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Is Ryan Harrison the One American Tennis Player We Can Believe In?
Ryan Harrison, who will be 20 next month, is suddenly on the Davis Cup team, since Mardy Fish just unexpectedly quit after having "funny feelings." (That's a quote.) Harrison left the juniors at 16, is a chatty Twitter enthusiast and is currently ranked 66th. That makes him the 5th-highest ranked American tennis player. (They also passed right over Donald Young when picking a replacement, which, hmm.) The Davis Cup begins Friday, where they face France. So everything is thrown into an uproar, and it would be very nice to have any faith in American mens' tennis. Anyway, no pressure, teenager! It's not like we're all going to judge your play and declare hope or lack thereof for American tennis for the next decade or so. Enjoy!
It's great you sort of questioned passing up Donald Young in favor of Ryan Harrison. And by "great" I mean completely misguided!
See, Donald Young (as he said himself in so many words) is the type of a player who thinks it's super cool to just be a tennis player, as in: not really having to work, travelling the world, hitting some balls in front of crowds, and being happy like a little puppy should he win two matches in a row. Ryan Harrison is completely the opposite. He works hard, plays hard, and will not be happy until he is at the top.
Also, Donald Young, who cares about his "image" more than about his tennis, gets upset and makes demands when he is passed over for DC – not just for Ryan Harrison mind you, but for John Isner, Sam Query and Mardy Fish – much higher ranked players than him. I've never heard anything like that about Ryan, who I imagine makes himself busy practicing and working out, not crying to the media and arguing with USTA (which as I understand, has helped his development more than anyone else's, and got very little out of it).
In short: yeah. Ryan Harrison.
@Niko Bellic I meant to say USTA helped Donald Young, not Ryan Harrison.
@Niko Bellic USTA was definitely trying to create a star, which makes sense given that Young, for all his inconsistency, is charismatic on court. Wasn't there some controversy about him playing on Arthur Ashe stadium a few years ago?
Squee! I've been waiting to get disappointed by another American tennis player for about 5 years now. This is the first I've heard of Ryan, my hard core tennis spectator days are in a slump currently, but let's hope he's got more than one good stroke in his arsenal [ie: not just a wack 150 mph serve) and doesn't choke at the drop of a hat.