Grind! Fight! Battle!

So. I woke up at 5am today to watch American Red Dot lose a tennis match on a constantly re-buffering, half of three apples high stream. This caused me to (a) witness the sunrise over the hills of Northern California and (b) have thought and feelings, which I’ve decided to share with you all. 

Before I dive into my inconsequential observations about Ryan Harrison’s all-too-quick (6-3, 6-3) loss in Belgrade, it’s worth noting that in the absence of the formidable Djokovic brothers (and the kiddo, of course), the Serbia Open is looking like a great place for David Nalbandian to pick up 250 points. Nalbandian is probably the biggest brand-name in the draw and he’s seeded fourth behind Andujar, Seppi and Nieminen. After soundly trouncing Mr. Bye in the first round, the Argentine will take on 156th ranked Aljaz Bedene, a 22-year-old from Slovenia who does not have his picture up on the ATP bio page. This is frustrating as I like to take stock of players by looking deep into their eyes on their ATP bio pages. It’s an effective technique for divining various inner-truths and also for helping to later recognize people on tennis courts.

Speaking of name brands, I wouldn’t mind owning this hat which is wonderful and provocative on multiple levels. First, is there anyone in the tennis world who still thinks Novak is “a joke?” Second, if I wore this hat on the streets of San Francisco, I would be ridiculously hip in the manner of hipsters with curled mustachios, suspenders and NASCAR t-shirts. What does she MEAN by it? I’d be an enigma wrapped in a flaming ball of nonsense wrapped in a white baseball cap. I’m seriously considering mail-order.

Anyway, back to my favorite work-in-progress:
Ryan Harrison is currently ranked 58th and was seeded an illustrious seventh at the Serbia Open. Harrison’s opponent was 116th ranked Joao Souza from Brazil—not to be confused with the Portuguese Joao Sousa, who is scheduled to play Denis Istomin in Estoril later in the week; also not to be confused with Pedro Sousa who will not be playing number one seed, Juan Martin del Potro, in Estoril because this particular Sousa already lost to Rui Machado. I’m happy to see del Potro among us once more, but I was rather sorry to see Ryan make such a quick exit. Or at least, I was sorry to sort of see it. I heard expletives a-plenty, but mostly what I saw was a frustrated, often frozen in mid-serve, small red dot and a contrastingly calm, but equally still, white dot. I’d say the tennis ball was a minuscule yellow dot, but it’s more accurate to say that it was a mostly-invisible dot.

I must say, I’m feeling a bit put out with Tennis Channel lately. It’s expensive. In my “market” you have to purchase a fancy cable “bundled package” before you have the option to add-on the specialized networks. This leaves me with a stout monthly bill and all sorts of useless stations to sift through just to unearth the tennis and the Downton Abbey—because that’s what it’s come down to these days, sports and Masterpiece Classic. Then, after all the bundles and the sifting, the only ATP tournament that the Tennis Channel is broadcasting mid-week is Munich. While there were interesting things happening in Germany today, such as Mikhail Youzhny defeating Phillip Petzschner (7-5, 7-5) or Ernie and Baggy winning matches, Ryan Harrison losing was not one of them. 

We all, that is, we all who read Ryan Harrison’s twitter timeline, know that the kiddo had a rough flight to Belgrade from Texas. The entire process took him something like 72 hours, 12 of which he was forced to spend at, horror of horrors, a Days Inn.* Taking into account everything from the meager thread count to the exhausting layovers, it was a long and wearing trip for Ryan. Not only was the flight delayed for 48 hours, Delta then had the temerity to lose his luggage. The luggage was found, but apparently sans sneakers, because Ryan was forced to take the court wearing Rafa’s—and everybody knows that Rafa’s shoes are far too snug. No wonder Ryan struggled with his footing. 

Truth be told, most everything was a struggle for Ryan today. An obvious source of trouble was that he only won 38% of points on his second serve. I did spot a winner or two, but if there's somebody reading who knows about such matters, could you explain why his second serve—with all that lauded kick—seems not to be particularly effective on the clay? Or does the fault lie in the defense? Or perhaps the second serve simply goes off sometimes? One of these days he’ll play tennis in HD again and I’ll have a chance to examine the red dot more closely so as to discern the essence of his serving woes. Or maybe I’ll just go have a look at his ATP bio page photo; it's all right there in the eyes. 

Making life even more difficult for himself, Harrison also failed to earn a single break point. There was a solitary deuce-moment, when Ryan was down a break in the second, which caused me to have fleeting early-morning hopes. I’m not precisely sure in what manner those hopes were dashed, because my stream froze solid and by the time it unstuck itself Souza had served his way out of trouble. Clay is Souza's favorite surface and he moved much more fluidly on it than Harrison today. Knowing little else about his game, I couldn’t say whether Souza was serving unusually well, typically well, or whether Ryan’s return was particularly poor. Whatever the case, Souza won a cool 85% of his first serve points. 

Joao also has Ryan “Harry” Harrison beat in the nickname department. Souza’s nickname is Feijão which means “bean.” He is so-called because he’s the color of a bean and he likes to eat them. I am not making that up. He’s not wrong either; his complexion is somewhere between kidney and pinto, but nothing like a fava. According the the ATP bio page, Feijão also has a “weird ability” to count the letters in sentences and is often challenged to do so. He is never wrong. I think I want to meet this Feijão.**

As for Ryan, his tennis game is still very much a collection of un-integrated parts. Today he struggled, and failed, in his effort to assemble them, but I’m enjoying my time pulling for him regardless. Sometimes you want to identify with the fiercest forehand you can find—with a champion who has set-backs and sufferings, but conquers more often than not. Some days you want to tilt at windmills with the talented underdog. But there are other moments when you just want to cheer for someone who hasn’t passed the tests yet. We’ve all been there. Occasionally life is a grand battle, but mostly it's a #grind. 

*For those of you who might not be familiar with Days Inn, it's a motel chain of modest means and strict uniformity. In other words, the carpet and bedspreads are as ugly and utilitarian in one as in another but there usually free of unpleasant critters. Personally, I have very fond childhood memories of Days Inns, although not so fond as my memory of Knights’ Inns, which had plush purple velvet curtains and wall paper decorated with illustrated, approximately life-sized ivy vines and ye olde castle towers. Every winter, when I was between the ages of 7-17, my family drove the length of the east coast from New York to the Florida Gulf. Once there I would don my day-glo summer wear and frolic in the gentle surf or slide clumsily, but with much happy mess, on clay tennis courts. The drive being approximately 24 hours long, we would often sojourn at a Days Inn or two along the way, and my sister and I loved them. Not only did we get free pancakes, we were also given small boxes of crayons and “color-on” placemats with a big map of the United States helpfully labeled with the names of all the state capitals. After stuffing ourselves with pancakes doused in corn syrup disguised as Maple tree sap, she and I would take the placemats on the road and quiz one another the capitals until we got bored and turned to the entertaining game of viciously kicking each other. Those were the days. Apparently, Days Inns aren’t as much fun when you’re over eighteen. But still, I would’ve thought the placemats might have come in handy during the layover.

**In case you're curious about Feijão, if Souza gets past the Serbian wildcard, Dusan Lajovic, he might meet David Nalbandian in the quarters. The Bean versus El Rey. I'm so there.   

photo: Martin Barreiro