10 Table Tennis Best Plays

Table Tennis Best Plays in 2023

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Ryan Harrison is Not the Savior of American Tennis

Ryan is very forthright in his self-assessments of his match performances and meltdowns with no bravado, no handlers, no spin control. He's a good kid who works hard, fights to the last point and, at the end of the day, wants to be a great tennis player.

That's a lot to ask from anyone, let alone a still-developing 19-year-old. But there is an awful lot to like … no LOVE, about Ryan Harrison and his game! He's got a great forehand, a solid backhand, great defense and court coverage, and a more than competent serve that he places effectively across the service box.

And it's easy to see why he elicits this kind of "savior" talk. For starters, he is a very nice, articulate and personable young man. He looks you in the eye when he speaks, and is very clear and thoughtful about all of his answers to medial personnel.

He is also very forthright in his self-assessments of his match performances and meltdowns with no bravado, no handlers, no spin control: just a good kid who works hard, fights to the last point in his matches and, at the end of the day, wants to be a great tennis player.

This season started rough for Ryan. A first round loss in Brisbane to Marcos Baghdatis, a second round loss in Auckland to Philipp Kohlschreiber, culminating with a first round match (and loss) against world number four Andy Murray at the Australian Open.

The first two losses were to experienced veterans on the tour, and experience can often get a win against talent and youth. The Aussie draw against Murray was just plain old bad luck. Andy may not be on the same level as the top three, but he's still well above the rest of the contenders. Ryan managed to make life difficult for the Brit by taking the first set, but in the end there would be no upset victory.

Then along comes Davis Cup action in Switzerland, and everything turned around for Ryan's season. The United States was slated to play against a Swiss team led by Roger Federer, and played on clay! Definitely not the preferred circumstances for the US team's chances of advancing. In a surprise result to most, the United States pulled off the unexpected win over the Swiss team in a 5-0 rout with standout performances from Mardy Fish, John Isner, and Mike Bryan (partnered with Fish) to clinch the tie in the first three matches.

Named to the team in the absence of Andy Roddick and Bob Bryan, Ryan's contribution to the tie was a dead rubber victory against Michael Lammer. The match may not have meant anything in terms of the tie result, but it meant tons to Ryan as he won in two tiebreaks 7-6(0) 7-6(4) for the 4th point.

Ryan wanted to show coach (Jim) Courier that he was a hard worker who would come up with the goods when expected to do so. He wanted the coach to have no doubts about his ability to perform and participate in future Davis Cup outings. The strategy worked twofold it seems, as Ryan also proved to himself that he had the game and belief to rise to the "big" occasion.

Fast forward to San Jose and the SAP Open. Even with his first match scheduled for a Tuesday start (his match in Switzerland was on Sunday), the resulting confidence boost of his Davis Cup win was evident. Ryan rode that confidence all the way to the semifinals where he lost against an unstoppable Milos Raonic. He had some rough patches along the way in matches against Jack Sock and Robbie Ginepri, but still came through both battles while fighting off match points.

The momentum didn't carry through to his next tournament in Memphis, however. With second round losses in both singles and doubles, his Regions Morgan Keegan Championships experience was a bit underwhelming. But after his schedule of Davis Cup travel right back followed immediately by the SAP Open, he was bound to have a bit of a letdown… not wholly unexpected.

My hope is that Ryan's "lesson learned" from his post-Aussie results is the belief that he has the game to contend with the top guys. It's a great all court game that should allow him to be ranked much better than his current ranking of 65, which is already a huge jump from his previous ranking of 96 at the end of January. He can do better, and he knows it. You can see it in his eyes, and hear it in his answers to the media. Now he just needs to keep producing these types of results i.e. consistent quarter and semifinal showings.

It will be interesting to see how Ryan plays at Indian Wells after a couple of weeks of rest. Best case scenario is that he shows up with all the confidence and belief he has gained from the past few weeks and makes life difficult for the top guys in his quarter of the draw. And maybe this time he does more than just take a set off of a guy like Murray. Maybe this time, he takes that belief forward to a top-10 or top-20 win.

Unfortunately, the best case for Ryan would not be winning. There are way too many things that would have to go his way in the draw for that to happen at Indian Wells or Miami. Perhaps all of the top guys getting lost on the way to the venue on the day of their matches and getting disqualified. Not likely.

It is completely reasonable, though, to expect that Ryan can keep up his good work and join John Isner as the United States' best prospects for the post-Roddick/Fish/Blake era.

For the other Americans in the top 100, it's a mixed bag:. Sam Querrey is struggling a bit too much with his motivation these days after another injury period. Donald Young still gets caught up in the weeds at inopportune times. Ryan Sweeting doesn't possess the necessary weapons. And the other new hope, Jack Sock, needs to work on his week-in/week-out conditioning to compete with the older, stronger, and more experienced guys on the ATP tour (he admitted as much in a post-loss interview at SAP Open).

For the guys with rankings outside of 100 (Wayne Odesnik, Bobby Reynolds, Michael Russell, Jesse Levine, Rajeev Ram, Alex Kuznetsov, Denis Kudla, Michael Yani), their future prospects to reach the top are slim to none. So barring any unforeseen event or player defection, it looks like the torch-passing is pretty much in the hands of Harrison and Sock.

I haven't had the opportunity to interview Jack personally, but he seems like a good kid. Ryan seems like a good kid too, but comes across as hungrier to get better and prove himself. Right now! And it's those intangibles that often determine who will inevitably make it and who won't. It's still early in the game for Ryan, but I hope he's gonna be one of the ones who make it.

The reality is that even if Ryan does make it, he will be contending in a much more global game with incredible depth of talent. One or two talented players from one country have to contend with scores of other talented players from all over the world. Just because Ryan is talented doesn't give him "elite" status potential. And his sometimes volatile temperament has hurt him more than helped him during matches. But he has a great base to do well if he keeps working hard and growing.

Hopefully, the general public will set aside the "savior" label long enough for both Ryan and Jack to fully become engaged on the tour, and let the results fall where they may. The last time this label was used on a young American serves as the cautionary tale for overly-heightened expectations.

On a side note: Melanie Oudin's ranking has slipped so low that she isn't ranked high enough for the Indian Wells qualifying rounds.