Blake Brilliant Against Federer

For the average sports fan, tennis doesn’t really land on their radar. Even ESPN.com has the sport tucked away in the “Other” section of its homepage.

Last Thursday night, with the NFL season kicking off and division races in the Major Leagues intensifying, this reality was no different.

But it should have been, especially here in Cambridge.

One of our own, James Blake, was competing at the highest level of this unknown but beautiful game.

Blake faced off against the No. 1 tennis player in the world, the incomparable Roger Federer, at the most significant stage in American tennis with his first Grand Slam semifinal berth at stake.

Maybe it was too much to expect for this epic match to crack the Nielsen Top 20, to beat out such inspiring entertainment as “Bones” or “Dancing with the Stars.” But for a tennis fan, a fan of James Blake, or just a fan of Harvard in general, this U.S. Open match meant something more.

Last year, I lucked out. My family and I bought tickets to Wednesday night at the U.S. Open during the second week three months before the tournament draw was even announced. Through an astonishing twist of fate, lo and behold these tickets became the passes to the Blake-Agassi quarterfinal that, at approximately 12:43 A.M. Thursday morning, turned into the best match at the Open in the past 25 years.

And after Andre cracked a forehand return winner down the line, a fitting way to win for the greatest returner the game has ever seen, after the elder statesmen and young gun had embraced at the net, after I subsided from yelling uncontrollably for my favorite tennis player of all time, I thought about James.

I didn’t know for sure if my fellow Harvard man would be back to this level again, but it seemed he had taken a first step—he had arrived at the top stage.

Fast forward to 2006, and Blake is there again. This time, I watch him play the twelfth-seeded, hard-hitting Czech Thomas Berdych. Many expect this to be a tough match, that the Czech is really a better hardcourt player than Blake. James loses eight games in his straight set victory.

On Thursday night, I’m at my aunt’s house in White Plains, N.Y., watching as Blake has the crowd with him and is rolling after a tremendous fourth-round effort.

However, standing in front of him is possibly the greatest tennis player ever.

The smooth movement from side to side, absolutely consistent play, and the greatest-looking forehand in history have brought Roger Federer to all four Grand Slam finals this year, three straight Wimbledon titles, and another three straight at the U.S. Open—and he’s only 25 years old.

All those who know Blake, including his collegiate coach and current Harvard men’s tennis coach Dave Fish ’72, understand what would be needed from James to climb this high wall.

“James had gotten bit by bit better over the last years,” Fish said. “But Federer makes you play the best you can.”

And for most of the match, Blake does. Federer serves for the first set at 5-4. Blake breaks and sends it to a tiebreak. In the third set, Federer serves for the match at 5-3. Blake breaks and sends that set to a tiebreak.

And here is the watershed moment.

Down 8-9 and a match point in that tiebreak, Blake steps into the court for a short ball from Federer and cracks the meanest backhand winner down the line you’ll ever see. Next point—a screaming cross-court forehand winner. And then on set point, he takes his first set from Federer in 13 tries with a spectacular backhand volley that sends Federer to his knees—literally.

Although Blake could not rally in the fourth set, that moment in the third seemed to me another step for Blake. With James in the air pumping his fists and Federer on his knees, Blake showed something. He did not win the match, but at the stage he first entered a year ago, he solidified the fact he belonged.

It took many tennis legends years to win that first big match. Even the man he embraced at the end of last year’s epic quarterfinal, Andre Agassi, did not reach his prime until he was 30 years old. For fans of Harvard, one can only wish similar results for James.

“Very much like Agassi, James has begun to marshal his explosiveness on court,” Fish said. “And the fact remains that [Blake] gave Federer more of a tussle than anyone in the tournament, and it could well have been the best he has ever played.”

That Thursday night, it was not enough. But as Fish recognizes, Blake is on his way up. And James knows this, too.

“[Federer] is legitimately a level above me right now,” Blake said in his post-match interview. “That’s not to say I can’t beat him on a given day, but there’s definitely work to be done and I need to play better if I expect to be on that level consistently.”

Hopefully, this reality is just one step away.

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.