The closest I’ve ever heard someone making comments like Sam Querrey was the brief disgust that Roger Federer had shortly after losing in the semifinals at Miami.  Federer said he was glad to leave hardcourts and was eager to play on clay again.

After Querrey lost to Robby Ginepri, admittedly a guy he lost to last year in the Indianapolis final but also admittedly a guy who had only won one match at the 250 level, Querrey went into the interview and bared his soul.  He said he was just not feeling it.  He had been in Europe for about 5 weeks, played in Rome and Belgrade and a World Cup of Tennis in Dusseldorf the weekend before the French Open and he had simply stopped caring.  He felt his mind was in the wrong spot, and he was eager to head home.

Querrey and Isner were playing doubles, but he was planning to inform Isner that he was heading back to the States, presumably back to California and decide what he wanted to do.  Andy Roddick was asked, in his interview, what he thought about Querrey’s action.  Roddick refused to be baited into the situation, at least, without having talked to Querrey first.  He must have been burned by how the press twists things to get their angle in.

Ultimately, there were comparisons made between Querrey and Isner.  Both had traveled together, were training together.  Both were tall guys that played similar styles, and yet, for the most part, Isner was the one that had better results, at least better recent results.  Querrey had expressed frustration that while he was doing well in 250s, the “lowest” point-value tournaments, he was not doing well in the Masters 1000 events.  In particular, although he won Belgrade, his ranking didn’t move (see here for explanation: https://essentialtennis.com/tournews/2010/05/how-isner-jumped-querrey/).

Querrey said he had been feeling this way on and off for a few months, and he wanted to stop fighting himself as well as his opponent.  Querrey has the reputation of being a nice guy, perhaps not as fiery competitive as he could be.  Querrey would say he was competitive on the inside.  By contrast, Isner spent his formative years playing college tennis.  He said he wasn’t good enough to consider turning pro in his first two years, and only when he became number 1 in the nation did he begin to ponder a pro career.

Perhaps that team camaraderie, or perhaps a more innate sense of competition, helped Isner with the pro tour.  Another odd possibility–and this is mere speculation–is that both Querrey and Isner have been traveling together for the last few months.  This relationship seems to be helpful to both guys.  They’ve improved the bigness of their shots, especially their forehand.  Querrey’s improved his movement a great deal too.

But one possible downside is friction that sometimes arise traveling with someone.  Many doubles team have split up when the team dynamics don’t work out as well as they could.  In particular, one can imagine Isner, a collegiate player, poking fun at Querrey like he did with his Bulldog teammates, and Querrey not taking it that well.  Who knows?  Although Querrey was honest enough to say that he wasn’t feeling good, an admission so frank in its honesty, one can hardly imagine another player confessing as much, even if that was what was troubling them.

Querrey had his training derailed a bit last year.  After a successful US Open series, Querrey was going to the Asian part of the post-US Open circuit when he got cut after sitting on a glass table.  Querrey didn’t return back to the tour until just before the Australian Open, and didn’t play that well.  However, after a few weeks, he was starting to win, including a defeat of Isner at Memphis, and then a defeat of Isner again at Belgrade.  Querrey’s dissatisfaction with himself seems to stem sometime during this period, even though he played decent tennis.

So now Querrey has headed back to California and questions remain as to what he will do now.  Will he return by Wimbledon?  Or will he take more time off?  While Querrey’s dilemma seems an order of magnitude better than, say, Dinara Safina, whose mental woes arise more from wanting it too much rather than from a desire to get off the court, it still seems bothersome enough that he will have to do some soul searching.

Hopefully, he finds the answers he’s looking for.