American players who will surge up rankings in 2012 – Part Two: Ryan Harrison
Like Donald Young, 19-year-old Ryan Harrison also began his professional tennis career at the age of 15. Currently holding the 75th spot in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Rankings, Harrison is among the fastest rising stars from the United States, looking forward to surge up the rankings in the near future.
The 19-year-old took off 2011 as the world number 173 and lunged up 106 places to clinch the 66th spot in eight months’ time. He had a hiccup in his form to fall back to number 80 recently but the agile American is toiling extremely hard to find his way towards the top of the men’s rankings.
Harrison is running a 14-19 winning record in the ATP World Tour-level competitions this season but his success in the Challenger Tour events has kept him improving his ratings. The American is yet to bag his first championship title of his career and it is anticipated that he will be able to seize a couple in the coming season.
The 19-year-old took off the current season with first round losses in Brisbane and the Australian Open but compensated for his defeats by winning a Challenger Tour tournament in Honolulu, defeating Alex Kuznetsov in the final. Harrison was dumped in the opening round at Delray Beach before entering the Masters Series 1000 event in Indian wells. He took down world number 25, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and 37th ranked Milos Raonic before losing to the then world number two, Roger Federer, in the round of 16.
Harrison suffered first round exits at Miami Masters and in Houston before he took part in the second Grand Slam tournament of the year, the French Open. He cleared the qualifiers to reach the main rounds but the world number five, Robin Soderling, ended his voyage at the Roland Garros in the first round. He then lost in the opening clash at Queens’ Club, London, prior to take part in the Wimbledon Championships. Harrison finally won a match in his Grand Slam campaigns, outplaying world number 37, Ivan Dodig of Croatia in the opening round. He then went on to face the sixth ranked Spaniard, David Ferrer and posed some serious resistance before submitting in the fifth set of the match.
Another loss in the opening round at Newport was followed by a decent run in Atlanta, where he reached the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour 250 event. He was outdone by his fellow compatriot, Mardy Fish, in the round of four. Harrison booked a rematch with Fish in the semi-final of the following tournament in Los Angeles but his opponent reigned supreme once again to dump him from the competition.
Harrison finished his voyages in the second round of the tournaments at Washington, Cincinnati and Winston-Salem but his rankings improved to number 66. He finally stepped on the hard courts of New York to play the last grand Slam tournament of the ATP season, the US Open. A lot was expected from the 19-year-old but to the dismay of his home crowd, Harrison lost in the opening round match to the former world number three, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia.
He suffered his third defeat of the year at the hands of Fish in the second round in Tokyo and also fell out of the round number two in Shanghai masters. Harrison is certainly capable of doing much better in the coming days and it is expected that the teenager will shoot up in the ATP men’s rankings in the next season.
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