With first singles title, Harrison returns to career-high ranking

Ryan Harrison has gotten back to his career-high ranking with his first tournament victory. The American took the title in Memphis, beating Nikoloz Basilashvili.

The 24-year-old Harrison reached No. 43 in 2012, but slumped between 2014 and 2016, falling to No. 197. When the new rankings came out on Monday, Harrison was ranked No. 43 once again.

"It's always going to be special, but it's even better here,” he said, “in front of a group of people that drove up from your hometown and have known you since you were five years old. This was the first place I saw a professional tennis match, driving up from Shreveport."

He did not get broken during the match, despite facing 12 break points.

“Even when I wasn't playing my best tennis, I've always had a lot of confidence in my serve,” Harrison said. "It's actually the one thing that kept me inside of 150, 120 in the world when I was playing, by my standards, not well."

Harrison has been playing on tour for nine years, winning his first ATP match at 15 years old.

"I started so young that when I wasn't winning Grand Slams by 22 or 23 years old, people felt like my name had come and gone,” he told the ATP website. “When you first hear about me, by 2009 or 2010 and years later, I'm outside the Top 100. People don't expect much from you. That's why the people around me told me to turn it into a positive—that I've had these experiences at such a young age."

He also beat Sam Querrey and Donald Young in Memphis, and won a Challenger in Dallas the week before.