James Blake was shown the door last night at The Legg Mason tournament against American upstart Ryan Sweeting, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6 in an affair of two players going in opposite directions. Blake started out the match with his uptempo style and had the look of a straight set win. Blake was hitting winners, his first serve was strong and his placement looks great. He looked ready to coast. But the 2nd set was a completely different story as Blake's first serve percentage began to dip. He finished the match at 49% while Sweeting ended the match at an astounding 82%. Sweeting, a qualifier for DCs legendary tournament, came out blazing in the second set and never looked back. He didn't seem bothered by dropping the first set nor did he seem intimidated by Blake, one of the top ranked Americans on the tour. Blake finished the match with nine aces. NINE ACES????? James, what is going on? If Blake is going to make a showing at the US Open he is going to need to pick up his serving game. Blake was once a Top 10 player on the USTA tour, a Davis Cup darling of the Yankees, but now his ranking has fallen all the way to 105. This is the sixth time this season that Blake was bounced in the first round. Blake is not getting any younger (in fact he is only a couple of months older than this writer, whose tennis career peaked at 21 when he dominated Division III doubles tennis). But at over 30 now, Blake's best years are probably behind him. And to add insult to injury, Roddick and Blake were replaced in the Davis Cup by American standouts John Isner and Sam Querrey. Querrey upset Andy Murray last weekend in Los Angeles and Isner had fallen the week before at the Atlanta Tennis Championships to red-hot Mardy Fish. When was the last time James Blake won a tournament? 2007. Nagging injuries have caused setbacks in his game and his blowup this year at Wimbledon, live on ESPN with Pam Shriver didn't help his cause. Below is the video moments before Blake yells at Pam. Whats sadder is the commentating going on beforehand where they pretty much ask James to put down the racquet..... We yearn for the James Blake of old. The warrior player that never showed fear. That served through adversity and was enjoyable to watch. It is now or never for Blake to make a strong run and demonstrate that he still has some gas left in the tank.
Written by:
