Shreveport's own aims to take it all at the French Open, who is Christian Harrison
PARIS, France (KTAL/KMSS) – Nearly 4,000 professional tennis players compete every year, but only about 250 receive invitations to play on the prestigious clay courts of Roland-Garros in Paris. With just one week remaining before the tournament ends, this Shreveporter is determined to take home the title.
Christian Harrison fought his way up the ranks when it came to playing tennis doubles, but his plans did not always involve having a partner. Plagued with injuries and many surgeries that began as early as 2009, Harrison's path required a re-focus that propelled him to heights he never reached before.
A Shreveport native, he was born and raised in the city, sharing strong family ties in the community. His father, Pat Harrison was also born in Shreveport and served as the Head Pro at both the Shreveport Country Club and Pierremont Oaks Tennis Club before relocating his family to Texas in 2004, then landing at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida in 2008. There, he continued to coach Christian, along with his brother Ryan and his sister Madison.
Christian debuted on ITF Junior Circuit at age 13 before injuries and illnesses sidelined him.
He was subjected to many surgeries between 2009 and 2018.
Left femur (2009), right hip (2013), left hip (2014), right shoulder (2014), right wrist (2014), right adductor (2014), left adductor (2014) and left femur (2018).
Despite undergoing multiple surgeries, the family's dedication and his hard work paid off. Christian qualified for Wimbledon 2022, winning his opening match, a feat he had always dreamed of. But once again, his body let him down with a foot injury, leaving him unable to walk. He left the court knowing he would not be able to continue to the next round.
He found himself at a crossroads, having to choose between playing singles and risking further injuries or putting all of his attention towards a more physically manageable doubles career. With more left to give, he decided to continue playing as part of a doubles team. The decision quickly paid off.
In 2024, Christian began playing with partner Evan King. In just their second Association of Tennis Professionals Tour (ATP), the duo found success, winning the Dallas Open in February 2025. Christian, who was ranked 198 in men's singles, was now ranked number 54 as a part of the dynamic men's doubles pair. By March 2025, they reached a new career-high doubles ranking of 36 in the world. In May, the pair were ranked number 19, well qualifying them for the French Open held at Roland Garros in Paris.
The French Open began on May 19 and players will battle it out through June 8, 2025.
Currently, Christian and Evan have advanced to the third round in men's doubles. In mixed doubles Christian plays with N. Melichar-Martinez where they have advanced to the second round at the ongoing tournament.
He is set to compete in both events tomorrow, showcasing his skills and determination on the court as he seeks to make his mark in this year's French Open.
The path to success will involve beating out last year's French open champions Marcelo Arévalo and Mate Pavić, who won the title in 2024 by defeating Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori in the final.
Your family has a variety of options to catch all the action and root for Shreveport. Coverage is available on TNT Sports, truTV, and Max. You can even listen live and view playing schedules of other fan favorites like Coco Gauff on www.rolandgarros.com/
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
17 minutes ago
- New York Times
Tantalising Świątek-Sabalenka final in the offing?
Follow live coverage of the fourth round at Roland Garros, after Frances Tiafoe joins Tommy Paul in the last eight Getty Images The fourth round of the 2025 French Open is in full swing with two American stars into the quarterfinals at Roland Garros in Paris. Carlos Alcaraz (2) beat Ben Shelton in four sets, but Frances Tiafoe (15) has joined fellow American Tommy Paul (12) in the quarters. Lorenzo Musetti (8) and Holger Rune (10) are on Philippe-Chatrier for the night session, and it's Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Zheng Qinwen (8) and Iga Świątek (5) vs. Elina Svitolina (13) in the women's singles last eight after their wins today. Watch: TNT, truTV, Tennis Channel, Max (U.S.); TNT (UK) TNT, truTV, Tennis Channel, Max (U.S.); TNT (UK) Join the discussion at: live@ GO FURTHER Tennis on clay courts: The unpredictable dance of sun, rain, wind and brick dust at Roland Garros Connections: Sports Edition Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Getty Images I know we've been burned with this kind of countdown already for a potential Świątek match this tournament, but... we're now just a couple of matches away from an Iga-Sabalenka semifinal. The world No. 1 Sabalenka has just beaten Amanda Anisimova 7-5, 6-3 and is into the quarters to face Zheng