Isner steered the United States into the Davis Cup semi-finals at the weekend, beating Gilles Simon and then Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets on the famous clay courts of the Monte Carlo Country Club. France had been warned of the 26-year-old&#39;s ability after Isner defeated Roger Federer, also on clay, in February&#39;s first round 5-0 Davis Cup whitewash of Switzerland. Just for good measure, Isner has also beaten world number one Novak Djokovic this year in the semi-finals of the Indian Wells Masters albeit on a more familiar hard court. &quot;I like playing on clay,&quot; said Isner. &quot;I played three of my best matches this year, my best wins have come on clay. It&#39;s a surface I enjoy playing on and a surface I feel I can do very well on.&quot; u00a0 <img alt="John Isner" src="/imagedata/2012/apr/isner10apr.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 750px; " /> John Isner. Photo: AFP His big, power game has been at home on Europe&#39;s notoriously slow clay courts -- in his 6-3, 7-6 (7/4), 5-7, 6-3 win over Tsonga, he fired down 16 aces and unleashed 56 winners. France and Switzerland may have been stunned by 6ft 9in (2.06m) Isner&#39;s claycourt prowess, but not USA captain Jim Courier, who knows his way around the gruelling, slow surface, winning back-to-back French Opens in 1991 and 1992. &quot;I am not surprised by the way John has played. We were hoping he could be at this kind of level and he was. He was exceptional,&quot; said Courier. &quot;He is continuing to progress. He was a lot stronger than he was against Switzerland. My players are comfortable on all surfaces, they understand clay courts.&quot; The USA, 32-time Davis Cup champions, face a third road trip in this year&#39;s tournament when they travel to face defending champions Spain in September&#39;s semi-finals. They have the unenviable task of ending Spain&#39;s 23-tie unbeaten run on home soil. But world number 11 Isner, who pushed Rafael Nadal to five sets in a first round defeat at the 2011 French Open, relishes the challenges ahead, believing that his game measures up to all of his rivals. &quot;With that serve and with that forehand he&#39;s got the ability to be a Top 10 player,&quot; said Djokovic after his defeat at Indian Wells. &quot;He had that already a couple years back. It&#39;s just a matter of really trusting your instincts and your strokes and your quality. I think it all came together for him now.&quot; Isner, briefly at number 10 in March, shared Djokovic&#39;s belief. &quot;I want to go even higher. I really do believe that I have that in me,&quot; he said.

Big John Isner is developing such a strong affection for claycourt tennis that he is emerging as a dangerous outsider for the French Open.

Big John targets major French Open surprise

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