Ryan Harrison: Teen Tennis Prodigy


by sportsman - Date: 2008-07-25 - Word Count: 615 Share This!

Phhhhzzz. A fuzzy yellow ball flys past you - you're not sure when it passed you, but regardless, you somehow know the guy across the net won the point. You look around, and find yourself hitting alongside a foreign looking girl - in fact, there are several, possibly fifty, kids who are hitting here that look...different. They all hit the ball with a fluid, compact motion, whipping the ball around the court like a play toy. Which it technically is. The manicured green courts are surrounded by fences with windbreakers over them, an occasional Babolat advertisement poster on the fence. There are South American kids, Danish kids, Russian kids...there are Americans there, too. They all speak the same language: tennis.

Look at the guy across the net. Although you may not know it, he is Ryan Harrison, a native of Shreveport, Louisiana, who happens to train here. His picture might not be familiar to you, but it soon will. His deep blue eyes and dirty blond hair are not nearly as piercing as his groundstrokes, but still, he stands out from the other kids - mostly because of his compact and powerful forehand, his consistant and driving backhand, and his overall court sense. He has no immediate strength that makes him stand out, but that's because his entire game is good.

Your turn is over with him now, and as you walk away, you watch a Chinese kid feed the ball to Ryan with some pace. Ryan smiles. He sets up almost perfectly, his feet and coiling nearly perfect, and unleashes a forehand winner to the corner.

"Feed it harder," Ryan says.

If you have a good enough imagination, you might have been able to see what I saw when I hit with him. And I know I'm not the only one seeing the talent in Ryan. Talking to the tennis pros at John Newcombe's, who are, by the way, from several different countries (mainly Australia) and are ex-ATP players, I found out that Ryan had beaten most of them 6-0, 6-0. "Yeah, he's really good," I recall Sal, a Mexican tennis pro, say. "Definitely going to be top 50 one day." Ryan has trained for years at Newk's, but he is originally from Shreveport, Louisiana. His father, Pat, was previously a Head Tennis Pro and Tennis Director in Shreveport, LA, but after 15 years, he got a job coaching at Newcombe's. Ryan was around 8 years old, a promising junior and not particularly rooted to Louisiana, so they made the jump to Texas. Ryan has said he had a long discussion with his parents about his career after their move, and "he knew that he was going to turn pro. School was not an issue, but he didn't like it." said the straight A student. Ever since then, Pat Harrison has been preparing his two sons for the big time.

Ryan is very talented, but his little brother, Christian, is just as good. He is fourth in the country for 14's, and 32nd for 16's boys singles, and has traveled internationally and gone deep in events.

Needless to say, Pat and Phil Hendrie, the Academy Director, run a good academy. Here's their schedule (or at least the one I was told they had).



Fitness - 5:00 A.M.

Morning Hitting Session (Drills) - 7:00 A.M.-10:00 A.M.

Lunch - 10:30 A.M.-Noon

Free TIme - Noon -1:45 P.M.

Evening Hitting Session (Drills/Match Play) - 2:00 P.M.-5:00 P.M.

Dinner - 6:30 P.M.

Free Time - 7:00-8:00 P.M.

Bedtime - Around 9:30 P.M.



At first glance, not that tough, but trust me, it kills you. Relatively short article, hope you enjoyed it.

Racquet: Babolat Pure Storm

Sponsor: Babolat, Nike

Born in: Shreveport, Louisiana

Birthdate: 5/7/92

Current Residence: New Braunfels, Texas

Plays: Right-handed, Two-handed backhand

Career Prize Money: $1,796

Best Slam Results: None (yet)

Currently Ranked: 1277

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 160 lbs.

Related Tags: tennis, prodigy, atp, ryan harrison

Sportsman is a huge sports fan and can be found sharing his love for tennis at rootzoo's tennis forum and more regularly at RootZoo.com, a sports community for fans.

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