Qinwen. Swiatek, meanwhile, will face Elina Svitolina in the last eight. Win that, and if Sabalenka can do likewise against Zheng then a semifinal between the dominant WTA players of the last few years awaits. Remarkably, it would be only their second ever meeting at a major and first anywhere since a semifinal in Cincinnati last August. The third round concludes with four matches on Monday. Top seeds Mate Pavic/Marcelo Arévalo face Édouard Roger-Vasselin/Hugo Nys, with Andrea Vavassori/Simone Bolelli (4) up against John Peers/Matthew Ebden (15). Then, two all-British pairs are in action: Neal Skupski/Joe Salisbury (8) vs. Nuno Borges/Arthur Rinderknech, plus Julian Cash/Lloyd Glasspool clashing with Luke Johnson/Sander Arends. Getty Images FINAL: Sabalenka 7-5, 6-3 Anisimova That's it! Amanda Anisimova, the American and 16th seed, held off the top seed for a little while in a marathon eighth game of the set, saving six match points. But Sabalenka held her serve in the next game to take the match in straight sets. Getty Images Shelton 6-7(8), *0-1 Alcaraz Alcaraz doesn't get his first serve in play, costing him again. Ben Shelton's sixth break point of this game alone. But he retreats deep behind the baseline, a little passive and conservative perhaps. Deuce again. Then Alcaraz comes into the net and whips it away for advantage, and takes it. Bitter taste for Shelton. Getty Images Shelton 6-7(8), *0-0 Alcaraz At 30-all, Alcaraz looks to have stretched and put the ball back onto Shelton's side of the court with a phenomenal shot. Did he let go of the racket before hitting it? Alcaraz, incredibly sportingly, gives the point to Shelton to prevent an awkward decision for the umpire. And it's not any point, it's break point! 30-40... but he rescues it to deuce with a big serve. Another advantage Shelton, another saved with a big serve Shelton can't return effectively. A third break point, and Shelton goes long! Deuce again, fourth advantage to Shelton. It will feel like such a momentum-killer if he can't secure the break here. Oh dear, a tired aerial flicked recovery shot from Shelton just dies and plops into the net. Fifth advantage, and Alcaraz flies into a high volley at the net, puts it away a little recklessly and it just smudges the line. Deuce and we're nearly up to 10 minutes in the first game of this second set. Gorgeous drop shot from Alcaraz again, his first game point and now Shelton saves it with a couple of world-class strokes! Getty Images That may have been Ben Shelton's best chance at the match. Three set points. He might go to sleep thinking about not hitting a first serve out wide at 6-5 to open up the court. He has his reasons surely, but to play for 70 minutes and be a point away three times and have nothing to show for it — that's a big hole to climb out of mentally. Getty Images Sabalenka 7-5, 5-2* Anisimova Break point and match point for top seed Aryna Sabalenka against American Amanda Anisimova (16) on Suzanne-Lenglen. Anisimova saves it, deuce, before Sabalenka goes long, advantage Anisimova... Getty Images Shelton 6-7(8) 0-0 Alcaraz Oh, that's brilliant, a fearsome forehand into the corner that saw Shelton's scooped recovery into the net. Alcaraz pumps his fist and shouts with elation. Getty Images Shelton 6-6 (8-9*) Alcaraz Shelton hits the line and it's 7-6 for a third set point. Alcaraz chunters unhappily to his box. Both players grunting with exertion now, loudly and a little performatively. Alcaraz comes to the net and it's an awkward low return from Shelton but his soft hands see him drop-volley it gently the other side of the net. Now Alcaraz takes set point at 8-7 and he roars approvingly. But Shelton with two smash volleys at the net, the first of which is brilliantly returned by Alcaraz, not many players in world tennis who could do that, the second put away. Strange mistake from Shelton, 9-8 Alcaraz and a second set point, this time on his serve... Shelton 6-6 (6-6*) Alcaraz Ace from Alcaraz to start and from a perilous position at 4-1 down, the Spaniard is now within a point. Eesh, bizarre miscue as the ball hits the edge of his racket and balloons high into the Parisian sky. 5-3 Shelton. What a point that is! Point of the match, definitely. Maybe even point of the tournament so far. Alcaraz retrieves the serve, Shelton puts him in the corner, Alcaraz retrieves the drop shot brilliantly and goes down the line, Shelton somehow gets there and flips it back to him behind the back but Alcaraz's volley at the net lands on the line as Shelton falls on his back to watch it just about kiss the line. Shelton smiles wryly, Alcaraz gives his opponent a tiny nod. 5-4, then two set points to Shelton at 6-4. Alcaraz saves one for 6-5... Body serve is out, second serve is well returned, and Shelton nets! 6-6! Getty Images Shelton 6-6 (*4-2) Alcaraz Mini-break to Shelton at 2-0 up, before Alcaraz volleys it away powerfully. A couple of overhand smashes take Shelton to 3-1 and he scrunches up his face, nodding