Tennis Prose




Feb/17

18

Could Beating Isner Ignite Young?

imagesDonald Young was 0-4 career vs John Isner but finally turned the tables and solved the Isner Puzzle with a big quarterfinal win in Memphis 76 36 76 despite blowing three match points in the third set deathbreaker Young finally converted on the fourth by returning a huge Isner first serve which Isner volleyed into the net. Young is ranked 81 in the world right now and this kind of problem-solving win could spark the 27-year-old to his first ATP title. If Young is destined to win his first title this week he will have to get by Ryan Harrison in the semi-final which is a tall task considering that Harrison leads their career head-to-head 4-2 though they have never played on indoor hard. Harrison won their last meeting in Tokyo qualies last year 57 61 64. Young once beat Harrison 6061 in Houston on red clay. Young should be in a good mental state now with the first win vs Isner and if he can beat Harrison would play the winner of Kukushin vs Basilashvili. Young has reached two ATP finals in his career – Delray Beach two years ago and Bangkok in 2011 – but this week in Memphis could be his very best chance to finally become an ATP champion.”

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23 comments

  • Andrew Miller · February 18, 2017 at 8:52 pm

    DY should return well, both guys want it because they see this as a big chance to get a title. I liked how DY was playing at the us open in his loss to Karlovic as he never gave up, and I like that Harrison is playing the smartest ball he’s ever played. Will be tough.

  • Dan Markowitz · February 18, 2017 at 10:41 pm

    DY is pretty psycho. He’s always turning to his mom and kvetching to her.

  • Andrew Miller · February 18, 2017 at 11:53 pm

    DY so similar to Andy Murray in that way.

  • Andrew Miller · February 18, 2017 at 11:57 pm

    Harrison top 50 as of next week. This is a rocket ship folks and this was called here at tennis prose last year when jg caught his match. I did too. And I’m proud to say the guy made it happen, rising from top 200 to become the USA version of the rising Mischa Zverev. This has been the story of the last seven months. And I’d wager, no matter what happens against Baliashvili, Mr. Harrison is going to keep shocking the tour and could even unseat his friends and get himself the Davis Cup call. And keep on trucking.

    He’s also lit a fire for DY and shown the young USA players how it’s done.

    There are some better stories than this one on the ATP tour. But not many.

  • Andrew Miller · February 19, 2017 at 12:00 am

    DY should be able to bring this week into next weeks on tour. When he gets upset he’s a bit like the old Ryan Harrison, shows his frustration. Starts getting distracted by the smallest things. His frustration with his box is very Andy Murray from some time back before he dropped his mom as coach.

  • Andrew Miller · February 19, 2017 at 12:28 am

    Harrison and Johnson also playing dubs semifinal. If they win tonight it very well may be Harrison in both singles and doubles tomorrow we’ll see. But still this fits my theory, winning anywhere and winning often breeds confidence and more winning and trust with the team. I didn’t know Harrison has a few pros like Sanguinetti on his team alongside Lucasek, Escobedos coach? Lucassen?
    Point is singles and dubs. Get a win every week. Winning anywhere can translate over.

  • Dan Markowitz · February 19, 2017 at 12:42 pm

    I don’t believe Harry will continue to climb up the rankings. Once the big boys roll into town at Indy Wells and then the clay and grass court seasons, Harry will not win much. If he does, I’ll be shocked. Harry’s coach is Peter Lucassen, who’s claim to fame so far is that he was the ass’t coach at USC. It sounds kind of sketchy to me. No American player has a big time coach unless you consider Craig Boynton one.

  • Andrew Miller · February 19, 2017 at 1:12 pm

    Dan, you’ll catch them in Delray, which will have a better field. Qualies seems to have been brutal thus far then.

  • Andrew Miller · February 19, 2017 at 2:53 pm

    Dolgopolov d Nishikori straight up. I thought Nishikori would win this title outright. He is looking less like the French champ I think he can be, but credit Dolgo, a Scoop favorite with a talent for playing spectacular ball.

  • Thomas Tung · February 19, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    Big win for Dolgo; even more so, given his record against Kei was a poor 0-5.

    When Dolgo cuts down on some of his less inspired shots, he can play really nice tennis consistently — and clay really seems to favor his style of play, not unlike a certain M.Rios (Alexandr’s hero). He’s refreshing and fun to watch — just don’t back him to win Slams.

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 19, 2017 at 4:53 pm

    Lucassen played at USC and has worked with an array of players including Johnson and Kozlov also – he was in Newport last year with Kozlov – I guess he’s become sort of like a US version of Valverdu though Lucassen is a Swede I believe – Peter Lundgren deserves a phone call – I think Peter Lundgren could help a young US player –

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 19, 2017 at 5:05 pm

    Shocked Dolgopolov won as he’s been lingering around the “journeyman” fringe of the elite for a few years now but this kind of win changes everything – This could change Dolgopolov’s career – I still recall that match vs Djokovic at US Open on Armstrong about seven years ago when they played that first set tiebreaker that went to like 12-10 and Dolgo’s game had Djokovic looking very confused and even helpless at times – Of course Dolgo had some other big wins vs Rafa and others but it’s been a struggle – Dolgo at his best is a very positive adrenaline shot for the sport as the fans love this guy and how differently he plays –

  • Hartt · February 19, 2017 at 6:37 pm

    I have not followed Ryan Harrison’s career the way some of you have, but was taken by how emotional he was with his Memphis win. Guess it is extra special when it has been so long coming. My stream had Italian commies translating over his speech but from what I could hear he was very gracious, giving big kudos to his parents, etc.

