9741D36D-0E53-4390-A3B6-863EF102BEFA
By Richard Pagliaro
© Al Bello
(September 1, 2010) Ryan Harrison grew up dreaming of playing at the US Open. In the shadow of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the 18-year-old qualifier came of age in seizing center stage. Competing with conviction, Harrison made his US Open debut one to remember in stunning 15th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic, 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 in the biggest upset of the tournament so far to advance to the US Open second round.
It was Harrison's second hard-court win of the season and his first hard-court victory since he beat Taylor Dent at Indian Wells. He played Ljubicic in the second round of Indian Wells and lost 6-2, 7-6(2).
"It's definitely the biggest one of my career so far. So to win on this stage here and to take out a top 20 player in the world is the biggest win of my career," Harrison said. "I've always believed in myself. I have always had confidence in myself, so obviously I'm extremely excited and really pleased with what happened."
In today's rematch, Harrison shrewdly mixed up his shots, attacked net on occasion and showed his poise in the final set. Harrison was up a break and dropped serve to fall to 4-all. He immediately broke back on the strength of several deep shots then served out the match with aggression.
Harrison comes from a tennis family. His father, Pat, played collegiate tennis at Oklahoma State and Mississippi before a brief pro career in futures and challengers. Pat Harrison taught sons Ryan and Christian tennis and gave a then 11-year-old Ryan a tennis lesson when father and son met in the Shreveport, La. city title match.
"I mean, I'm an 11-year-old kid playing my dad. I wanted to win more than anything in the world at the time," Harrison recalled. "But he played on the tour. He played four years in college at Oklahoma State and Ole Miss. He was a good player. He really knew how to play, and has obviously taught me my game since I was really little. So he went out and put a good beating on me, and I took it well. Everything was fine, kept working, went out to the practice court next day."
The elder Harrison taught his son an all-court game and Ryan displayed that today against the 31-year-old Ljubicic. Attacking net at times, defending wide balls with determination, Harrison showed more variety in his game than Indian Wells champion Ljubcic.
"I feel like I'm quick enough to play defense when I need to. I'm comfortable playing at the net, and I still can use my forehand and my backhand up the line," Harrison said. "I felt like there's a you have to have a base of the way you're trying to play and the way you go out there and play people. But the all court game really allows me to kind of taper my opponent a little bit more. Obviously if you have a guy that doesn't pass as well, I will be looking at serving and volleying, transition a little bit more.If you've got a guy that's pretty inconsistent, then at that point I'll use my speed and ability to stay steady from the ground."
Harrison's first experience to high stakes tennis came when he was 14-year-old and was asked to warm-up Andy Roddick before his US Open quarterfinal vs. Roger Federer. Roddick stopped the practice and offered Harrison $50 if he beat his older brother John in a tie breaker.
"I ended up losing 10-8 and that was a great experience for me with Andy Roddick in the chair," Harrison recalled with a smile. "Fifty bucks was a lot of money for me. That was like 20 cheeseburgers."
Losing a bet to Roddick in Australia in January, Harrison had to go pick up a cup of coffee for the top-ranked American clad only in a towel and flip flops.
He will be fully dressed when he plays Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round.
More to follow.