Isner Launches The Isner Family Foundation

John Isner has openly spoken about his mother’s battle against cancer and how much that has affected his family. Now the American is launching the Isner Family Foundation to provide support to hospitals in the Dallas-Forth Worth area to contribute towards others receiving world-class treatment to aid in their own battles.

“Cancer is something that affects a lot of people for those who get it, but it also affects their families. I think everyone knows someone who has been affected by cancer in a pretty negative way,” Isner told ATPTour.com. “But fortunately for our family, ours had a positive outcome. That’s what the foundation wants to touch on, to raise funds for incredible treatment, treatment like my mother got in North Carolina. It’s pediatric, but it’s not just pediatric care. Good, quality care in hospitals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area is what the foundation’s going to focus on.”

Isner has long participated in a myriad of charitable activities, whether supporting a fellow tennis player’s foundation or contributing to various causes. So why launch his own foundation now?

“I think mainly it’s because I have definite roots now in Dallas, Texas. This is where my family is going to be. Also on top of that I’ve gotten to know a lot of nice people in this town and I think it’s just a good opportunity for me, for my family to do a lot of good,” Isner said. “This is not just something for while I’m still playing. This is something that I want to continue when I’m not playing tennis. I have a good team of people that I’m working with on the foundation, so I think it can be very successful going forward.”

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The American joins a large number of tennis players who have launched foundations both during and after their careers. The 34-year-old is excited to follow in their footsteps.

“I think it’s very nice. My friends before me, especially for American men’s tennis, have launched foundations before with Mardy Fish, James Blake and Andy Roddick’s foundation, which of course has been incredibly successful,” Isner said. “I just think it’s something that I’m definitely glad I started to do now and I also think it’s a very good time for it now just given the fact that I’m going to be in Dallas for a very long time. It’s a good spot for it and I’m in a good spot to devote a lot of time to it as well.”

Isner announced the launch of the Isner Family Foundation on 13 November, the same day he revealed that the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center named its multidisciplinary clinic in honour of Karen Isner, his mother, a two-time cancer survivor who underwent her treatment at that facility in North Carolina. Isner’s hometown is Greensboro, North Carolina.

“It was very cool. It was something that was a pretty long time in the making and glad I was able to do that,” Isner said. “That’s a cause that’s very close to my family, so it was a very cool day.”

Did You Know?
In 2014, Isner received a $15,000 grant from ATP ACES For Charity for the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.