Filed under: U.S. OpenNEW YORK -- He choked. Let's just get the ugliness out of the way right now, so there isn't any hinting about it or hiding from it.
Ryan Harrison, the 18-year-old American, fought all the way to the fifth set tiebreaker against Sergiy Stakhovsky, ranked No. 36, Friday in the second round of the U.S. Open. He was relentless, smart, fantastic. He was the buzz of Flushing Meadows, as everyone seemed to bull-rush the Grandstand court for any angle on the match, any fence to climb or tarp to pull back and peek through.
He was the future. He was hope for U.S. tennis. He was up six points to three -- three match points -- and was going to do it!
And then he lost the next five points. Harrison lost 6-3, 5-7, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6).
Balloon. Air. Goodbye.
"Winning builds confidence, confidence builds winning," he said.
I think he's wrong. Of course, he didn't actually win, anyway. But, to use his terms, this one is going to build winning.
Every tennis player who remembers competing as a kid felt for Harrison Friday. His choking wasn't a sign that he lacks guts or smarts. This was a different kind, a kind that almost everyone has to go through.
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