FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. — Who’s says there’s no one waiting in the wings when it comes to the development of American tennis talent?
Amidst on-court temperatures that eclipsed 105 degrees, 18-year-old qualifier Ryan Harrison showed veteran cool in upending 32-year-old Croat Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3, 6-4 in the first round at the U.S. Open, scoring the biggest win of his promising young career.
Harrison, ranked No. 220, was making in main-draw debut. The No. 17-ranked Ljubicic was playing his 11th U.S. Open.
“He’s been out here for 12, 15 years, and I have an extreme amount of respect for him and everything he’s done,” said Harrison of his opponent, who has missed only two Grand Slams since making his debut at the U.S. Open back in ’99. “Whenever I was coming up as a little kid, seven, eight years old, I used to watch him play on TV in later stages of Grand Slams. So I’ve always had an extreme amount of respect for him.”
“The weather was my biggest enemy today,” said Ljubicic, who in March became the oldest first-time winner of an ATP Masters Series event in Indian Wells, where he defeated Harrison in the second round. “Throughout my career, I struggled with the heat. I’m not really coping really well with that, and I tried all kind of different tactics to deal with it. I never find the right one. So today was no different. Then everything else just comes together. I was not returning well, serving well, and Ryan was on top of his game.”
Harrison mixed it up nicely against Ljubicic, winning 14 of 20 serve-and-volley points and also crushing clean winners from the baseline. His temper briefly flared up in the second set, where he committed six of his 25 unforced errors, but the all-courter managed to keep his composure in check.
“I’ve always believed in myself,” said the well-spoken Harrison, who earlier this summer won back-to-back matches at the ATP level for the first time in reaching the Newport quarterfinals. “I have always had confidence in myself, so obviously I’m extremely excited and really pleased with what happened. But at the same token, I’m really going to look forward to trying to get back into my routines of the day off, and looking forward to trying to get ready for second round [where he’ll face the Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky].”
Ljubicic was impressed with Harrison’s effort, but stopped short of any second-coming-of-Andre–Agassi predictions.
“I’m really not good in that,” said the Croat. “I would never say that some top guys did what they did, and other the way around. But he’s definitely a good player. He qualified here, which is great for him. That definitely helped him for today’s match.”
Harrison became the first American teen to defeat a top-20 opponent at a Slam since a 19-year-old Andy Roddick took down Spaniard Alex Corretja at the U.S. Open in ’01. He will crack the top 200 for the first time, making him the youngest player in the top 200.
Harrison knows good and well that with his success will come expectations. The more he wins at this level, the more the future-of-American-tennis talk will follow him. And that’s just fine with him.
“Absolutely I want to be that guy,” said Harrison. “I have a ways to go. I’ve qualified and still have a ways to go to get there, but I’m definitely working has hard as I can. I’m really putting all the work in. I’m trying to stay open minded with everyone who is giving me their opinion and really trying to listen as much as possible and take in as much as advice as I can.”
“I’ve known Ryan for four or five years. I’ve hit with him since he was like 15,” said fellow American Sam Querrey, who also advanced via a 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 win over NCAA champ Bradley Klahn. “So I’m really excited for him. I think the best thing about his game is that he really wants to be a good tennis player. He goes out there and tries really hard and wants to be good. That’s a big part of it.”
