Baseline Player of the Week: Ryan Harrison

Every week Baseline will select a “Player of the Week.” That athlete may not always win the highest category tournament that week, but perform the best compared to their recent playing history.

Nearly nine years ago, Ryan Harrison burst onto the tennis scene in Houston as a 15-year-old when he became the youngest player since Rafael Nadal in 2002 to win an ATP match.

A few years later, an 18-year-old Harrison beat 15th-seeded Ivan Ljubicic at the 2010 US Open, before playing in the match most fans remember him for: losing three match points in a fifth set tiebreaker to Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round. While he didn’t win, it was clear that the United States had a talented prospect on its hands.

But Harrison slowly faded out of the spotlight.

"The path I was on wasn't a good one,” Harrison told ESPN last week. “You could count on one hand the people who believed I could get to where I've gotten in the last six months."

Last year, Harrison fell out of the Top 150 in the rankings. But after a strong summer on the American hard court swing, Harrison beat fifth-seeded Milos Raonic to reach the third round in Flushing Meadows. He found a way to climb back into the Top 100 by the end of the year, finding himself at No. 62 going into Memphis.

Harrison’s career resurgence came full circle in Memphis, which happens to be the first tennis tournament he attended as a child. Without dropping a set, Harrison cruised to his first ATP World Tour title (and final), beating surprise finalist Nikoloz Basilashvili, 6-1, 6-4.

Now Harrison has returned to his career-high of No. 43 in the world .

"This was the first place I saw a professional tennis match, driving up from Shreveport [Louisiana],” Harrison said. “You have dreams and aspirations in life and for me it's trying to be as great as I can in tennis. For me to come back here and win this title when I had thought it was impossible, it's amazing."

One would have thought that it would be a tough week for the big-serving 24-year-old after he won five matches last week (also without losing a set) to win the $125,000 Challenger in Dallas. But Harrison suffered no letdowns.

Ironically enough, Harrison’s first match of the week was arguably his toughest. Konstantin Kravchuk was up 5-2 in the second set of their opening round clash before the American won the final five games of the set and, with that, the match.

The focus throughout the week—during which he also beat Sam Querrey—illustrated an increase in maturity for the American. While expectations were high at a young age, with plenty of pressure on Harrison as a teenager, he has started to focus on the process of becoming better each and every day with each and every match.

“I'm starting to get it. I'm focusing on today,” Harrison said. “I have a burning desire to win, and that's what I'm continuing to tap into.”