Ryan Harrison – Memphis Flyer

Hope you didn’t buy tickets for the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships to watch Gael Monfils, who is prominently featured in advertising for the tournament.

For the second year in a row Monfils, the flamboyant French tennis star with dreadlocks and sleeveless shirts, has dropped out due to an injury. What a headache it must be for tournament director Peter Lebedevs, with the qualifying rounds starting tomorrow and Monfils scheduled to play next Tuesday.

The good news is that American hottie Ryan Harrison now gets a pass into the main draw. Harrison won a Davis Cup match against Switzerland last week and is a rising star who grew up in Louisiana.

The reason given for Monfils’ withdrawal was an injury to his right knee. His feature match on Tuesday, February 21 at 7 p.m. will now be replaced by American John Isner’s first-round match.

Additionally, Croatian Marin Cilic has been forced to withdraw with a “knee injury.” He’s a highly ranked player but not as well known as Monfils and not part of the pre-tournament publicity. Also withdrawing is Australian Lleyton Hewitt, winner of the U.S. Open in 2001 and Wimbledon in 2002.

Andy Roddick, who is recovering from a hamstring injury, is still coming as of today. If you’re a tennis fan, cross your fingers. Roddick is playing in a tournament in San Jose this week and won his match yesterday in three sets to reach the quarterfinals despite rolling a heavily taped ankle. He had not played since quitting his second-round match at last month’s Australian Open.

Ryan Harrison

Memphians might get to see the next “best tennis player in the world” this month.

John Isner beat Roger Federer in a Davis Cup match last week but he won’t be top seed in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship at the Racquet Club February 17-26th.

Isner beat Federer 4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2 on an indoor clay court in Switzerland, Federer’s home. If anything the Racquet Club courts are more of an advantage for the 6′-9″ Isner, who was runner-up in the tournament in 2010. Tournament director Peter Lebedevs said Isner will be seeded second or third based on his ranking this week. According to The New York Times, Isner is seen as a possible world top-ranked player in the near future.

Another rising American star, Isner’s Davis Cup teammate Ryan Harrison, is also coming to Memphis, but the 19-year-old from Shreveport will have to fight his way through the qualifying tournament to earn one of four spots in the main draw. Harrison won his match 7-6, 7-6, helping the Americans to a 5-0 sweep.

Does this matter as far as putting fans in the seats? Maybe not, even though the worst seat at The Racquet Club is as close to the court as a $100 seat for a basketball game at FedEx Forum. The fact is there’s SportsCenter material and there’s everything else. Without Federer, Nadal, or Djokovic — or Venus or Serena Williams on the women’s side — Memphis has a hard time expanding the tennis appeal.

Racquet Notes: Good story on Kane Waselenchuk in the Times this week. Waselenchuk is the top-ranked pro racquetball player, and played several times in Memphis. He had a streak of 137 wins broken due to an injury recently. Previously, the longest streak was 54 matches.