 Court 11 was packed Friday as American Ryan Harrison defeated Brazilian Ricardo Hocevar in qualifying to reach the main draw of the U.S. Open. Harrison, who is from Louisiana but trains at the Bollettieri academy, fed off the crowd to come back from a set down and had a timely break in the third to serve for the match. On match point, the children in the stands stood poised with jumbo balls and notebooks, and as soon as Harrison aced his opponent, they stormed toward the court to beg for signatures and swag.
And oh, did Harrison oblige. He bent down toward his racquet bag to pack up, and the children, big-eyed, screamed for one of his racquets. So he held one up above the crowd (the tallest kid, naturally, walked away with it). Next he started signing tennis balls, notebooks, receipts and peoples’ hands. When one kid didn’t have anything for him to sign, he took the ball out of his pocket and signed that. Next he plucked packages of wristbands from his bag, ripped them open, signed them, and threw them into the crowd.
When his bag was virtually ransacked, he packed up. But he didn’t leave before taking off his wet shirt and handing it to a kid in the crowd. He finally walked of the court in a clean white shirt with his bag over his shoulder, turning twice to wave at his fans.
But that wasn’t the end. Once off the court, there was no barrier between him and the crowd, who madly grabbed him to snap pictures. It took another five minutes until Harrison broke free to hug his 16-year-old brother, and fellow Bollettieri academy trainee, Christian.
American fans, it seems, are starved for a young star. And today, Harrison, who qualified for his first U.S. Open, was happy to humor them.
—Sarah Unke |
