By Scoop Malinowski
Christian Harrison may be the most inspiring figure of tennis perseverance in the sport today. The 28 year old has endured a bone infection and eight surgeries, including operations on both legs, both hips, his right wrist, and both aductors.
All those adversities, obstacles and roadblocks somehow did not manage to halt the tennis career of Harrison who has fortunately finally been healthy since January 2021 and thus he has been able to play and compete on a consistent basis.
Naturally the results have come for this once highly touted American junior and younger brother of another prospective star and Roland Garros doubles champion Ryan Harrison. Last February at Delray Beach as a wildcard into the qualifying tournament ranked in the 700s, Harrison reached the semifinal.
Last week Harrison won three Wimbledon qualifying matches and today he won his first Grand Slam main draw match by topping Brit Jay Clarke 76 61 76.
Harrison is currently ranked 251. In his ATP career he’s only played just over a dozen main tour matches.
Tennis is a sport where players need to constantly play and train and refine their games and build confidence with endless repetitions. Harrison has estimated – he’s not even sure himself – that he’s been shelved by health issues six times for at least six months. So he’s had to pick up the pieces and start his career over at least six times.
Yet here he is right now, at the high point of his career, into the second round of Wimbledon – and no matter what happens the rest of this week or next week, he should surpass his career best ranking (198).
In some ways, or a lot of ways, the career of Christian Harrison is more inspiring and more impressive than those of Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Serena, Kyrgios, Raducanu, and the rest. Sure, everybody in the ATP and WTA had to overcome many different adversities in their lives. Because “tennis is a vicious sport” I once overheard journeyman player Martin Redlicki say at the Sarasota Open Challenger. There is no sport more difficult and physically challenging to succeed in than professional tennis.
Very well done by Christian Harrison today, quite possibly the most profoundly impressive win we will see at the entire tournament… even if it happened way out on court 18.
Check out the Biofile interview I did with Christian Harrison this year at Sarasota Open.
Bradenton · Christian Harrison · Uomo Sport · Wimbledon
MATT SEGEL · June 28, 2022 at 12:17 pm
Amen! Thank you for this story.
Douglas · June 28, 2022 at 2:38 pm
Shades of Brian Baker of Orange Bowl fame… Singing in the Rain
Who has a longer season with more travel than these guys?
Nobody.
Chuck · June 28, 2022 at 3:45 pm
The only problem is the ATP is not awarding any ranking points this year due to Wimbledon not allowing Russian and Belarusian players to participate.
Kudos to Christian and his resiliency.
Scoop Malinowski · June 28, 2022 at 6:52 pm
Chuck, you’re right, I forgot already about the Wimby points theft. Unfortunate for Harrison and all the players who suffer from this flagrantly ridiculous decision which most likely was made to punish Novak.