By Erik Gudris Photo Credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
(February 24, 2012) Sam Querrey, who is making a slow comeback to the ATP Tour after taking much of 2011 off to recover from elbow surgery, caused some buzz back in San Jose last week when he announced he was working with Brad Gilbert as his new coach, albeit on a part-time basis. Gilbert's list of previous players he's coached including Andre Agassi, Andy Murray and recently Kei Nishikori have had many American tennis fans hopeful that under Gilbert's tutelage, Querrey will once again rise to the top 20.
But aside from working out some issues with Querrey's game, the biggest obstacle Gilbert may have to deal with is Querrey's own self-professed lack of fighting sprit, especially when he gets involved in a tight match or in a losing effort as evidenced today during Querrey's 7-6, 6-0 loss to Radek Stepanek in the quarters of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis. After losing the first set in a tiebreak, Querrey went completely off the rails early in the second set by dropping serve in his opening service game and then throwing in three double faults on his next service to hand Stepanek a double break lead. Gilbert, watching from the stands, could only grimace as Querrey, looking lost and dejected, could barely win points as Stepanek raced away with a bagel set to close out the match and end Querrey's misery.
But no one should be really surprised by today's performance by Querrey.
Even during his stellar run to four titles in 2010 that eventually led Querrey to being ranked as high as No. 17 in the world, Querrey admitted in a press conference at the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles that grinding through a tough match is his least favorite thing to do and that he can get down on himself too quickly if things aren't going his way. Querrey, because of his height and huge serve, often get compared to his friend and doubles partner John Isner. But Isner's ability to fight and claw himself back into matches is something Querrey hasn't yet mastered.
Even though he reached the quarterfinals in Memphis, what should have been a positive week for the "Samurai" concluded with a bad loss that will have some wondering how long Gilbert will stay with Querrey if he keeps posting more dismal efforts like this one. Gilbert is known for his book "Winning Ugly" which described how he won matches with a less than graceful playing style, but it also defines how Gilbert won matches when things weren't going his way. At age 24, Querrey, if he stays healthy, certainly has the game to get back into the top 20, and possibly higher, but only if he can somehow embrace the grind and the fight that is often needed to win tight matches against the very best in the men's game.
Gilbert proved he could work with some of the most stubborn players in getting them to achieve their highest levels by winning ugly. And that's what Querrey will have to do to get back to the top. Because losing ugly, as he did today, certainly won't.