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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPENAugust 13, 2013Ryan HarrisonCINCINNATI, OHIO D. FERRER/R. Harrison THE MODERATOR: Questions for Ryan, please. Q. Ryan, close match. You had some chances, hung in there. How do you feel about how you performed? RYAN HARRISON: Just wish I would have served a little better. Felt like I was‑‑ felt like I was in the match. Obviously, I had some chances. Could have easily been at 5‑All right now. Should never get broken from 40‑15 serving, especially at 5‑All in the third. Had uncharacteristically a lot of double faults. Just a little windy. Tough to judge from side to side whenever you're going after your second serve that much, how much to‑‑ if you just roll it in there, he's obviously such a good player he's going to make you eat it. So there's that pressure to hit a good second. And then obviously I overhit a few, and kind of a costly one there at 4‑5. That's the most disappointing part, just not that I didn't make him play that point. Q. But you came back to break him back. Did you go down after that game? RYAN HARRISON: Well, obviously not. I got the 40‑15. So kind of a self‑answering question there. Q. Ryan, obviously it's a really good effort today, just not‑‑ obviously you're looking for more than just a moral victory, I guess, at this point. Do you still take positives out of today overall? RYAN HARRISON: Yeah, I mean, definitely. I think that anyone who watched the match can see the difference in my game, especially being aggressive with my forehand and looking to dictate points. Obviously, my backhand I'm still working on developing. I'm getting a lot better with being steady with it and using my slice and mixing it in whenever I can. I feel like I'm hitting my forehand well enough to where it's a shot that wherever I am in the court, if I get a hold of it, I can really take control of the point. That's kind of the direction we want. I don't want to be winning points because guys are missing midcourt balls or giving me things left and right. You want to have a game where you step up and you can initiate and take the aggressive side of it, and I think that's where I'm headed. Q. Got announced today that you're getting a wild card into the US Open. RYAN HARRISON: Awesome. Didn't know that. Q. You didn't know that? RYAN HARRISON: Thanks for the news. Q. Now that you do, what are your sort of goals, plans, expectations for New York? RYAN HARRISON: Well, I'm not sure what we'll do next week. I'm pretty sure I'll probably head up to New York a few days early and get used to everything, get used to the courts up there, and obviously just getting the New York City vibe. It's got a certain aura around it where it takes a couple practices to sink in that you're at the home slam and playing in a big crowd, and obviously all the excitement of playing at the US Open. So I'll get up there a couple days early. Haven't gotten to sit down yet with my coach and decide where we're going to go as far as like tomorrow or tonight or whatever I'm going to do until then. I know I'll be in New York for at least a few days before it starts. Q. You're also back in the top 100. I know that this is‑‑ so it seemed like you sort of‑‑ at least the direction is moving up. All the right direction now it feels like for you? RYAN HARRISON: Yeah, you got to just worry about the game and let the ranking take care of itself. The biggest thing we're focusing on right now is it being a process, being a player in playing development stage, not necessarily a ranking building. You let the ranking come with hard work and good results. A lot of positives to take today. Played 2:45, or I don't know exactly how long it was, but a long match, with Ferrer, who's one of the most physical guys out there. I was still able to go and do my full cooldown and I'm feeling good. That's a good sign leading up to a slam, knowing that your body is ready. I feel like my game is obviously right there on the brink of playing those top guys. That's kind of where you want it. Obviously, it would have been great to get a win today, but I know that going in, if I compete the way I can and play the way I'm capable of, I'm going to be able to challenge just about anybody. That's the feeling you want. Q. You had a serve show up at 152. RYAN HARRISON: Yeah, I don't know if that's accurate or not. I've never hit one over 142 before. I'll take it. (Laughing.) Q.Ryan, though your ranking doesn't really reflect it, in many ways I think you're probably‑ and you would agree‑ that you're a better player now than you were a couple years ago, but you're not quite over that hump yet where you can come out of a match like this on top. Is that a frustrating thing for you, or is it a positive? RYAN HARRISON: It's not a positive that you're not coming out on top. I mean, it's one of those things where you look at a guy like Ferrer, and he's 30, 31 years old. I don't know exactly how old he is. He's been one of the hardest working guys on tour for 15 years. All those wins that he gets, he earns. He's put in the work for years and years and years to get in tight moments and come through. I'm doing things the right way and being professional. It's going to take me a little bit of time to consistently have a good base to where I get in those moments and raise my level. I did a good job of raising the break there at 5‑3, and the next step is just taking care of that service game at 40‑15, making a first serve, not giving away the double fault. I could sit here and dissect the whole match point for point with you all day, but when it comes down to it, it's just a matter of getting into the bigger moments and executing because you've done so much work that you trust it. Q. A couple times you showed some emotion. You were obviously frustrated, but yet you were able to come back. Is there a point where you just are able to push it back down and concentrate? RYAN HARRISON: Well, I'm very energetic. I mean, anyone that watches me play knows that I get fired up and I also get emotional. At no point in time did I have like a sulky like kind of whiney, where I looked like I was kind of going into my shell. Like the outbursts were kind of like, All right, let's put that behind us and let's keep moving forward. Obviously, that's why‑‑ and I wouldn't have been in the position I had been if I hadn't taken myself out of the match. Q. Ryan, why aren't you playing next week? RYAN HARRISON: We'll see what the‑‑ I haven't pulled out next week. I don't know. I'm going to have to meet with my coaches and talk about it. The positives and negatives is what I can give you right now. Q. You're entered in Winston‑Salem? RYAN HARRISON: Yeah, I'm entered in