Harrison becomes a Grand Slam champ (with Michael Venus)

If the second half of 2017 is anything like the first for Ryan Harrison, we could be looking at one of the best seasons for an American male in years.

Harrison and his longtime friend Michael Venus captured the French Open men’s doubles championship with a three-set win over Donald Young and Santiago Gonzalez. It’s Harrison and Venus’ second title of the year after winning in Estoril early in the clay-court stretch.

Unlike the vast majority of his compatriots, Harrison hit the clay in Europe early on—right after his wedding in March, in fact. He was able to win a few matches in singles aside from the doubles title in Estoril. While he lost in the first round of singles at the French, he and Venus were able to take advantage of a decimated draw, which they were partially responsible for.

On their way to the title, Harrison and Venus beat the fourth-seeded pairing of Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo; No. 7 seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Granollers; and Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, the No. 16-seeded team, all of whom were successful on the clay this year.

Harrison is the first American man to win the doubles at the French Open other than Bob and Mike Bryan since 1994, when Jonathan Stark pulled off the feat with Byron Black of Zimbabwe.

The world No. 41 has been a man on a mission in 2017, eager to make up for a couple of lost seasons. He won his first career singles title in Memphis this year without dropping a set. That was his second week accomplishing that feat: A victory at an ATP Challenger in Dallas the week before Memphis was also an all straight-sets affair.

There are reasons to be optimistic about how the rest of the year will shape up for the 25-year-old. Harrison’s aggressive baseline game is tailor-made for faster surfaces. If he’s winning singles matches and doubles titles on the dirt, then the grass and hard courts ahead should prove to be the right launching pad for further success.

“Very excited to have my first Grand Slam, and hope to have many more in the future,” Harrison said in a post-match feature interview with the USTA.