The Promise Is There for Harrison

FLUSHING MEADOWS – To quote another Harrison: “My Sweet Lord.”

And much like George, who were the least known of the Beatles, 18 year-old Ryan Harrison us definitely the least know of the American’s at the US Open.

A native of Shrevenport, LA, Harrison is playing in his first main draw at the US Open after winning a qualifier and his first round win over Australia’s Peter Luczak, 6-3 6-7(4) 6-3 6-4, but the young man on the map.

Today he almost became a star.

Unfortunately, though, these great stories don’t always work out and despite having three match points in the fifth set tiebreaker, Harrison couldn’t convert against the Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky, 6‑3, 5‑7, 3‑6, 6‑3, 7‑6.

“I mean, it was a great experience,” said the young Harrison.   “I mean, the whole last week and a half almost two weeks now has been incredible for me.  I mean, I’ve always believed in myself and I’ve always believed that I could come in here and compete at this level.

“But to go out there and actually execute and to win some of the matches I did, you know, I’m extremely happy about and extremely proud of.  But in all honesty, I could have lost second round quallies.  I mean, I was in full leg cramps down 3‑0 in the third set, and I fought through that and had a good match and then played one of the best matches I’ve ever played in my life.  Just got a little bit tight whenever I needed to come through.”

Now that he got his name on the map, it will be interesting to see what this young man does. Last year, everyone had Melanie Oudin as the next great thing and that hasn’t turned out as expected. And even great things were expected of John Isner, Sam Querrey, James Blake, and even Andy Roddick, but those varied expectations have been tempered.

And now we have Harrison, who seems to be having a nice time at the Open, but we don’t know if 2010 is a stepping stone or just a shooting star in sky.

Harrison, though, seems very grounded and has learned from some of the top Americans when he served a practice partner for them at the Davis Cup quarterfinals in 2009.

“That was incredible for me,” he said. “To go with the Davis Cup team ‑‑ Andy ‑‑ whenever I went, Andy had just finaled Wimbledon and lost 16‑14 in the fifth to Federer.  Now I feel about 1/10th the way he felt after that match.

“There was Mardy, James, and then the Bryan brothers.  Those guys were just ‑‑ you know, entire time I was there ‑‑ the first four days I was there, actually the other hitting partner Devin Britton was experiencing a shoulder problem.  I was on the court for probably like four, five hours a day every day, I mean, just working, going straight from practice to practice.  I was involved with every single practice.

“Those guys were extremely helpful, trying to teach me how to play.  You know, the stress and pressure of Davis Cup is one that I’m sure you don’t understand until you’ve actually been in that situation.  But watching those guys, and ‑‑ you know, I watched Mardy, I watched James, how they go about trying to execute during those times.  You know, of course I’ve tried to learn from them and pick up as much as possible.

All of that is great, but these players are also opponents, and not guys he leans on. Rather, Harrison looks towards someone else.

“I mean, my dad has been a great role model for me my entire life,” he said.  “He’s literally explained everything to me from the time I was a little kid.  You know, just this is what’s important in life; this is what you always have to do, you know, no matter what.

“The moment I got out of here, you know, on the day I beat Ljubicic, the entire conversation with him was staying humble and preparing for the next round.  I’ve had a great support system.  I have a little brother and little sister, and they both look up to me.  I just try to set a good example for them.

“You know, I’m just go out here and work as hard as I can, and hopefully be a steady player that’s a contender in these tournaments.”

But until he does, Harrison has this year’s Open and it was his greatest learning experience.

“You know, I’ve always not been one to say, like, top 10 and top 5, all that stuff,” he said.  “Because my general personality has always been, you know, if I’m top 10 in the world and I’m 10 in the world, there’s still nine guys ahead of me.  So I’ve always had the mentality where I’ve wanted to be the best and I’ve always wanted to, you know, be the top, to win Grand Slams.

“But with that being said, it’s a ways away.  You know, this was the breakout run of my career, and in the round of 64, you know.  So I’ve got to really keep working and hopefully try and improve.  And guess it’s just been a great experience.”