THE PEDIGREE: Querrey has taken sets off James Blake and Rafael Nadal and reached the third round of the Australian Open this year. “The first point of the match, we had a 20 ball point I ended up winning,” he says of
the Nadal match. “And late in the third set we had a 50 ball rally and I won that point too.”

THE PERSONA: Choosing “nice” as the one word he'd use to describe himself, Querry has raised regular-guyness to an art form. While he was a junior, he went to public high school, and even now plays ping-pong for hours on end with his buddies. His one concession to style is the Volkswagen Vanagon he drives, but his mom still packs for him. "When I get a shipment [of clothes] she'll number them so that I know which shirt and shorts go with which." Good thing, too. During a U.S. Open junior match, Querrey was lectured by officials after playing in a plain white T-shirt, Yankees cap, Nike basketball shorts, and mismatched socks.

THE GAME: Picture this. Sam Querrey on center court in Belgium at a Davis Cup tie,  bent over with his back to the net. On the other side is Andy Roddick, about to nail his Davis Cup hitting partner in the butt with a 130-m.p.h. bomb. “I got up 5-3 and had a couple of set points and then he started with the smack talking in the middle of the match. I ended up losing 7-5,” says Querrey of the ill-fated practice set and the bet attached to it. ”I do remember telling myself not to cry. I think my eyes were starting to tear up a little bit.” Welcome to the big leagues. Querry plays a kind of guileless corn-fed All-American power tennis that harkens back to Jack Kramer, Tony Trabert, and Stan Smith. Hit the ball hard. Repeat as necessary. It may not dramatic, but it’s effective.

THE PROGNOSIS: Being young and American means that Querrey will get opportunities aplenty in terms of wild cards. “Maybe, this summer I might have been enjoying it a little too much, just happy to be out there,” he says now. But is Querry a little too, well, basic, to carry the burden of expectations? He doesn¹t think so. “I¹m trying not to think about carrying the Next Great American Hope title with me,” he says casually. “Hopefully I'll go out there and win 10 grand slams and be No. 1 in the world. But we¹ll see.”

DID YOU KNOW?: As recently as last year Querrey played the father-son nationals with his dad, making the quarterfinals. “If I didn’t drill it at the father he would come over and yell at me,” Querrey says. “Even if the dad on the other side of the court was 70 years old.”