Posted by Stephen Tignor, TENNIS.com
On Monday evening the Masters event in Cincinnati kicked off by showcasing the latest two up-and-coming American men. First on was John Isner, a 22-year-old, 6-foot-9 product of the University of Georgia who last month shook up the men's game -- well, how about lightly jostled? -- by reaching the final of his first ATP tournament, in Washington, D.C.
Isner wasn't so lucky in Cincy; he lost his opening-round match to David Ferrer in straight sets. He was followed by 6-foot-6 Sam Querrey of California, a 19-year-old who also pulled off his biggest win earlier this summer by beating James Blake in Indianapolis. Querrey snuck through his first-rounder in Cincy with an entertaining three-set win over France's Marc Gicquel.
This is what the future of American men's tennis looks like in mid-August 2007. What you notice immediately is that it looks a lot like the current state of American men's tennis, but taller. Isner and Querrey play an even more extreme version of the bang-bang, serve-forehand, hard-court-inspired game used by Andy Roddick and James Blake. In D.C., Isner hit 144 aces over the course of the event, a record for a non-Slam, while Querrey hit 10 aces in a row against Blake at one point, also a record. It seems that, the USTA's clay-court efforts aside, goon tennis will continue to reign in the U.S. for the foreseeable future.
But if Querrey and Isner look like one-dimensional bashers, they have their entertainment value. Isner regularly hits 115 mph second-serve aces and has surprisingly soft hands at net. Watching them one after the other in Cincy, though, it's clear that Querrey has the more well-rounded game and varied arsenal -- for those reasons alone, he's much more fun to watch. Querrey's service toss is smoother, and he backs up his rifle delivery by generating as much racket-head speed on his forehand as any player not named Federer. While Querrey's net game is, as the euphemism goes, a work in progress -- he seems to own only a drop volley so far -- and his movement will never be blinding, the teen makes up for it with his on-court attitude.
I first caught a glimpse of that attitude at the Orange Bowl junior event three years ago. There I watched Querrey, a relative unknown who was not part of the international junior in-crowd, serve out a match 7-5 in the third in the most unassuming manner imaginable -- to say he was "calm" would have been a gross understatement. I recognized that demeanor again Monday after Querrey blew a lead and fell behind against Gicquel. The American stayed within himself and stuck to his nonchalant rituals, spinning and flipping his racket between points and betraying only the barest signs of frustration. Slowly, he regained control of the match, and has since gone on to win another close one, against a much better opponent, Mikhail Youzhny.
If Nadal wins by making his fighting spirit a tangible part of his matches, Querrey does the opposite: He's unflappable without being soft, and because of that, the current future of U.S. tennis might just have gotten a little brighter.
