Kevin Anderson: My feet felt on fire after Wimbledon semi-final

Kevin Anderson v John Isner at Wimbledon

Shahida Jacobs
July 19, 2018

Kevin Anderson says his feet couldn’t even touch the sheets after his marathon Wimbledon semi-final against John Isner.

The pair spent six hours and 36 minutes on court with the South African coming out on top of the 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-3, 26-24 win.

The final set alone took two hours and 50 minutes to complete and in an interview with ATPWorldTour.com, the South African revealed: “Obviously going into the fifth set was a bit of war of attrition at the end. I really had to dig deep and it was very emotional getting through that kind of match. That put me through to the finals.

“After my semi-final match I was definitely feeling it. When you are on court for that length of time the feet take a bit of a beating. I woke up at 4:30 after only maybe sleeping for an hour and my feet literally felt on fire and the sheets couldn’t even touch my toes.

“I told my wife you need to go and call my physio and he could see there was loads of inflammation in my feet. It’s a job that requires all hours of day, especially after that sort of match. That’s one that takes it out of you.”

The win over Isner ensured he reached his second Grand Slam final after the 2017 US Open, but playing in the men’s final at Wimbledon for the first time was always going to be special.

However, it took him a while to get going on the Sunday against Novak Djokovic and he eventually lost 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3).

“You try to treat it like another day. I think I actually did an okay job with that, getting ready for the finals of Wimbledon, it was always going to be a special day. There was always going to be some nerves. I think [the fact that I] was in the final of the US Open helped a little bit.

“I didn’t get off to a great start unfortunately, I started playing much, much better in the third set. I would have loved to have that form early on in the match. All in all there were so many positives to take from this whole fortnight.

“Reaching top five for the first time is something that feels really good. In 2015 I broke through to the top 10 and the next goal was top five.”

He added: “Here I am in the last 18 months, I have gone from 80 to No five in the world so it’s now time to reset my goals. I believe I can get higher.”

Kevin Anderson