[Mornin'. Im happy to bring you a special feature from a long-time member of the TW tribe and frequent contributor to this blog. Please keep your comment on topic, and use this post to call and discuss the Blake match once it starts. For all other business, use the Crisis Center post below—Pete]
by Andrew Friedman, TW Contributing Writer
“Have a little faith, there’s magic in the night.”
--- Bruce Springsteen, “Thunder Road”
On the middle Saturday of the 2005 U.S. Open, James Blake, on the comeback trail after well-documented injury (broken vertebrae) and illness (zoster), took on world No. 2 Rafael Nadal on Arthur Ashe Stadium in the third round of the U.S. Open. James was in the tournament on a wild card, and few gave him a chance against the reigning French Open champion. Nevertheless, he came away with a crowd-pleasing four-set win, setting the stage for an inspired run that culminated two rounds later when he squared off in what would become a legendary quarterfinal with Andre Agassi.
Before going any further, I might as well come right out and admit that I’m about the least objective person in the U.S. Open Media Center when it comes to James Blake, having co-authored his book Breaking Back a few years ago. Maybe my familiarity with James is making me overly optimistic about his chances tonight against Novak Djokovic, but maybe not. There was an eerie sense of déjà vu permeating his first two matches: Nobody expected anything of him when he took the court against Kristof Vliegen Tuesday; in fact more than a few fans and journalists were all but poised to write his professional obituary. His inclusion in Monday night’s opening ceremony on Ashe Stadium—the theme of which was people who had come back from adversity—even struck some as a de facto farewell.
I’ve long maintained that there’s a special kind of magic that’s conjured when an athlete returns to the scene of a past moment of glory, something that transcends anything we might glean from the tale of the tape. To me, the similarities in the backstory between Sept. 3, 2005 and Sept. 4, 2010 are striking—the underdog status, the return from injury, a top-ranked opponent, and the arena itself.
Of course, there are also significant differences: While James was coming back from more serious maladies in 2005, they were more surmountable; the nagging injuries that now hamper his shoulder, hamstring and knee are likely to remain with him for the rest of his career. (He came into his press conference after beating Peter Polansky in round two Thursday night with a huge bag of ice stuffed under his shirt, soothing his shoulder.) James no longer sprints and screams at the rafters after a huge point, the way he did during that run five years ago. Let’s face it: He’s older. Thirty years old, to be precise.
James’ own personal cheering section, the J-Block, is older, too. During his first-round match, they were nowhere to be found, until I heard some of their telltale chants and spotted them, in civilian attire rather than their trademark Carolina blue T-shirts, across the stadium. There weren’t as many as there used to be, but there’s a good reason for that:
“As I’m getting older all my friends are having real jobs,” James told me when I caught up with him Tuesday night. “So it’s tough during the days to get time off.... I’m sure if I have night match they’ll be out in full force and they’ll be a little more vocal and able to support because they’ll be out of work.”
That’s not all that James loves about night matches. In his Tuesday press conference, he commented: “It's really tough to get New York excited about any one thing. Night matches, it seems like all they care about is tennis. They get excited for it. That's an energy you don't get too often at any other sporting event. I'm thrilled to have been a part of as many as I have been and hope I have a few more in me.”
One could have reasonably thought that he was lobbying for a center court assignment, and perhaps kidding himself. He's in the tournament as a wild card; the last time he would see the inside of Ashe stadium this week would be on the first night, at that opening ceremony. He has those injuries, hasn’t posted anything better than a few quarterfinal results, and comments he made after a first-round loss at Wimbledon started a swirl of retirement chatter around him.
I broached the R word with James other day: “That was taken sort of out of context, directly after a Wimbledon loss when I played terrible and that was one of my lower points with my knee and not feeling great,” he said. “I definitely want to keep playing. I want to take a little time off right after the Open just to let a couple of nagging things heal, but then I want to go back out at full force. I’m looking forward to another off season where I’m really going after it, training, on the court, and getting better. So, I’m looking forward to at least one more of those.”
He did acknowledge that playing matches these days is tougher. "I still love it out there, still love playing, so if I gotta deal with an ice bath later—I’ve already iced my shoulder, my hamstring [prior to his press conference and our conversation]—icing things like that and getting treatment and taking care of my body better, so be it, you know I’m okay doing that definitely for a few more years if I can.”
That’s about as unambiguous as it gets, though he did add this caveat: “If an injury comes up in the fall that’s so bad that it [a full-on comeback effort] doesn’t happen, so be it, but I’m not planning on that. I’m planning on another off season of really pushing it and then see how the body reacts next year.... If I’m feeling good next year, then I’m going to keep going.”
Injuries aside, it seems to me that James couldn’t have had things set up more to his liking today if he’d hired his own personal party planner: He’ll have a night match on his favorite court, and the Block will surely be there in full force—this time in their blue J-Block regalia—to help fuel him forward, along with most of the 23,000 fans, which is significant. Bear in mind that even in the midst of a forgettable summer, James managed to notch the quickest win of the year (35 minutes) on the men’s tour when he returned to his home turf in Connecticut for the Pilot Pen tournament last month.
All of which brings me to Novak Djokovic. On paper, James, currently ranked No. 108, doesn’t stand a chance. But he’s feeling that old U.S. Open magic, and he doesn’t count himself out by any means. By the end of his match against Polansky, he was connecting on a number of go-for-broke forehands, running down seemingly out-of-reach balls, and even connecting on a few scorching backhand returns. In other words, succeeding with the brand of high-risk tennis that he considers his most effective game.
“If I go out there and I start dictating, I feel like I have a good shot,” he said in his press conference after beating Polansky. “But there's also a good shot that he [Djokovic] comes out and plays great tennis and proves why he's No. 3 in the world right now. But it will be on Ashe Stadium. I think I'll have pretty good crowd support. Hopefully I can come up with some of my best, as I've been known to do at the Open before.”
That crowd support cuts both ways: On another middle Saturday, just a year ago, an American qualifier named Jesse Witten made it to the third round and was serving for a two-sets-to-one lead over Djokovic before he imploded under the pressure of the situation. I was in the stands for that match. The effect of the crowd was undeniable, and they hadn’t even heard of Witten until a few days before the match. The support for James tonight will be thunderous, and it might just be a factor on both sides of the net.
Whether or not it will be enough to tip the scales in James’ favor, letting him forget all about those aches and pains for a few crucial hours, and come up with the kind of tennis that’s eluded him most of this year to come away with the W is an open question. But I have little doubt that the evening will be a memorable one.