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The late career decline of Andy Roddick coupled with the late career blooming of Mardy Fish make for an interesting time in American men' s Tennis.
John Isner appears to be the heir apparent . The crushing serve along with vastly improved movement and a calm match play maturity have him at the top of the heap.
Next up would be Ryan Harrison the 19 year old from Louisiana with the big serve and fire in the belly.
Harrison played Canadian Milos Raonic yesterday in the Semi-Final of the SAP Open and when push came to shove the American cracked just enough to let the huge serving Raonic get past him and advance to the final.
The fisrt set sped along with hold after hold from the big serving duo and in the tie breaker that decided the set ,Harrison over hit a routine forehand in the very first point to give the Canadian a mini-break and he promptly closed out the set 7-6 -- 7 points to 4.
The second set was at 1-2 with Harrison serving when Raonic hit 2 forehand winnners to go up 30-love.
Harrison hit a solid backhand pass to get to 15-30 but then framed forehand off of a short sitter and fired an adreniline fueled double fault to hand the serve break to Raonic.
The huge serving Canadian won the next game at love , throwing in a 150mph ace,and then ran out the set at 6-2.
Harrison has complicated forehand technique and his backhand slice is more floating underspin than biting backsipn. At the top of the game the slightest flaws are exposed by the seasoned opponents and are subject to cracking under late match pressure.
He didnt whine or chuck his racket like he did a few time last season ,but the curse of overstimulation still seems to have a hold of him.
Hopefully with a clear look inward and some great match play situational coaching he can get over that hurdle and start climbing the ladder to the top.
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