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SONY ERICSSON OPENMarch 22, 2012Ryan HarrisonMIAMI, FLORIDA R. HARRISON/P. Starace THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. It's starting to come together for you. Started to get a lot more confidence out there. What do you think is the great difference in your game? RYAN HARRISON: Well, um, I think that's a match where last year after dealing with rough conditions and having a lot of break point opportunities and just things that really weren't going my way in the first set, I might have self‑destructed. Could have actually lost that match just based on my frustration. I told myself in the beginning of the second set, you know, this is what I have been working on; this is what I'm going to do best; I am going to make sure that I keep composure and I keep playing my game. I actually did a better job of stepping up into the court and taking control of points, and that allowed me to turn the match around. Q. Is that maturity a thing above anything else where you lose the first set? Compose yourself and get back out there and get it done? RYAN HARRISON: I think so. Just from the maturity standpoint I'm able to focus on the task at hand more than frustration and things not going my way. I'm learning how to take things and say, Even though to this point I haven't been able to execute what I want to, let's keep trying. Let's not dwell on what hasn't happened. Let's look forward to making sure that I try to do everything I can to make positive things happen. Q. Is your coach fining you for racquet costs or verbal abuses or curses? RYAN HARRISON: That was one of my things I said at the beginning of this year: I didn't want to get fined for anything. That's my New Year's resolution. I don't want to get fined. Obviously there's times where‑‑ you know, last week I broke a racquet, but that was the first racquet I've broken on court in almost six months. So it's been a long time. You know, I was actually really‑‑ there's gonna be times when I get frustrated and things need to get out of the system. But the one thing I want to avoid is the carrying on, the whining, the stuff where it looks like I'm not being a professional athlete. I want to make sure I'm doing things in a professional manner and behaving, you know, in a way that ultimately going to help me move forward. Q. Did you get that on your own or did the coach or your dad or somebody talk about that? RYAN HARRISON: It was my dad and Grant, Grant Doyle, who has been traveling for me. My dad obviously has been a huge influence. At the end of last year, November when I finished up, you know, I started working with Grant and I started talking to my dad. My dad and Grant have a good relationship and they were able to talk a lot. They were ultimately discussing what's the biggest thing Ryan needs to do. There were a couple of things they addressed, and one of the main things was they agreed that I lost a lot of matches last year based on my attitude. So they were straight with me, very blunt with, and said, Ryan, do you like losing? I said, Not really. They said, If you're gonna do things the way you want to reach your potential, this is something you have to change. That's it. That's the bottom line. You're either gonna get it or you're not. My dad told Grant, he said, Look, you have every, you know, freedom to say whatever you want and be as harsh as you want with him. Any time that he's out of lineyou can ‑‑ I'm not the type of kid that's gonna get offended if he comes down on me hard one day. There has certainly been some practices where he's had to. That's the thing we're looking to keep doing moving forward. I fully expect him to keep doing things that we've been doing. Q. In the third set you seemed very confident. He has very great hands and is a great doubles player. You kept him deep. Did you have a different game plan on that third set? RYAN HARRISON: I started to make my first serve a lot more. I don't know what the percentage was in the third set compared to the first two. I know it was definitely higher. When I started putting more pressure on him and getting up in games, 30‑Love, 40‑Love, 30‑15, that allows you to swing freely as opposed to getting down in your service game where then at that point your nerves tightening up on you a little bit and things start to become a little bit more difficult. So I think the way I was able to establish my serve early in the games was able to allow me to just play the way I wanted to play: a little more aggressive. Obviously getting the break in the first game allowed me to swing a little more freely. Q. You know who you have next, a pretty good player. You know, he had a bad temper as a kid, too. He almost had to stop playing because of that. Good example of that. How about making a statement here? Are you ready to make that statement? RYAN HARRISON: I'm certainly ready to. You know, I have done my fair share of‑‑ I think I am 0 and 10 or 0 and 11 against those top 10 guys. I have had my fairshare of chances. You know, 6 in the third against Fish; 5 in the third against Fish; five sets against Ferrer; I even lost a tight first set against Fed last year at Indian Wells. So I'm hoping that this is the year where I say, Okay, I'm not just someone that's competitive. I'm a threat to win these matches. That's my mindset, and it's obviously‑‑ you know, he's an outstanding player. That's an understatement. He's done incredible stiff in the game. In my mind he's the greatest player of all time. Tomorrow‑‑ I guess on Saturday I'm gonna do things from my perspective with complete confidence, and I'm gonna try to control things I can on my side of the court. I guess if I'm serving well I'm gonna have a chance against anyone, because I have an opportunity with the way I can serve to dictate service plays and play the way I want to play. That's gonna give me a chance. That's what I'm gonna look to do. Q. Did you eat broccoli last night? RYAN HARRISON: I certainly did. I'm actually adding a new one this week. That was my progression. I'm gonna go with broccoli and I started adding spinach. Q. Like Popeye? RYAN HARRISON: Exactly. I told myself every single week as long as I'm winning, I'm going to add a new vegetable in. Hopefully my diet is the way it should be. Q. Is that creamed spinach or regular? RYAN HARRISON: Regular spinach. We're not throwing anything on there that's fattening. Q. You do look leaner since the Australian Open. Do you feel you lost weight? You had a tough match with Andy Murray and you were dominating and he just switched it back in his game. You look more fit. Do you think it's your diet? RYAN HARRISON: I think it's a combination of my diet; it's a combination of my trainer being very organized. He's been great. Since I brought him in in Atlanta last year he's been awesome with making sure that I'm on point with my recovery and my fitness schedule. And then I have a guy back in Austin who does all my physical fitness work, and he's been helping me with an on the road program where I can keep staying up to high performance and make sure that my body stays healthy for the long year. I guess ultimately just physically learning how to play tennis the right way. I'm not getting these rallies when I'm 15 feet behind the baseline and running side to side every point. If you remember watching some of my matches last year, I won a lot of matches by retrieving, but there wasn't a whole lot of matches where you were like, Wow, Harrison is stepping up and taking control of this match. That's the biggest thing moving forward. I want to be assertive and aggressive. That's gonna play ‑‑ I'm not going to have to play as long a points. Q. You were at the Ritz‑Carlton, the event, for the foundation. You were giving a lot of your time out there. How is it important for the other players to have the same social consciousness that you do? RYAN HARRISON: I think it's the utmost importance. We don't have a job if we don't have the community and the public that are coming out to watch and coming out to support us. I think that there is a lot of‑‑ I don't want to say there are a lot of players, but there are some players who don't really understand how fortunate we are to be in the position that we are in. I think that Federer and Nadal and Djokovic and Murray, the top four guys have done an incredible job of giving back to the sport. As someone that's hopefully an up‑and‑comer and hopefully can be in their position one day, I would like to make it a very strong statement from the beginning of my career that I do know how fortunate I am to be in the position I'm in. As long as it's not hampering my preparation, I'm gonna do everything I can to give back to the community and try to help as many kids and families as possible. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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