Black Tennis Pros

Blake baby, Blake baby, Blake baby, ya' killin' me.

I declare this man is going to put me in an early grave supporting him. And yes, I will continue to support him. He thinks that "he" became frustrated today, what about me?

I don't completely know how to call this one though. Blake has the goods, and was making the effort, but world no. 80 Ernests Gulbis of Latvia also had the goods, made the effort and advanced to the next round to the tune of a 7-6(2), 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory over Blake.

Now, clearly I realize that our American men haven't progressed particularly well over the years on clay, but it's a new year and a lot has happened in between. Yes, I know, I'm being a tad overly optimistic, but I'm not one to wallow in defeat unnecessarily or prematurely.

During his press conference, a very disheartened and visibly disappointed Blake said, "I haven't seen the stats yet, but I think that I was just poorly not within my game. I think I played the way ahhh, too many commentators think I should play." (Who? Patrick McEnroe? Cliff Drysdale? Chris Fowler? Why are you giving these people free real estate in your head when you have a coach that you pay?)

"Saying, you know, I probably didn't make very many errors and I didn't hit that many winners, and that's the way a lot of them think I should play, and I think today was a pretty good indication that's not the way that wins matches for me."

"I lost to a guy ranked 80 in the world that hit a lot more winners. Granted, he didn't play like he was 80 in the world, he played a lot better than that, but there's a lot of guys out there that can dictate play against me if I try to play like that, and that's just real frustrating for me to play a match like that when I know my game, I know what works best for me and I didn't necessarily do it effectively today."

Oh James, I'm going to leave you alone right now, as you really seem to require more support than admonishment. But as soon as I think that you're feeling better? Oh, it's on.