to his box. USWNT soccer star Trinity Rodman, his girlfriend, is watching on approvingly. Alcaraz errs and it's 4-1, eliciting a roar from Ben Shelton. Serve over to Carlos Alcaraz, and he wins a crucial point to make 4-2 at the changeover. Shelton 6-6 (0-0*) Alcaraz Yep, Carlos Alcaraz with a blinder of a game and we are 6-6 in the first set, into a tiebreak. Let's go. A reminder: you can contact us with any comments, thoughts, or questions at: live@ and we'll do our best to answer you. Get in touch! Top-tier tennis in the City of Light. Getty Images It was nice to see the two players battling it out have a polite, friendly little chat at the net between games earlier in the set. Carlos Alcaraz was saying he heard something and thought Ben Shelton's serve might have clipped the net. Shelton sportingly offered to replay the point, to which Alcaraz smiled and thanked him but said it was fine and he was happy to move on. We like to see it. Getty Images These two are not good friends but they like each other a lot. They played an exhibition at Madison Square Garden together last year. They both like to put on a show, sometimes to their detriment. It's not yet clear Carlos is locked into this match the way he is when he's playing one of his near-equals. He's in a dangerous part of the set, when a lapse has made his job difficult in the past. Getty Images It's currently 5-5 in the first set between Ben Shelton and Carlos Alcaraz. Only one break point so far, to Alcaraz, but it was saved. Careering towards a fascinating tiebreak on the show court. Getty Images A humdinger of a first set on Lenglen between Sabalenka and Anisimova which the world No. 1 edges 7-5. Sabalenka had a set point on her serve at 5-3, but couldn't take it, and was then down two break points at 5-5. At that point, as so often happens with the best players, she locked in: holding serve and then pinching the set in the next game. The weight of shot both players produce is staggering, but the greater variety Sabalenka possesses with her far superior drop shot and net game is just giving her the edge so far. Getty Images There's your top seed. Sabalenka broke Amanda Anisimova of the United States in the final game of their first set to take it 7-5. Into the second we go. Anisimova needs to go the distance to reach the last eight. All four third-round men's doubles matches today have been completed. As aforementioned, Horacio Zeballos/Marcel Granollers (5) steamrollered American Austin Krajicek and Santiago González 6-2, 6-1. While second seeds Henry Patten/Harri Heliövaara beat Rohan Bopanna/Adam Pavlásek 6-2, 7-6(5). Ninth seeds Evan King/Christian Harrison got past Yuki Bhambri/Robert Galloway 6-4, 6-4, while Orlando Luz/Ivan Dodig eliminated John-Patrick Smith/Fernando Romboli thanks to a 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 win.
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
French Open: Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul put 2 US 2 men in quarterfinals for 1st time since 1996
PARIS (AP) — Before Frances Tiafoe played a point at this French Open, he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about its surface — or his chances in the tournament. 'Last tournament on clay, which I get really excited about,' Tiafoe said on the eve of the Grand Slam event at Roland-Garros. 'And then we get on the real stuff, the grass and the summer hard courts — where tennis actually matters.' Advertisement Might have a different point of view now. The 15th-seeded Tiafoe made his way into the quarterfinals at the French Open for the first time with a 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Daniel Altmaier of Germany on Sunday night, joining 12th-seeded Tommy Paul to put a pair of American men in the round of eight. It's the first time the country placed more than one man in the quarterfinals in Paris since 1996, when Jim Courier and Pete Sampras did it together. Zero men from the United States had made it this far in any year since Andre Agassi in 2003. And Tiafoe — who celebrated his win by twice shouting a phrase that can't be quoted fully here but included the words 'let's' and 'go' — has done it without dropping a set. Quite a turnaround for a guy whose big-strike tennis long suffered on the slow red clay. He began his French Open career with a 0-6 record before getting his first win in 2022 and one more last year. Advertisement 'On clay, I get a little more passive than on other surfaces, because the court doesn't help me play as fast as I would like,' said Tiafoe, twice a semifinalist on the hard courts of the U.S. Open, where speedy shots are rewarded and the loud crowds and bright lights tend to bring out his best. 