Winston‑Salem. Knowing that I got the wild card, I just found that out right now, so I'll have to meet with Jay and discuss it. But the positives of playing next week, obviously get a few more matches and keep playing well into the Open. The positives of not playing next week, getting to New York, get into that vibe, have a good like solid training block behind you, because I have played four weeks in a row now. Those are the positives and negatives there. Q. How is it going with Jay and the USTA? RYAN HARRISON: It's been great. They've been completely behind me. They're all behind me. I have a great group of guys. Coach Gullickson, Brad Gilbert is now working with the USTA and helping out a lot. Jay is kind of handling the whole program and keeping it under control and making sure we all stay organized. He's a guy who made top 10 in the world because he's known for just being a total hard ass, I guess, if I can say that. But he's just a guy that works really hard, and you want that passion as a coach. You want someone that's going to come out there and just give you that energy, where they're going to sit there and have the blood, sweat, and tears with you on your wins and losses, and they're going to hold you accountable for your mistakes. He's a guy who's a true professional. Not going to let me get away with anything, and that's exactly what you need as a young athlete. Q. For a long time you weren't really in the fold of the USTA when a lot of young guys were. What was the thinking behind making that switch? RYAN HARRISON: Jay is a guy who I've kept in touch with a lot. He's also part of the Davis Cup. He's the assistant Davis Cup captain. Even when I wasn't working with USTA I'd have plenty of meetings with Jay throughout the year. Throughout the last three, four years, I've had different coaches and done different things. I've had at least six to ten meetings with Jay a year. Just, How are you doing? How are you feeling? What are you working on? I really trusted him a lot. I trusted in the work he's done, and all of our conversations about tennis kind of just got into the area that I really felt like I needed to go, you know, his views on it. So obviously his position in the USTA being‑‑ you know, having so much going on, I was never sure if he was going to be able to take on a role like a coach full‑time. And so whenever I met with him, which our last meeting before he started coaching me was Wimbledon, and I said, Look‑‑ basically I just said, I'm not playing as well as I want to. I don't care what it is I have to do. I want you to set everything up. I want you to take care of it, and I trust you to put me in the right fitness program and the right scenario to be successful. So we had kind of a man‑to‑man serious talk about me, my career, my age, what I'm looking to do and the sacrifices I'm going to need to make if I'm looking to make the strides I'm hoping to make. And from then, you just‑‑ it's on me to do the work. You put the team around you that's going to make you a professional, and you hold yourself accountable for the work they're making you do. Q. There's been a lot of talk about the American rankings, falling out of the top 20. We asked John Isner earlier today, and he said, Well, I've never been the next big thing. It doesn't really bother me or anything. You've had that label before. Is there pressure about being the great American hope, especially at this time? RYAN HARRISON: We've got a lot of guys that are‑‑ that have skill. Myself, Sock, Kudla, a number of guys. I know Kozlov. I've seen him play down in Boca. He's going to be really good, and I'm 100% sure he's going to make some impressions on the tour. I don't know exactly when that's going to happen, but he can play. I think it's something where if you're‑‑ it's better to be recognized like that because that's going to come with winning and with being successful and with having talent. So if you're not getting that sort of pressure then you're not being successful. Anyone that's ever been successful in anything has had to deal with the pressure and the expectation. My situation compared to what like Andy Murray deals with in England is just a bleep on the radar. It's nothing. Anyone that's ever had to deal with that‑‑ Roddick, whenever he had to follow up, Sampras and Agassi and all those guys, is dealing with the exact same thing. It's just a matter of holding yourself accountable for the day‑to‑day work and not worrying about‑‑ basically, not getting consumed in your own aura and ego and whatever. Just doing the same thing every day and trusting the process. Q. Ryan, you mentioned your emotional nature. Do you feel like sometimes there's been too much of a focus on your emotional side? RYAN HARRISON: There's been times where I've gotten too negative, and there's also been times when I've gotten too quiet. I'm a guy that, if I kind of go into this like robotic side‑to‑side mode I will not play well. I might look like I'm not being upset or whatever, but I don't play well whenever I go into this like kind of mopey, side‑to‑side mode. So for me, it's finding that line of intense and energetic, but also not negative and unprofessional. Q. Do you feel like the media has maybe focused on it a little bit too much? RYAN HARRISON: Well, I've had some moments that I let too much negative emotion out on big stages, which has obviously been not a good thing. You don't want to do that. And whenever you have people‑‑ like right now in American tennis you have ‑‑ obviously you're talking about the rankings drop and everything. It's negative talk, so they're going to look for negative reasons. Then if my attitude is poor, it's going to lead to negative stories. So it's just part of it. You deal with it, and you understand that's just part of it. It's nobody'selse's fault but mine if I act unprofessionally. But at the same time, the longer I am out here the more I understand it's okay to show some emotion, and nobody's going to get on you for showing emotion as long as you don't go overboard and go into like an unprofessional rant, I guess is what you'd call it. Q. I'm paraphrasing here, but Fish and Isner kind of were saying on the American drop thing, like, Not our problem. We've done our thing. As one of the younger guys, does it bother you? RYAN HARRISON: What they say? Q. No, no, no, just where we are. RYAN HARRISON: I'll tell you what. Me, I'm not going to say too much about it because it's on us to do the work and get it done. But it's‑‑ if I'm 3 1/2, 4 hours into a workout and somebody tells me that, then I'm going to get the last little 30 minutes done. It's something that can fire you up. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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