Atheletes of the Year

Greatness is easily talked about, but never quite as easy to achieve.

This season sophomore James Blake dominated college tennis. During the course of the year, Blake won the middle two legs of the NCAA Grand Slam, earning the nation's No. 1 ranking in the process.

His singles' record for the season was 41-4, and since assuming the top spot on December 8, he never relinquished it.

Under the point system used to calculate the rankings, he was, with 40 points, a full 10 points ahead of his nearest competitor, and 20 points better than the No. 3 player.

For reaching heights never before known by any Harvard tennis player, The Crimson has selected James Blake as Male Athlete of the Year.

One for the Ages

As a freshman Blake established himself as a national force, achieving All-America honors.

Despite external pressures and high hopes stemming from his inaugural season, Blake refused to burden himself further with difficult goals.

With that mindset, Blake went in relaxed to the ITA All-American Championships--the second leg of the NCAA Grand Slam--in October. Playing loose, but with great confidence, Blake exceeded all expectations, by powering to the title.

"I went into the tournament just looking to have some fun, and I took a look at my bracket and saw many tough opponents," Blake said. "I just started playing, and before I knew it I was winning all of my tough matches and was still in the tournament."

"I just continued to focus on each match, and came out on top," he added. "I never expected to win a Grand Slam tournament."

Blake and his doubles partner--co-captain Kunj Majmudar--also took the doubles title at the tournament, as Blake's amazing season was underway.

**In December came news of Blake's No. 1 ranking, and along with it extra pressure. The confident sophomore was unfazed, however, as he continued to play with the same attitude.

In February, Blake headed to Dallas for the Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships--the third leg of the Grand Slam. As the No. 1 seed, Blake withstood stiff challenges to his throne, even saving a match point in the quarterfinals, before finally winning the title.

The championship solidified his top ranking, and also made him a marked man for the rest of the nation.

But as team play began the Crimson could almost always count on him for a win.

He led the Harvard men's tennis team to an impressive 21-5 season, including a perfect 7-0 ivy League record to notch the Crimson's fifth consecutive conference title.

The Crimson, however, bowed out in the second round of the NCAA Men's Tennis Team Championships, despite singles victories by its best player.

Although the season ended for Harvard, Blake was not done. He was seeded No. 1 for the NCAA Singles Championships--the fourth and final leg of the grand slam--and No.3 with Majmudar in the doubles competition.

The duo fell in the second round, but Blake continued to storm through his individual matches, as he advanced to the finals of the tournament. There he battled a familiar foe--the University of Florida's Jeff Morrison, the No.2 player.

Though Blake had considerable success against Morrison in the past--including a victory in the quarterfinals of his Rolex championship--the Gator got the best of him in a three set thriller.

For the first time all season, the pressure of being the favorite finally affected Blake's play.

"In the final [Morrison] had no pressure and was swinging away," Blake said. "I got a little tentative and missed a few points here and there that cost me."

"I still felt that I did well to get that far considering all of the other stuff I had to deal with," he added. "It would have been nice to end the season with a win, but you've to lose sometimes to win later; I'll learn from this experience."

Despite coming up short in his quest for the national title, Blake's season was by all measures a rousing success. At season's close, Blake remained at the No. 1 ranked player in the country.

"James was phenomenal all season long," said co-captain Mike Passarella. "He proved himself to be far and away the best player in the country."

Fair Harvard

As one of the most promising young players in the nation coming out of high school, the choice to attend Harvard was not automatic by any means.

Harvard tennis, while extremely successful, is not among the country's elite programs. Other factors came into play, when Blake decided on donning the Crimson uniform.

Among them was the fact that his older brother Tom Blake '98, was a rising senior and co-captain of the team. But the chance for a top-notch Ivy League education was Blake's primary motivation.

"Well, my brother being here at Harvard was definitely a factor," Blake said, "but basically I wanted to put myself in a position that would be better for me later in life."

Although tennis was not Blake's primary concern, he still wanted the game he loved to play a large part in his life.

"I still also wanted to see how far I could go with the tennis," Blake said, "so I asked my brother honestly whether I would be able to compete and put enough time into tennis here."

"I knew I could trust his answers, and he said told me that if I managed my time right I could do whatever I wanted to here," he added.

Now that the decision has been made and he has completed two years at Harvard, Blake maintains that the choice was a correct one, and has no regrets.

"I've had a great time the past two years here," Blake said. " I've made great friends and tried to enjoy every experience. I'm sure things could have been different at another school, but I don't think about what could have been. I've made the best out of being here, and have loved it."

Blake's close relationship with his teammates, is, in his opinion, what has made his experience at Harvard special and worthwhile. In fact, his relationship with Harvard players played a large role in his coming to the school.

"My relationship with my teammates is great," Blake said. "That's one of the reasons why I decided to come here. I used to visit my brother and hang out with some of the guys on the team, and we really got along well."

Blake credits the team with helping his development as both a player and a person, and has the utmost respect for them.

"They have been great for me," he said. "I'll keep in touch with them no matter what I do, and I really appreciate what they done for me, and how hard they've worked with me. I couldn't have asked for a better group of guys.

"I think a lot of teams around the country have players that get along, but aren't really that close," Blake added. "They really help keep me humble and focused, and are just basically a lot of fun."

The Road Less Traveled

Having completed one of the most impressive and successful seasons in NCAA tennis history, the natural question arises: "Will James Blake go pro?"

With little left to prove on the college level, turning pro seems the natural next step in Blake's career.

Blake, however, is not quite sure. While he is positive that he will play on the professional circuit this summer as he did last year, he is uncertain on whether he will forgo his college eligibility, and play as a professional.

"Right now for the summer I'm definitely going to do the pro circuit," Blake said, "but I haven't decided whether I will do it as a pro, or like I did last year."

While Blake has not decided on his tennis future, the decision appears to be immanent, as he does not want to drag out the process.

"I'm not going to think about the decision until I get home. Then I'll talk with my parents and coaches and come to a decision pretty soon," Blake said. "I think that would be most fair to all of the coaches involved, to get it out of the way and just concentrate on my tennis. So I will most likely make a decision pretty soon."

If that is the case, Harvard tennis will be losing perhaps the best player in the program's history. It might not be the last the college sees of Blake, however, as he hopes to someday return to finish his degree in Economics.

"The policy [at Harvard] is that you can come back at any time, so I can do it," Blake said. "But if I go pro, then that decision will have to be made ten to twelve years down the road, so I don't know exactly what I will be doing."

"But that may be my first choice--to save some money, come back to school and finish my degree--because that was really what my goal was in coming here in the first place," he added. "It would definitely be nice to finish, and it would be different, because I wouldn't have the tennis, and would be able to concentrate even more on my studies."

While Blake's long-term plans are far from set, he has a fairly good idea on what just ahead of him. By playing on the pro circuit, he hopes to improve his skills against the top possible competition. He does, however, warn that he sets no expectations or limits to his play.

""I just want to play in as many tournaments as I can, because I don't really have the match experience that most of the players my age have," Blake said. "But I don't want to go in with any expectations of what ranking I want to reach or anything, I'm just going to have fun and learn a lot."

It would be a bittersweet decision to leave the college, as he leaves behind many close friends.

"If I do decide to leave Harvard to go pro," Blake said. "It will definitely be hard to leave all my teammates and friends who have always been there for me."

And should he leave, Harvard tennis will certainly feel a similar loss.