Tennis is Life

As many of you may know, I’m a HUGE Ryan Sweeting fan. And now that Rhyne Williams has appeared on the tennis scene in a very similar fashion to Ryan Sweeting’s rise to the tennis world. I’m going to revisit Ryan Sweeting’s 2011 Houston win, and maybe add in some tidbits on Rhyne. 

First let’s take a look at Sweeting’s 2011 Houston Draw: 

Having trouble locating his name? Well, Sweeting was lucky enough to be granted a wildcard into Houston, he was ranked 93 a the time. It can definitely be argued that Sweeting got a little lucky with the draw. But he did beat the 20-ranked and 2 seed of Sam Querrey in the 2nd round. Interesting tidbit: Williams was slated to face Querrey in the 2nd round of Houston, yet Querrey pulled out of the tournament due to injury, and Karlovic was put into the draw as a lucky loser. Interestingly enough, Sweeting also faced Karlovic on his road to the title. 

Another parallel between Sweeting and Williams is that they are two Americans who like to play on clay. Sweeting still prefers hard courts, but does state that he grew up playing on clay courts in the Bahamas. Williams, on the other hand, says that clay is his favorite surface, and that he also grew up playing on clay courts in Tennessee. Here’s a quote from Williams’ presser today after his win against Ramirez Hidalgo, “Yeah, just grew up playing on it most of the time. More than half the year in Knoxville. We have a couple of nice country clubs.” 

Eventually Sweeting went on to beat Nishikori in the final. Many have made the claim that Sweeting has done nothing after that win, and are fearful that Rhyne Williams will suffer the same fate. Well, Sweeting’s career hasn’t been that bad after Houston, it’s just that many people don’t know the whole story. Last year Sweeting was sidelined for part of the year due to a herniated disc, and this year he’s been sidelined because of an ongoing shoulder injury. If healthy, Sweeting can get back to the same form he was in in 2011.