By Will Brown
James Blake closed his 14-year tennis career with a heartbreaking loss to Ivo Karlovic late Wednesday night in the first round of the U.S. Open.
Despite winning the first two sets, the 34-year old could not cope with the power of his Croatian opponent. The American, who was once ranked in the Top 5, lost 6-7, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6.
As the fifth set tiebreaker approached, Blake looked cooked. Once Karlovic ratcheted up a couple serves well over 130 miles an hour, the longtime member of the U.S. Davis Cup team didn’t appear to have an answer. Despite a crowd sticking around until well after midnight it was not to be.
Blake’s departure means yet another black person has called it quits in professional tennis.
The legacy of Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe, Zina Garrison and MaliVai Washington was continued by former Harvard letterman who combined grit, talent and class to carve out a nice career. Blake may not have won a major tournament, nor appeared in a final, like the aforementioned quartet, but he was a valiant figure in post-Sampras, post-Agassi era of American tennis.
Garrison had retired and Washington was on the downside of his career in the late 90s when I started playing.
Well before I played organized basketball or baseball, my dad enrolled me in a tennis class at the YMCA. The teacher, a gentleman named Artie Guerin, taught the rules, basic tactics and reigned in my forehand.
For three summers I would take lessons and play in a recreational league that Guerin coordinated. Those mornings in the sun on the Florida hard courts cemented an appreciation for the sport.
The more interested I became, the more I realized there were few people who looked like me playing professional tennis. Washington’s surprise run to the 1996 Wimbledon finals was a false dawn. Eventually, the Williams sisters took the mantle and ran to the record books, while Blake was the standard bearer for African-American men during the first decade of the 21st century.
Blake’s retirement is yet another reminder at the paucity of blacks at the top level of tennis.
The women’s side has Serena Williams, Sloane Stephens and a handful of talented players behind them in Madison Keys, Taylor Townsend and even Victoria Duval, the 17-year old who stunned 2011 U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur in the first round of this year’s U.S. Open.
Once you get past Blake you have… .
Donald Young, a former phenom in juniors tennis, who is ranked No. 157 in the world. Former Australian Open finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. One of the most exciting, and erratic, players on tour in Gael Monfils.
None of those are names that resonate with the casual American tennis fan.
Dustin Brown had an interesting backstory that was told when he won two matches at Wimbledon this year. But, the German a 28-year-old journeyman, plays serve and volley tennis and has made the main draw of five Grand Slams in the last five years.
The U.S. Open has been the en vogue event for American tennis stars can exit to one final ovation. Agassi, Sampras, Michael Chang and Andy Roddick are all men whose swansong came in New York. Blake may not have been nearly as successful as those major champion winners, or like notable blacks before him, but the niche he carved in the sport will certainly be missed.
Laughs and liveliness,
-Wb
