Vanity Fair profiles some of the young guns tearing up the tennis courts these days, a feature titled
New Balls.
Like Philipp Petzschner. DROOL! YUMM! We've been mad about him lately!
And others you already know about from reading this blog.
Enjoy:
FABIO FOGNINI
Age: 23. Country: Italy. Highest ATP ranking: 54.
Fognini has a thing for upsets. In the second round of this year’s French Open, the counter-puncher defeated the tournament’s No. 13 seed, Gael Monfils, coming from two sets down to win the match. Then, in the first round of Wimbledon this year, Fognini sent Fernando Verdasco packing when he came from behind to beat the grass-court tournament’s eighth seed in four sets. But Verdasco got his revenge in the first round of the U.S. Open, beating Fognini in five sets.
DAVID FERRER
Age: 28. Country: Spain. U.S. Open seed: 10. Highest ATP ranking: 4.
Ferrer, who is often refereed to in current tour literature as the “No. 2 Spaniard (behind Nadal)”—not a bad label!—is one of only 15 men in the U.S. Open’s main draw to have played in each of the last 20 majors. He is glad to be back in New York. “I like the city,” he says. “I like the people.”
RIčARDAS BERANKIS
Age: 20. Country: Lithuania. Highest ATP ranking: 119.
The Lithuanian, who won the U.S. Open junior boys’ singles championship in 2007, is one of eight former U.S. Open boys’ title-holders in this year’s singles main draw. Since the junior tournament began, in 1973, only Stefan Edberg and Andy Roddick have gone on to win both the boys’ and men’s singles tournaments—a feat even Roger Federer didn’t accomplish (he was runner-up at the juniors in 1998). Berankis’s take on making his main-draw debut: “It’s good!”
ERNESTS GULBIS
Age: 22. Country: Latvia. U.S. Open seed: 24. Highest ATP ranking: 26.
Gulbis, the only Latvian in the tournament, had a breakout season in 2008, when he advanced to the quarterfinals at the French Open. “I like playing in New York,” Gulbis says. “And playing in Los Angeles. I liked Las Vegas—until they canceled the tournament.”
PHILIPP PETZSCHNER
Age: 26. Country: Germany. Highest ATP ranking: 35.
The U.S. Open suits Petzschner well—not only because the German considers hard courts to be his best surface but also because “New York City is just the best place on earth,” he says.
FELICIANO LOPEZ
Age: 28. Country: Spain. U.S. Open seed: 23. Highest ATP ranking: 20.
The tennis star, who has finished in the top 50 six times in the past seven years, is also a soap star: in 2008, he played himself on the Spanish television show Los Serrano. Heartthrob role aside (both on TV and on the court), Lopez is perhaps best known as the player who ended Tim Henman’s Wimbledon career: in 2007, the Spaniard beat the Brit in a five-set match in the second round of the grass-court tournament.
RYAN HARRISON
Age: 18. Country: U.S.A. U.S. Open seed: Qualifier. Highest ATP ranking: 215.
Harrison, who qualified for his U.S. Open main-draw debut only days before the tournament began, pulled off a major first-round upset when he beat the No. 15 seed, veteran Ivan Ljubicic, in a dramatic four-set victory. “I’ve always believed in myself,” Harrison said after his win. “I have always had confidence in myself.”
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