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 19, 2017 at 6:38 pm

    Harrison looks like a totally different player now – he is a champion now -he gave one of the best victory speeches ever in describing his journey through years and years of adversity and struggle – Very touching and it is a joy to see this player enjoying the success a few of us expected and never gave up on Ryan through his setbacks and failures –

  • Andrew Miller · February 19, 2017 at 6:48 pm

    Dan and Scoop saw Harrison at his worst, losing to Kozlov and Donaldson in challengers in 2014 California, I think up in Tiburon. He bested Mitchell Frank in Virginia and had a nice resurgence through March 2015, after which he began a 1.25 year slide down to his worst ranking in five years, around two hundred slot. Dan and Scoop then saw a miserable Harrison in Rhode Island before JG saw him play a singles match in dc qualies against Weintraub, with a come from behind victory down in the first set. He played dubs, qualified for most tournaments he played, played world team tennis, won a lot of qualies and dubs matches, then smacked Raonic. This is best story in tennis right up there with Mischa Zverev and Coco.

  • Andrew Miller · February 19, 2017 at 8:45 pm

    Johnson and Harrison lose doubles.

  • Scoop Malinowski · February 19, 2017 at 10:38 pm

    Harrison’s head was probably on his singles win – winning this title is the best day of his tennis career – I think this win will open the door and Harrison is headed to top twenty or even possibly top ten – he hits the ball differently and better now and his backhand passing shot winners this week were on par with what I’ve seen by Djokovic Rafa Kei and Andy – Harrison’s backhand is 100% better now and his serving and forehand are also better – as is his on court fighting spirit and poise – On top of that Harrison is one of the best interviews in tennis and he always was even as an eighteen year old as I first did a Biofile with Harrison in Delray when he was still a teen – I still recall Harrison finished playing and entered the press conf and no reporter even asked a question and Harrison described in detail how he played and what happened for about five minutes – He knew what we all wanted and needed and he gave it to us as a teenager without one reporter even asking a question!! – All Harrison needs now is Lloyd Carroll to call him a “journeyman” and then that will guarantee Harrison to be top five 🙂

  • catherine bell · February 20, 2017 at 3:29 am

    Note to Andrew –

    Simona is returning at Indian Wells (which we knew) and has a WC into the DOUBLES 🙂

    So let’s hope if she loses early in singles she’ll carry on in doubles which is a tactic we’ve been discussing here on and off as a good move for players in general.

  • Hartt · February 20, 2017 at 6:20 am

    I came here to give the big Simona in doubles news but you beat me to it. Now, if she just sticks with this.

    A lot of singles players play doubles at IW and I’ve been curious about how the tourney entices them to do that when players rarely do at other tourneys. I know the tournament is spread over a slightly longer time but there must be other considerations as well.

  • catherine bell · February 20, 2017 at 6:38 am

    Hartt –

    Well I think one of the other considerations might be $$$$ 🙂 And some other events aren’t so generous.

    BTW I saw a comment somewhere that Simona had surgery on her knee – don’t think this can be true because in that case she’d be out for a lot longer than a month.

    I saw some of the Doha final and wasn’t impressed. Not high quality play – liesurely is how I’d term it. What you miss with Simona hors de combat and Angie below par is sheer speed around the court. Pliskova has mentioned improving this but I feel her body build is against her there. Radwanska is quite fast but she’s not winning much.

    Must say I’m looking forward to IW and hope not too many WDs on ATP or WTA.

  • Hartt · February 20, 2017 at 8:22 am

    Yes re $ for doubles. I suspected that so did some research on North American Masters tourneys so the $ would be in dollars, am afraid I am not up to converting euros.

    Both IW and Miami give big bucks for doubles, $336,920 for the winners for both the men and the women. Even those in QFs get $42,000. Both Cinci and Rogers Cup provide much less, Cinci $258,500 and Rogers Cup $212,200 for the winner. It is harder to compare the $ for the women because the latter tourneys are not Premier Mandatory but they provide $147,700 and $142,375 for the winners.

    Simona won IW in 2015 and generally has played well there, so this would be a good opportunity for her to get back on track.

  • Bryan · February 21, 2017 at 7:42 pm

    IMO Young already crossed the threshold before beating Isner. He has been creeping up ever since his big run at the US Open. At one point he lost 21 matches straight last year, then he started playing well again.

  • Dan Markowitz · February 22, 2017 at 7:19 am

    17 not 21. That’s Spadea’s record not DY’s.

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