'Patience is a thing I struggle with.' Look at him now, though. And listen to something else he said when he met with reporters a little more than a week ago, with a dash of his usual sense of humor: 'Overall, I'm a big believer it can all change in a week. When I'm backed up against it, it seems like I start to produce my best tennis, because I have to if I want to continue living the life I want to live.' Tiafoe, a 27-year-old from Maryland, added: 'If I'm ready to go, I'm not just going to get to the third round — I can go for a run. I genuinely feel I can beat anybody on any specific day.' Advertisement Next for Tiafoe will be a matchup on Tuesday against No. 8 Lorenzo Musetti of Italy or No. 10 Holger Rune of Denmark. Four American women play in the fourth round Monday: No. 2 Coco Gauff, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, and No. 7 Madison Keys against Hailey Baptiste in an all-U.S. encounter. Paul, a semifinalist at the Australian Open in 2023, was never really troubled Sunday during his 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win against 25th-seeded Alexei Popyrin of Australia in less than two hours. Paul is a 28-year-old who grew up in North Carolina and now goes up against No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, the defending champion who got past No. 13 Ben Shelton of the U.S. 7-6 (8), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. 'Obviously,' Paul said about Alcaraz, 'the guy can play amazing tennis here.' Advertisement ___ Howard Fendrich has been the AP's tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: More AP tennis: Howard Fendrich, The Associated Press
Boston Globe
25 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Carlos Alcaraz shows sportsmanship in beating Ben Shelton, Iga Swiatek continues bid for fourth straight title
Advertisement When the official informed the Court Philippe-Chatrier crowd what had happened, Alcaraz was given a round of applause. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up This all happened at what could have been a critical moment, because instead of leading 40-30 on his serve, Alcaraz was now down 30-40, giving Shelton his first break point of the match. But Alcaraz saved that one — and five others in that 20-point game — along the way to taking a two-set lead in an entertaining matchup between a pair of 22-year-olds who hit the ball hard. The 13th-seeded Shelton, twice a semifinalist at majors, delivered serves at up to 143 miles per hour and forehands at up to 116 m.p.h.. Alcaraz, already a four-time Grand Slam champion, showed off various parts of his repertoire. Advertisement It was tighter than the score might indicate: Shelton held three opportunities to own the opening set, leading in the tiebreaker at 6-4, 6-5 and 7-6. Take any of the subsequent points, and Shelton would own that set. But Alcaraz — who meets No. 12 Tommy Paul of the United States in the quarterfinals Tuesday — saved the first with a service winner. Shelton netted a backhand on the next. And the last ended with Shelton smacking a backhand right at the body of Alcaraz, who was up at the net and contorted himself in order to chop a drop volley winner. Alcaraz then converted his second set point, closing a 15-stroke exchange with a down-the-line forehand that drew a mistake from Shelton. The third set went to Shelton when Alcaraz put a forehand into the net, and the big-swinging American punched the air, then his chest, and screamed: 'Let's go, baby! Come on!' The fourth swung Alcaraz's way when he used a drop shot winner to set up a break point that he claimed for a 2-1 edge and, after a total of 3 hours, 19 minutes, he was able to finish off an 11th consecutive win at Roland-Garros. Swiatek beats Rybakina as four-peat bid continues After a difficult start, Iga Swiatek hung in there until she could put together a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 comeback over 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, extending her tournament winning streak to 25 matches and her bid for a record fourth consecutive championship at the clay-court major at Roland-Garros. When she took the last two games and ended things with a forehand winner, Swiatek yelled, rocked back on her heels and put her fist to her chest. Advertisement 'I needed that kind of win to feel these feelings that I'm able to win under pressure,' Swiatek said. 'For sure, it's a great confirmation for me. ... I'm happy that I fought, and I also problem-solved.' The big-serving Rybakina got off to a stunning start, leading 5-0 after less than 20 minutes and grabbing 24 of the initial 32 points. She was responsible for 10 of the match's first 12 winners. 'I knew that (to) continue like that,' Rybakina said, 'is not going to be easy.' In the second set, Swiatek double-faulted to close the first game, then turned to her team in the stands with her palms up and said something; soon she was down 2-0. There was a game later in that set where she double-faulted three times. 'I don't think that happened before,' Swiatek said. On Tuesday, Swiatek will play No. 13 Elina Svitolina, who is 0-4 in previous French Open quarterfinals. No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka faces No. 8 Zheng Qinwen in Tuesday's other women's match.
