Delic's Diary: What a Difference a Year Makes; Doubles with Isner

Posted on August 21, 2007

Here we are again...at this same time last year, I was already thinking about the Plan B. I already made the phone calls back to Champaign, IL to sign up for the Fall session. I was ranked about 200 in the world and I was frustrated with my lack of progress. I was hoping to jump the rankings like some of the other players, but my ranking started going in the wrong direction. Exactly a year later, I am playing with the best tennis players in the world at some of the biggest tennis stages in the world!

Instead of playing Challengers, this year I am playing ATP events and Tennis Masters Series events in the lead-up to the US Open. It is amazing how this game of tennis works...it really is the only sport where so-called underdogs, or lower-ranked players win lots of times. If people tried to fill out brackets, sort of like March Madness brackets, it would be impossible to predict what will happen!

Take a look at John Isner (my doubles partner this week in Cincinnati at the Tennis Masters Series event). He just graduated from University of Georgia, where he was the winningest tennis player of all time on a college level, but never really played too much at the professional level. Once he graduated, he decided to give it a shot this summer and sort of see how it goes. With his ranking in the high 700s at the beginning of summer, he had to play lower-level events to work his way up. He started off by winning a Futures ($15,000 event), then went on to win a Challenger ($50,000 event), then finally made it to the semifinals of the Legg Mason Championships losing to the #3 player in the world, Andy Roddick in an extremely tight final.

In those three events combined he beat players ranked from about 1000 to Top 15 in the world! Here is a guy, 700 in the world, towering at 6’9”, serving everyone off the court every time he steps on that baseline...can he be called an underdog??? Ask some of the players that were ranked in front of him. They probably couldn’t answer you because they were too busy in the backdrops trying to somehow, someway return his monster serve.

The thing is, there are tens, or even hundreds of other “Johns” or so-called “underdogs.” The game of tennis is so deep right now, that what some might call upsets, really shouldn’t be so upsetting. I have learned it from both sides of the spectrum. In my ‘breakout’ year, I have beaten a player in the Top 10, but also lost to a player in the high 200s! Obviously I haven’t had the most consistent year as far as my results, but I am not the only one. If you look at some of the tournament records this year, you are seeing players outside of 200 winning ATP events (Steve Darcis). You are seeing “upsets” in early rounds of every tournament. Just today, Juan Monaco beat No. 2 Rafael Nadal, while Carlos Moya beat up on No. 3 Novak Djokovic. Those were first-round matches for both of these top seeds, that on the paper should have breezed through the tourney. However, tennis matches are not played on the paper, instead they are grinded out on the sizzling courts in triple-digit temperatures! Exactly a year ago, on the draw sheets I was one of those big-time “underdogs” going into lot of the matches. However, I didn’t feel like one.

An hour before I started writing this post, my partner and I finished our late-night doubles match vs. Paul Hanley and Kevin Ulyett. In the pre-match introductions they mentioned that our opponents have 50 doubles titles between the two, and couple of Grand Slam titles in there also. On the other side, it was John and I, both tall and goofy-looking guys, playing together only for the second time. First time being the night before, when we beat this year’s French Open doubles finalists. So, on the paper we are pretty much on the same level as the ball boys that are out there on the court. We ended up losing 11-9 in the third-set tiebreak, having a match point. One point from an “upset!” But, that’s tennis...funny game.

I am off to New Haven next week then it’s time for the Big Show! The US Open! It will be my first time playing at the Pilot Pen Open in New Haven. It’s a combined event along with the WTA Tour, so that should be even more interesting. Personally, I enjoy playing events along with the girls. I also think that from the spectator perspective it’s much better seeing both types of games. It lets them compare and contrast some of the best tennis players from both sides.

As mentioned previously, my results as of late could be compared to the current Wall Street results, almost wishing that I could say they are “up and down.” However, I know that maybe next week, or a month from now, I will be that “underdog” causing a few “upsets” (I am also hoping that the Stock Market picks it back up...for everyone’s sake!).

See you at the US Open!
-- Amer Delic

This article appears in the September 2007 issue of JAX Tennis magazine, Northeast Florida's Tennis Source at www.jaxtennismagazine.com.