tennisnet.com ATP

First Julian Knowle, now Xavier Malisse: Lloyd Harris has a heart for tennis retirees

Lloyd Harris is one of the climbers on the ATP Tour 2021. In singles. In doubles, the South African likes to fall back on unusual partners.

by Jens Huiber
last edit: Oct 22, 2021, 10:15 pm

Llyod Harris has a heart for tennis retirees
© Getty Images
Llyod Harris has a heart for tennis retirees

With Jannik Sinner, Lloyd Harris has the tournament favorite at the ATP Tour 250 event in Antwerp on Saturday. Perhaps even more exciting is what follows afterwards: namely the third double appearance of Harris on the side of Xavier Malisse. The Belgian, who has long since retired from tennis but still has a fine hand, is making a spontaneous comeback in Antwerp. That has been spectacular so far. Because after the success against the top seeded pairing Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo, the semifinals against the two Dutchmen Wesley Koolhof and Jean-Julien Rojer are now up.

Malisse isn't the only retiree Harris has brought back to the big tennis stage. At the beginning of the year Harris doubled with Julian Knowle at the Australian Open, but without success: There was a complete defeat against Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios. In addition to Malisse and Knowle, Lloyd Harris has also tried Jonathan Erlich, Diego Schwartzman, Alexei Popyrin and compatriot Raven Klaasen this season. The so far balanced balance after twelve matches will definitely be positive after the tournament in Antwerp.

Xavier Malisse, now 41 years old and with a career high of 19 in singles, had played his last match in Antwerp in 2016 at the Challenger in Meerbusch with the German Frank Moser.

In the individual it looks even better: Harris has already climbed to position 32 in the charts, which would mean a placement at the next Grand Slam tournament in Australia. A semi-final victory against Jannik Sinner in Antwerp would bring a further improvement. And then there would be a chance of the 24-year-old's first tournament victory. At the beginning of the year in Dubai, Harris was already in the final of an ATP event as in early 2020 in Adelaide. Both times he had to admit defeat to Russian players: in Dubai Aslan Karatsev, in Adelaide Andrey Rublev.

Here the single tableau in Antwerp

Here the double tableau in Antwerp

by Jens Huiber

Saturday
Oct 23, 2021, 02:15 pm
last edit: Oct 22, 2021, 10:15 pm