Blake Can't Save Lobsters

It was a rude homecoming this Monday for James Blake ’01.

The former Harvard tennis star gave Boston Lobsters fans only a few glimpses of the skill that earned him the No. 1 collegiate ranking as an undergraduate when the Lobsters fell to the Springfield (Mo.) Lasers, 24-14, before 1,317 fans at the Bright Hockey Center.

Blake, currently ranked No. 73 on the ATP tour, is moonlighting for the WTT’s Lobsters as he tries to return to form after suffering two injuries that took him off the court for a year dating back to last May. He did not live up to the “marquee” billing he shares with other WTT players including past greats Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe and current WTA No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, losing his men’s doubles match and winning his singles match in a tiebreak only after coming alive to overcome a 3-0 deficit.

Blake, who lost in the opening round at Wimbledon last month, said before the match that his goal for the summer was to play as much competitive tennis as possible and return to his earlier form. Before a fractured vertebrate and then shingles hampered his rise up the rankings, he was seeded as high as No. 22 in the world.

“The actual strokes, my physical fitness, is getting to the point where I feel like I’m better than I was when I was ranked 22 in the world,” Blake said.

Blake, and his brother Thomas Blake ’98, who like the younger James received All-American honors while at Harvard, opened the WTT regular season match playing doubles against the Lasers’ Rick Leach and Rik De Voest. James barely saw the ball early in the set, and poor net play by Thomas saw the brothers fall behind the Lasers 2-0.

The third game of the set provided James with his first opportunity to shine. His powerful serve proved too much for the Lasers. Four separate serves went unreturned by de Voest alone, and the Lobsters were on the scoreboard for the first time.

But it was all downhill from there, as the Harvard brothers were run off the court by the superior Lasers, 5-1.

Springfield kept rolling in the women’s doubles event. Boston’s “Lady Lobsters” Deja Bedanova and Kristen Schlukebir hung in the match early, but down 3-2, the Lasers’ aptly-named Kaysie Smashey made quick work of the Lobsters with an ace and two unreturnable serves.

The Lasers went on to drown the Lobsters 5-2 to take the set.

Bedanova then lost 5-3 in her women’s singles match against Kelly McCain, and at the half, the Lobsters went into the locker room down 15-6.

Blake was lackluster early in his singles match against De Voest, falling behind 3-0 to a player who lost in the second round of Wimbledon qualifying this year.

“It was a slow start,” Blake said. “You expect a 40-year-old to have a slow start, not a 25-year-old.”

But then, Blake suddenly came alive.

Behind the strength of three aces—powerful shots that sent ball boys and courtside spectators literally scrambling and ducking for safety—Blake won his service match to climb back to 1-3. He went on to win the next three games, though de Voest would force a tiebreak by tying the set at 4-4. But Blake won the tiebreak 5-3, giving him the set at 5-4.

Blake said that the WTT first-to-five-games format shows little mercy to players who start off slow. “You’ve got to just go for it” if you want to win, he said.

Despite being down 19-11 with only five points up for grabs, WTT rules would have allowed the Lobsters to force overtime if they won the mixed doubles tie. It was a win that seemed within their grasp given Blake’s form—but though Blake was on the card to play alongside Schlukebir, he was subbed out in favor of Johan Landsberg.

Blake said it was Coach Anne Smith’s decision to play Landsberg.

‘’I was ready to play and would have loved to since I just have one more game with the team,” he said. “I guess she wanted to give Johan and Kristen practice together.”

The Lobsters pair lost the set 5-3, giving the Lasers a final 24-14 victory, putting the Lobsters’ record at 3-3.

The match was Blake’s only home game for the Lobsters, though he did play Wednesday in the Lobsters’ 23-22 overtime loss to the Houston Wranglers Wednesday night. Despite the loss, Blake played in and won the men’s singles, men’s doubles, and mixed doubles events.

On Sunday, playing at Bright without either of their “marquee” stars Blake or Navratilova, the Lobsters defeated the Delaware Smash 22-19. Lobsters alternate Jonathan Chu ’05 won his doubles match 5-1, though he was defeated 5-3 in his singles match.

Last night the Lobsters lost to Patrick Rafter and the Philadelphia Freedoms at Bright by a score of 22-17, bringing the Lobsters’ overall record to 3-5 with six matches left to play in the season.

—Staff writer William C. Marra can be reached at wmarra@fas.harvard.edu.