Latest news with #LloydHarris
The South African
28-05-2025
- Sport
- The South African
EXCLUSIVE: Lloyd Harris puts in brave performance in French Open defeat
South Africa's Lloyd Harris was competitive in his four-set loss to Russia's Andrey Rublev on Tuesday, before going down 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in his first round French Open match on Court 7. Harris's big serving had him looking like he could potentially take the match to five sets. However, Rublev's experience showed when he closed out the fourth set – and the match. Harris acknowledged that it was a tough loss. 'It was very tough.' However, he was able to take several positives from the match. 'I managed to play. I managed to finish the match. I had 4 matches (including 3 qualifying matches to make the main draw) in a week and a half which is a lot more than I had in a year.' Lloyd Harris added that he feels that his tennis is at a decent level, but that he needs more time on the court. 'I feel like I can play at a decent level. It's about maintaining it and playing it over an extended period of time.' With Harris having been out of action for a prolonged period with a ruptured disc in his back (which required an operation last October), he's looking at getting back into the groove of being consistently back on the court. 'Competing is still new for me. Even in a match where I didn't think I'd have many chances, I ended up winning a set.' Harris revealed that he is not intimated playing against a top player such as Rublev (currently ranked 15th in the world). 'I'm not scared of playing the big guys. I've beaten a couple of top 10 and top 20 players. It's just a difficult situation not having played anyone for a long, long time.' Lloyd Harris was not able to attend Rafael Nadal's French Open tribute in person, but he did watch it on TV. 'What a great tribute. A legend of the sport. What an amazing career he had. Especially on that court (Philippe Chatrier). This court will always be where Rafa made history. 'Maybe one of the greatest things anyone has ever done in sport. What he did at Roland-Garros. I feel like he deserves this everywhere. The guy has done so much.' Harris was especially moved when Nadal and Roger Federer embraced. 'That was a such a special moment. I think both of them realising once again, that this long journey that has been so amazing, is now at an end.' Harris joked that now that Federer has retired, that his mum only supports him (Harris once played Federer on Centre Court at Wimbledon where he took a set off him.) According to Harris 'it was the only time that his mum didn't support him when he played Federer.' 'Now she just supports me. There are no more conflicts of interest.' Harris described being indirectly inspired by Nadal and learning so many different things from him (they played together once in Washington in 2021 where Harris triumphed 6-4, 1-6, 6-4). Not too many players have never lost to Nadal in their careers! 'He impacted the careers of my generation in some shape or form. There were so many things I learned from him and took from him. 'The fighting mentality. How every point counted.' The biggest lessons Harris took from Nadal were 'the way he handled every match the same. Every point is the same whether it's the first or last point of the match.' Lloyd Harris is a big fan of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. 'I'm pretty happy with winning the Europa League. People will remember the Europa League and not 17th place in the Premier League. 'It's incredible how disastrous the season has been, but we still won our first trophy in 17 years. 'I think mentally it's a big win for everyone at the club. The fan bases. The players.' Harris is unsure of where to next in terms of what tournaments he'll play leading up to Wimbledon. 'I've just got to get my body right to play again. I think it's going to be a year of just getting the body in order. 'I need to be physically there and mentally there to compete against the best players in the world.' Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp, Facebook, X and Bluesky for the latest news.
IOL News
24-05-2025
- Sport
- IOL News
SA star Lloyd Harris 3. 0 shows resilience with win over Marin Cilic to reach French Open main draw
South Africa's top-ranked men's tennis player Lloyd Harris will take a major step in his comeback from injury when he steps out on court to face Andre Rublev in Sunday's first round of the French Open in Paris. Image: Paul Crock/AFP South Africa's top-ranked player, Lloyd Harris, served up proof that he is over his recent injury woes when he dispatched former world No 3 Marin Cilic 6-3 4-6 6-3 in the French Open qualifiers on Friday to move into the main draw. Former US Open quarter-finalist Harris broke early in the first set and again in the final game to take a 1-0 lead. He broke Cilic's serve again early in the second set before the Serb, who has also struggled with injury, broke back. Both players then struggled to hold their serve. Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, landed a telling break to take a 4-3 lead in the seventh game. The rest of the set went on serve. Both players found their service rhythm in the opening games of the third set. But the cracks started to show in Cilic's game as the South African grew in confidence. He got the only break of the set in the seventh game and had to dig deep in his next two service games to hold serve and book a coveted spot in the main draw. The 28-year-old had seen off Finland's higher-ranked Otto Virtanen in his second match of the qualifying tournament, after a fairly routine victory over Switzerland's Marc-Andrea Hasler in his opener. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Harris will face Russian 17th seed Andrey Rublev in Sunday's first round at Roland Garros. Few will give him a chance against the consistent Russian player, but Harris is used to overcoming obstacles. The resilient South African spoke earlier this week about the physical challenges he's faced over recent years. South Africa's Lloyd Harris reached the main draw of the French Open after Friday's victory over Marin Cilic in the qualifiers. Image: Alexandre Martins/DPPI via AFP Harris was tipped as a potential future star after a meteoric rise took him to No 31 in the world. He was a regular feature at Grand Slams, reaching the quarter-final at the US Open in 2021. However, wrist surgery in 2022 and back surgery late last year derailed his progress. Since returning to competitive tennis in February, he has struggled to rediscover his top form. 'It's been tough, but for me it's all about being healthy. Every match I get being injury free is a mega win for me,' Harris told ahead of the clash with Cilic. 'What's kept me positive is having a good team around – family, friends, girlfriend – everyone has been saying how much they believe in me. 'Even when you doubt it, you hear it from them and say 'okay, maybe I can make another big push'. But it's all got to come from within, 'I thought last year I was getting the 2.0 of Lloyd Harris, but I had to go do another surgery, that was pretty harsh.
