Tag Archives: Blake
Then Magic Happens
US Open, Days Three and Four The 2012 US Open is barely four days old, but it has already equalled the record for the most victories achieved from two sets to love down. This record number, set back in 1989, … Continue reading
Filed under Grand Slams
The Reverse Is Also True
Stockholm, Semifinals Nieminen d. Blake, 7/6 5/7 6/2 (1) Monfils d. (6) Raonic, 6/7 6/4 6/3 One year ago in Stockholm, in the wake of a 6/0 6/2 drubbing at the hands of Jarkko Nieminen, it seemed clear that James … Continue reading
Filed under ATP Tour
Compromising
Washington, Third Round Isner d. Blake, 7/6 1/6 7/6 ‘Blake actually went for the winner . . . I’m surprised he did that.’ It’s hard to imagine any commentator in the last ten years uttering these words with a straight … Continue reading
Filed under ATP Tour
The Stories They Won’t Tell
Washington, Second Round Blake d. (8) Nalbandian, 6/2 6/4 In the dew-smeared eyes of the sadly uninitiated, it probably seems as though the last decade of men’s tennis belonged to Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Champions, both, and champions define … Continue reading
Filed under ATP Tour
Here We Are
Los Angeles, Second Round Through no fault of mine, the US Open Series gathers momentum, or more accurately mass, with the consequent increase in gravity drawing in more and more high-quality protagonists from elsewhere in the cosmos. Some are even … Continue reading
Filed under ATP Tour
If Stockholm Open Quarterfinals, 22 October 2010
Nieminen d. Blake 6/0 6/2 Here is a pressing question. Of these three players, whose career is the most depressing to contemplate: James Blake Lleyton Hewitt Juan Carlos Ferrero Hmm, I posed the question flippantly by way of introducing Blake’s … Continue reading
Filed under ATP Tour