WIMBLEDON, England — Ryan Harrison left the Olympics with a mangled racket as a souvenir. Donald Young departed with his losing streak intact. Christina McHale bid farewell after receiving a sympathetic hug from Michelle Obama.
It was a difficult day for first-time Olympians in U.S. tennis. Among the rookies, only John Isner managed a victory Saturday, beating Olivier Rochus of Belgium 7-6 (1), 6-4.
Harrison lost his cool and the match against Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, 7-5, 6-3. Young remained winless since February when he was eliminated by Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-4, 6-4.
McHale was beaten by former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 7-5, then afterward met Mrs. Obama.
“That doesn’t happen every day,” said McHale, 20. “She was so nice. She gave me a huge hug and said to keep it up and don’t let this get me down.”
Harrison’s game began to unravel after he lost serve to fall behind 6-5 in the first set. He slammed his racket to the grass after losing the next-to-last game, and when he double-faulted on match point, he broke his racket by again spiking it.
“Obviously you want to try to keep the focus on the task at hand, and try to control your emotions in a positive way,” said Harrison, 20. “But sometimes you’ve got to let it out. I didn’t feel like I was out of control with the way I was handling myself on the court during the match.”
Young’s defeat extended his losing streak to 15 matches. He’s 2-18 in 2012 but is still ranked 60th.
The 6-foot-9 Isner held every service game against the 5-foot-6 Rochus, the smallest player on the men’s tour. Isner had 24 aces; Rochus had one.
“A little bit of a David and Goliath thing,” Isner said. “I knew I had to serve well, and that’s what I did.”
Isner and Andy Roddick lost their opening doubles match against Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares of Brazil, 6-2, 6-4. The other U.S. men’s team, top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan, edged Brazilians Thomaz Bellucci and Andre Sa 7-6 (5), 6-7 (5), 6-3.
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