24455919Sam Querrey has been leading a charmed life this summer.  Last year, Querrey had reached the semifinals at Del Ray Beach where he came lost to Kei Nishikori in the semifinals.  Nishikori would eventually beat James Blake in the finals.  Querrey would then score his only tournament victory of 2008, a title in Las Vegas, the Tennis Channel Open.

2008 was pretty good to Querrey in that respect.  Most players struggle to win even one round on a regular basis.  Querrey was at least getting to that point.  When most fans only care about the biggest names in the sport–Federer, Nadal, Roddick, these results are generally considered a disappointment.

Surely, Querrey thought the same as well.  Querrey is part of a group of tennis players that might be called “The Tall Generation” consisting of players like John Isner, Marin Cilic, Juan Martin del Potro, Tomas Berdych.  You could count someone like Ivo Karlovic as one of those guys too, though he is closer to the end of his career at the age of 30 than the beginning (although he’s having as a good a year at this age as he ever had).

It’s hard to ignore the height of tennis players.  The top Aussie players were often diminuitive standing 5’8″ or 5’9″.  Borg, McEnroe and Connors were all under 6′ tall (sorry metric dudes! 183 cm).  Then, you had players like Lendl, Sampras, Becker–all players a shade above 6′.

Now tall players are everywhere, even more prominently among women than men.

Querrey must have realized that to move up the rankings he needed to move better.  If there’s a knock on tall guys, it’s their movement (and the ability to bend low).  And that is key.  Querrey, like most tall guys, has a huge serve, and a huge serve will always keep you in matches, but you need more.  To that end, Querrey has a huge forehand.  But you still need more.  You need movement and speed.

Querrey’s resume prior to the summer was pretty much of the “dangerous guy to play” variety, the kind of guy that takes a set of a player like Nadal, but can’t put it all together.  He lost to players most people thought he should lose to.

That started to change just after Wimbledon.  Andy Roddick called in sick (hip flexor injury) and Patrick McEnroe went to Mardy Fish to play on clay.  Never mind that one of Querrey’s few good results of 2008 was a quarterfinal appearance at Monte Carlo.  But this was a blessing in disguise.  Querrey chose not to join his Davis Cup teammates in Croatia and chose to play in a small grasscourt event in Newport, Rhode Island, the Tennis Hall of Fame Championships where he reached the final only to lose to surprise finalist and fellow American, Rajeev Ram.

Querrey would then reach the final of Indianapolis, losing to Robby Ginepri, then reach the final of Los Angeles, where the third time was the charm, and he beat Carsten Ball.  He then headed to DC to play Legg Mason where Andy Roddick beat him in the round of 16 in a tight 7-6, 6-4 loss.  Querrey again gave a big name a tough time but couldn’t break through.  The next week in Montreal, Querrey exited quite early, this time the first round against German, Philipp Petzschner.  Querrey headed back to LA and back to training.

Last night, Querrey again met Andy Roddick in a night match, and again pushed Andy Roddick.  Querrey’s movement has improved tremendously.  This isn’t John Isner who often looks like he’s gotten to a shot too late and has to whip a desperate shot on the court.  Roddick seemed a bit distressed that his forehand wasn’t under control.  They would get in longish rallies that Querrey would actually win.  Roddick has continued his strategy of coming to net, but Querrey has learned how to hit great passing shots.  Querrey came to new a few times as well.

The first set tiebreak was epic, one that Querrey finally eked out at 13-11.  In the second set, Roddick look like he had opportunties, even reaching set point on a break opportunity.  Querrey immediately erased the break and they headed to another inevitable tiebreak, one which Querrey simply outplayed Roddick.  Hammering an ace on match point, Querrey took his biggest win.  Prior to this, he had beaten Tommy Haas in Los Angeles, but Roddick is a bigger win.

After Roddick’s amazing Wimbledon finals, he has to be feeling a wee bit discouraged this summer.  A loss to del Potro.  Twice.  Now a loss to Querrey.  Roddick had hoped his early start on the hardcourt season would give him an edge over the guys who trained or rested or tended babies.  Apparently not.  Although his situation is not nearly as desperate as last year’s hardcourt season, Roddick was surely hoping for more.

And Sam Querrey.  Sometimes you wonder what happens after a player wins a big match and has talked to the press.  The answer is the picture above posted by “Dan the Intern”, a guy Querrey hired to help him with various things right after Wimbledon.  The ice bath is the treatment of choice to prevent imflammation of various joints and tendons and muscles.

When Querrey enjoys a cold one after a hard day’s work, this is what he means.

Querrey now faces the tenacious Lleyton Hewitt who beat the other B. Becker.  The two have only met once, last year in Indian Wells, which Hewitt won handily.  This should be a different Querrey, but Hewitt is also a tough one too.  All this means is another tough match and more ice.