James Blake has an incredible story to tell and he did so in his book Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life a couple of years ago.
In the book he talks about losing his father to stomach cancer, and breaking his neck during practice in Rome, and coming down with a disease that paralyzed part of his face. He battled through it all and returned to the ATP competitively.
He played one of the best tennis matches I've ever seen during the quarterfinals of the 2005 US Open. He lost the match to Andre Agassi in five sets, but clearly gave everything he had, and he earned even more respect from tennis fans, and from Agassi himself, who said this after the match:
"I don't know if I can put in context how this compares with some of my greatest experience on the tennis court, but I know it's right up there because this is what you work so hard for, you know. To be honest, with the way a mentality like mine sort of works, is this means as much to me as doing it in the finals. This is what it's about. It's about just authentic competition, just getting out there and having respect for each other's game and respect for each other's person and letting it fly and letting it be just about tennis."
Authentic competition; respecting each other's game; respecting each other as people; and letting it fly--if I had to describe what sports should be about, I would just point to what Agassi said. Sports goes to its highest level when both competitors/teams have the mentality that Agassi described. And when it gets to this level, it draws people who might not even understand the dynamics of the particular sport.
Agassi and Blake battled until after 1:00 am that night. A friend of mine, who is not a tennis fan by any stretch of imagination, called me shortly before it was over and told me that he was totally into the match. He asked me a few questions and then we hung up so we could watch the conclusion without any interruption.
With all of that said, I'll be the first to admit that James Blake hasn't always lived up to his talent level. But nobody questions his integrity, his love for the sport, or his desire to see the game played the right way.
Yesterday at the Olympics, Blake was in the semi-finals playing against Fernando Gonzalez. During a match point in his favor during the final set, Blake hit a backhand passing shot that landed long, but he believed that it ticked Gonzalez's racket. If he was correct, he would have won the match and moved on to the finals. According to a story running on ESPN.com, television replays confirmed that the ball did hit Gonzalez's racket. But the umpire called the ball out, apparently not seeing that Gonzalez made contact with the ball.
Blake appealed to the chair umpire and to Gonzalez himself, fully expecting him to fess up. Gonzalez didn't do it. Here's what Blake said after he lost the match, "Playing in the Olympics, in what's supposed to be considered a gentleman's sport, that's a time to call it on yourself. Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn't call it."
Gonzalez responded by saying, "I didn't feel anything. I mean, it's just one point. There is an umpire. If I'm 100 percent sure about it, I mean, I will give it. But I'm not sure."
How wishy-washy is that answer? So if he was 95% sure that he was wrong, he wouldn't have made things right? And how can you not know for sure whether the ball hit your racket or not?
The desire to win should never trump the desire to win the right way. Blake absolutely insists on winning the right way and he fully expects it from his opponents. And the game of tennis is better because of it.
