EASTBOURNE, England—I think I love Eastbourne. This realization occurs about half an hour after I arrive at Devonshire Park, home of the AEGON International, when it sinks in just how accessible and visible the practice courts are. At what other tournament could you watch Petra Kvitova, Wimbledon champion, practicing her serve 10 feet away, in the company of two elderly gents in floppy sun-hats and three teenage boys sniggering about bras?
If the indispensable Queen’s Club accessory is a membership card and a pint of Pimm’s, at Eastbourne it’s the aforementioned floppy sun-hat and a bulging cool-bag or hamper. People draw up folding chairs into circles on the lawns and chat, blissfully unaware of the tennis going on all around them, and there are schoolchildren everywhere, presumably growing the game for the next generation, but in the meantime racing around in a frantic hunt for autographs, getting under everybody’s feet. To add to the homey atmosphere, the players are called to the courts for their matches over the public address system, making it easy to track what’s happening everywhere.
The popular image of Eastbourne is a retirement town populated mainly by the elderly, but there’s plenty of youth on display at the tournament today, beginning with a final-round qualifying match between Bojana Jovanovski and Laura Robson. Jovanovski and Robson are wearing the same kit, the colour of the skirt excepted, and have the same hairstyle, but the similarities end there. Robson looks utterly in control, racing to a 6-2 lead, and Jovanovski calls the trainer for an assessment early in the second. I have absolutely no issues with grunting, but there’s an anguished tone to the sounds Jovanovski makes as she puts increasingly frustrated forehands long. Every shot she plays looks labored.
By comparison, Robson is all effortless power, sending her big left-handed forehand down the other end of the court and making generating winners look as easy as winking. Where the 18-year-old is vulnerable is when she is forced to move, retrieve and defend, but Jovanovski is having no success at putting Robson in that position. The flourishes and many moving parts in the Serbian’s serve look vulnerable compared to the efficiency of Robson’s motion, and the Brit quickly breaks to lead 3-2 after two heavy forehand winners. She then breaks Jovanovski for the match. The key for the Robson is to dominate from the baseline without going for winners too soon. She will have another chance to get that balance right when she faces veteran Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the first round of the main draw.
From one bright young thing to two more: Ryan Harrison is playing Vasek Pospisil on the smaller, more pleasant Court 1, where a ball girl at each end manually changes the score on the old-fashioned scoreboard. Pospisil has played through qualifying here to reach this match—it shows, as he is immediately more comfortable in the windy conditions. Harrison’s temper is not always under control on the court, and it’s on display early as he argues with umpire Mohamed Lahyani. 'Pay attention to the baseline!' he hectors Lahyani angrily after double-faulting to trail 1-3. In fairness to Harrison, he has to wait while an elderly couple, both leaning on canes, make their laborious progress all the way up to the second row of seats, a process which takes a good couple of minutes.
I praised Pospisil’s explosive power and serve-and-volley technique last week, and as he takes the first set 6-3, those aspects of his game are on full display. Harrison finds himself outgunned from the baseline and can’t throw the Canadian off his rhythm, even when throwing in slice from both wings. What he can do is take care of his own service better than in the first set, and that’s what he does, cutting out the complaining and going for more on both first and second serves.
In a situation that calls for patience and level-headedness, Harrison’s greater experience begins to tell. Two years younger than the Canadian, he’s been a Top-100 player for almost a year now, something Pospisil has yet to achieve. Harrison hangs on grimly, weathering a break point at 4-4 in the second set and waiting for Pospisil’s increasingly erratic game to yield an opportunity. The American almost breaks at 4-5, thwarted by risky, confident play on two break points, but chooses the perfect moment to throw in a high ball to Pospisil’s backhand, surprising the Canadian into an error to take the second-set tiebreak and even the match at one set all.
The third set features scrappier, more fractious play from both men, in stark contrast to the peaceful atmosphere among the spectators, one of whom reads his newspaper and then falls asleep. Pospisil’s shots don’t have the impact they did in the first two sets, perhaps because Harrison is getting better at anticipating and soaking up his pace, but he keeps holding on despite pressure on serve. It’s getting on Harrison's nerves. ‘So freaking lucky!’ screams Harrison in frustration after Pospisil saves two break points, words which will return to my mind in the third set tiebreaker.
Pegged back with a double fault after leading 4-2, Harrison finds himself match point down after big forehands from Pospisil force an error. After taking an inordinately long time selecting a new racquet after flinging his to the ground, Harrison returns to the baseline, then as the Canadian charges the net, hits a backhand pass which threads the narrow needle of available space and strikes the line cleanly. Pospisil’s chagrin is written clearly on his face and it’s Harrison’s turn to attack, forcing two errors from to take the match. Pospisil’s racquet hits the turf.
It’s not often that you can say Ryan Harrison was the cooler, wiser head in a contest, but he was the more finished player on Court 1 today, and when it counted, had the confidence to make a million-to-one shot while staring defeat in the face. There’s a fine line between youthful impetuosity and having the courage of one’s convictions. When it mattered, Harrison threw caution to the Eastbourne winds and it paid off. It might be the foolhardiness of youth, but it's also a big part of what makes him such an entertaining player to watch. I hope he never grows out of it.
Hannah Wilks is a frequent contributor to TENNIS.com. You can read more of her Grass-Court Reports here.