He is just one of three players to have won a match before his sixteenth birthday on the ATP World Tour. High expectations have dogged Ryan Harrison ever since.
But tennis can be a fickle sport, and success as a young junior player with nothing to lose does not always turn into a regular feature in the top 100 of the ATP World Tour. Indeed many junior no.1 ranked players, a group to which Harrison does not even belong, have struggled to translate success at that level into the professional circuit. Just ask Tsung-Hua Yang and Filip Peliwo, both former Junior World no.1s ranked well outside the top 100, and have never entered that hallowed group. Indeed, neither have broken the top 150. Harrison’s win in 2008 over Pablo Cuevas in Houston, saw him join the exceptional company of Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet, and such early success means he has endured unfair comparisons to such world-class players ever since.
In the US Open of 2010 Harrison defeated former world No.3 Ivan Ljubicic in the US Open first round, serving to increase his exposure to high expectations, and career predictions from rash sources. Harrison, like Thiemo de Bakker, a former junior ranked No.1, actually transgressed the difficult path to the top 100, enjoying a ranking of 79 whilst still a teenager in 2011. Highlights of this year saw Harrison take a set from two-time French Open finalist Robin Soderling in the first round, and win his first match at Wimbledon as a lucky loser over Ivan Dodig. He then took David Ferrer the distance of five sets in the second round. Wins over Milos Raonic, Viktor Troicki, and Victor Hanescu convinced many that Harrison was now a fixture of the top 100 for many years to come.
2012 saw Harrison break the top 50 for a time, and add John Isner to his large list of scalps. Grand Slam draws were not kind, as he lost to Andy Murray, Gilles Simon, Novak Djokovic, and Juan Martin Del Potro, at the latest in the second round. Djokovic was the only one to beat him straight sets, as he fought well with Murray, Simon and Del Potro. Semi-finals in San Jose, Eastbourne, and Newport saw him maintain a strong level of consistency before slowing down towards the end of the year.
2013 was when he began his fall towards what many thought was mediocrity, destined to join Alex Kuznetsov as a much-hyped talent burnt out by expectations and fragile mentalities. An early season win over John Isner masked an underlying problem. He had been a fixture now for more than year, and players if they had not already known, were noting his weaknesses. In particular, a vulnerability to remain consistent in long rallies on his backhand saw many players play to that wing much more often, avoiding his potent forehand. Harrison picked up few wins and dropped back to challenger level where he did find some success. His poor luck in Slam draws continued, facing Djokovic, Isner, Chardy and Nadal all in rounds one or two. He let slip a two set lead against Isner at the French Open. Like his slow finish to 2012, Harrison experienced a similar dip in 2013, losing in qualifying for main draw events to the likes of Kevin Kraweitz and Go Soeda.
2014 proved even worse, losing often in Challengers and rarely featuring beyond the qualifying or first rounds of any ATP event, his ranking dropping precariously near the edge of the top 200. There was a feeling that Ryan Harrison was finished.
It only takes a small spark, something, anything to find that player again. Harrison worked on changing his serve, adding more spin to what had once been a fiercely flat delivery. The backhand was also changed so that it became less of a weakness, though still not a strength.
The Happy Valley Challenger in Australia saw a Ryan Harrison ready to rock once more. He defeated a young Hyeon Chung in the first round, and also Blaz Rola in his run to the final. His win over former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis in the final. He qualified, won a round, and then played a tight three-setter with Kei Nishikori in Memphis. Whilst outside pundits began to cautiously begin mentioning his progress, there was a steely determination and long-absent consistency in his play. Proving Memphis was no fluke, Harrison then tore through the Acapulco 500 event, dispatching Donald Young, Ivo Karlovic, and Grigor Dimitrov. Like his maiden Wimbledon, Harrison then pushed David Ferrer the maximum number of sets in his semi-final.
The last two weeks has seen Harrison reach back-to-back challenger finals, losing to Dennis Novikov on both occasions. A strong run this week would see him return to the top 100 after more than a two year absence. His play the last few weeks continues the trend seen from him this year. He is more consistent, stronger, fitter, and seems to have more self belief than ever before. He struggled again for a period during the middle of the season, but he has had a mental strength to come back that was not apparent before. Previous years have seen him drop off at the end of the year. The new Ryan Harrison is upping his game.
He may have turned into the world beater that many expected in the race to replace Roddick, Blake, Fish and others of that generation. That cannot be his focus, and anyway, he is far from the only young American on the tour these days. Jack Sock, Denis Kudla, Fritz, Paul, Tiafoe and Donaldson are all playing their part. His return up to this point has been very much under the radar. That could work out very well for Ryan Harrison and his future place in the game
