roddick.

The Tokyo Games occur that very week as a lower-level ATP Tour event in Atlanta that John Isner, a previous University of Georgia star, has won five times.

“I’m going to stay closer to home and be with my family and focus on the events that will be back stateside,” John Isner said Wednesday before he plays the Miami Open.

The top four U.S. male singles players in the ATP Rankings after the French Open in June are in line to qualify for the Olympics, assuming they are positioned sufficiently high overall to make the 64-man field.

John Isner is at present the highest-ranked American male singles player at No. 28, yet his nonattendance probably opens up a spot for another player. He’s followed by No. 32 Taylor Fritz, who is required to go to Tokyo, No. 41 Reilly Opelka, No. 53 Tommy Paul, and No. 58 Frances Tiafoe.

Another veteran American, No. 63 Sam Querrey, said in January 2020 that he intended to skip the Olympics. On the off chance that the Olympic field was taken from the present ATP Rankings, Querrey would not qualify.

A player on the ascent is 20-year-old Sebastian Korda, who was positioned No. 224 as of now a year ago. He is present No. 87.

Older sisters Nelly, 22, and Jessica, 28, are Nos. 3 and 18 in world golf rankings. At least one of them seems bound for the Tokyo Olympics one year from now, given a country can send four golf players for every gender to the Games whenever ranked in the top 15 after June’s Women’s PGA Championship.

On the off chance that he can join either sister in Tokyo, they would become the first U.S. brother and sister to contend in similar Olympics in various sports, as per Olympic historian Bill Mallon of the OlyMADMen and Olympedia.org.