Is there a changing of the guard happening in American tennis?
Andy Roddick, the man who has held the torch for American tennis since his US Open victory in 2003, suffered his earliest loss in a Grand Slam tournament since 2008, losing in the US Open second round Wednesday night to Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) in a match that finished at 11:59 pm.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Ryan Harrison, who many target as the future of American tennis, registered his first victory in his first match ever in a Grand Slam tournament with 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 15 seed Ivan Ljubicic earlier on Wednesday
The previous symbolic changing of the guard in American men’s tennis came in 2001 and 2003, when an 18-year-old Roddick beat Pete Sampras in straight sets in the round of 32 at the 2001 Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne and two year later when Roddick won the 2003 US Open, the same event that kicked off with the official retirement ceremony for Sampras.
Against Tipsarevic, the No. 9-seeded Roddick became went off on a verbal tirade after being called for a foot fault during the third set and, he has done consistently through his career, tried to use the event to fire himself up to try to get himself back in to the match. Roddick last lost in the second round of a major at Wimbledon two years ago — also to Tipsarevic. His earliest US Open losses were in 2005 and in his debut Open in 2000.
“He was in a groove,” Roddick said of Tipsarevic. “He was taking risky cuts at the ball and it seemed like all of them were dropping.”
Harrison, meanwhile, impressed with his solid play against Ljubicic, the former top five player who won one of the biggest hard court events of the year in Indian Wells, Calif., in March.
“To win on this stage here and to take out a top 20 player in the world is the biggest win of my career,” said Harrison, who advanced into the main draw with three wins in the qualifying tournament. “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.”
Harrison competed in the US Open Wild Card Playoffs two weeks ago in Boca Raton, Fla., where he lost in the final to Tim Smyczek. After the loss, he won three matches in the US Open qualifying rounds to earn his entry into the 128-player field.
“Playing on these courts week before, winning matches builds confidence and that builds winning,” he said. “Getting used to the courts and used to playing a certain style of play helped me an extreme amount going into today.”
Harrison, ranked No. 220, said that Roddick has been one of his biggest supporters. “Every time I see him, he’s always been extremely helpful and really talked to me a lot about some of the things he experienced when he was first coming up,” Harrison said. “Andy has always been great about making sure that I keep working hard. Most of the time he’s talking to me about working on certain parts of my game, basically taking me aside and saying, ‘Look, this is going to make you win now in Futures and Challengers, but you won’t be able to do this in two years. So you’re gonna need to work on this.”
He did not hold back when asked where he wants to stand in the scope of American tennis.
“Absolutely I want to be that guy,’ said Harrison. “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.”
By Bob Stockton