By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports

Christian Harrison’s pro tennis career has a new highlight, one that has the Shreveport native tantalizingly close to a major championship victory.

Harrison, a pro since 2007 who just turned 31 on May 29, has reached the doubles semifinals at the French Open in Paris.

Harrison and his partner, Evan King, upset the second-seeded tandem of Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara 6-3, 6-4 in a quarterfinal match Tuesday on the clay courts at Roland Garros.

The ninth-seeded Americans will face the No. 8 British tandem of Neal Skupski and Joe Salisbury in Thursday’s semifinals. Those are the top two seeded teams remaining. The other semifinalists will be determined today.

Harrison is the younger brother of recently retired ATP pro Ryan Harrison, grandson of local tennis icon Jimmy Harrison, and the son of Pat Harrison, the former pro at the Pierremont Oaks Tennis Club and Shreveport Country Club. The Harrison family was inducted in the Louisiana Tennis Hall of Fame in 2023.

He and Ryan combined to reach the 2012 U.S. Open doubles quarterfinals. Ryan had a successful 16-year career, including representing the USA in the 2012 Olympics, before retiring early in 2024.

Christian made his debut at age 13 on the International Tennis Federation’s Junior Circuit but struggled with injuries and illness, going through a series of surgeries between 2009-2018.

After reaching a career goal of winning a singles match at Wimbledon in 2022, Harrison decided to focus on doubles play. Last year he teamed with King and the pair has risen to a world ATP ranking of 19, qualifying them for the French Open.

They won at the Dallas Open and at Acupulco earlier this season.

Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com