“I’m not a big fan of Karlovic”: Tension, old feuds and unnamed enemies emerge in Isner, Sock, Querrey & Johnson’s latest pod

The latest episode of the Nothing Major podcast offered a rare and surprisingly candid look into the locker-room dynamics between several former top American players. John Isner, Jack Sock, Sam Querrey, and Steve Johnson sat together reflecting on careers, friendships, and—most importantly—the players they could not stand competing against. What started as a light conversation quickly turned into a revealing discussion full of unresolved rivalries, personality clashes, and stories from tense doubles matches that fans never got to witness.

Sam Querrey set the tone immediately when he admitted that there was one player he “absolutely hated,” but refused to name publicly. His hesitation became one of the running jokes of the segment, yet his wording carried weight. As he put it, “There’s one guy I like absolutely hate. But I can’t just say it right now… the guy’s still playing.” Querrey even admitted the mystery player might one day appear on the podcast, which only elevated the tension. His co-hosts urged him to reveal at least a clue, but Querrey shut it down: “He doesn’t necessarily know I hate him, but he’s a tool.”

From there, the conversation opened into a surprisingly honest exploration of which players rubbed the group the wrong way. Steve Johnson did not hesitate to name names. He mentioned Ivo Karlovic and former player Lukáš Rosol—two opponents he found hard to deal with over the years. “I’m not a big fan of Karlovic… or like Rosol back in the day. He was brutal,” Johnson said. Jack Sock agreed, recalling how intense or unfriendly certain practice environments could be, though he noted that avoiding disliked players was often as simple as choosing not to hit with them.

The episode then drifted into one of the funniest and most illustrative parts of the discussion: the long-running joke about Sock’s temper on the doubles court. The former doubles No. 2 first chose the Brazilian Marcelo Melo—a former doubles No. 1—although the rest of the cast did not agree on mentioning doubles players, as they are not as well known to spectators.

All three teammates teased him about how fiery he could be, especially when things weren’t going well. Johnson told an extended story about a match in Shanghai: “If you somehow pissed Jack off on the doubles court, you were done. He was just going to take over the court.” Sock didn’t deny it. Instead, he owned the narrative fully, admitting: “It wasn’t the worst thing. I just used it as motivation.” Their recollection of Sock firing unnecessary forehands at opponents—even early in matches—became one of the standout comedic moments of the episode.

The conversation eventually turned to locker-room incidents—moments where tensions nearly boiled over. Steve Johnson revealed that Feliciano López once confronted him in Houston, though he did not go into detail. John Isner recalled hearing stories of coaches and players, particularly involving Nick Kyrgios. “I heard a story once of someone’s coach getting into it with Kyrgios in the Australian Open locker room. I can’t remember it, though.”

“Oh yeah, a doubles match where Kyrgios was just doing something. But yeah, I can’t remember two players going at it,” Sock responded.

One story, however, remained unresolved: the mysterious practice-court blow-up involving Sam Querrey and the unnamed player he refuses to identify. Querrey finally admitted: “Practice totally stopped for us to yell at each other for like six minutes. I stayed. I never stay.” The group was stunned. Johnson even remarked: “It takes a lot for Sam to get really, really perturbed.” Yet Querrey continued to protect the identity of the player, insisting that naming him would immediately reveal the entire incident.