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May 26, 2005 VISITORS to Roland Garros are greeted by oversize posters of a fashionably dressed young man in a sophisticated pose. Meet Gael Monfils. At another location, visitors are greeted by an oversize poster of another dapper young man. Meet Richard Gasquet. Monfils and Gasquet, both 18, represent the future of French tennis and are part of a strong wave of up-and-coming European players. You will not see a poster of James Blake at the French Open. In the rush to push and proclaim the next phenom, a new generation of young players may not know how long and how hard the road can be. Blake is not sure he knew when he was 18. He knows now, at 25. He has endured insults, personal loss and injury. He has come back and, with Andy Roddick, now carries the flag for the United States men. Many first heard of James Blake because of an incident during his second-round match at the 2001 United States Open. Blake, a wild-card entry ranked 95th, was leading the heavily favored Lleyton Hewitt by two sets to one. During a changeover, Hewitt, an Australian, remarked to the chair umpire about the similarity between Blake, who is African-American, and an African-American linesman who had called a foot fault on Hewitt. An investigation found no conclusive evidence that Hewitt's remarks had racial overtones. After the match, Blake passed off Hewitt's comment as coming in the heat of competition. Blake had lost the match in five sets but won the larger battle of image, becoming known as a man of manners and restraint. What upset Blake was that the episode overshadowed his performance. "It's disappointing to me that people have forgotten that I was beating him," Blake recalled yesterday as he sat in the players' lounge at Roland Garros. He and Hewitt have moved on. "We're the same way a lot of players are on the Tour," Blake said. "We're acquaintances. We see each other in the locker room, exchange pleasantries. We don't sit around, talk and laugh." The 2001 United States Open was the beginning of a grueling stretch for Blake, a trial by fire that many young players have not had to contend with. Last May, during a practice session in Rome, Blake tripped chasing a ball near the net. He slammed his head into the metal post and broke a vertebra in his neck, causing him to miss the French Open and Wimbledon. His father, Thomas, who was found to have stomach cancer in 2003, died last July. Thomas Blake had a tremendous influence on his son, teaching him the game and stressing the value of education. When Blake had to choose between going to the University of North Carolina on a scholarship or going to Harvard, his father told him not to let money be a consideration. Blake chose Harvard, where he became an all-American. A week after his father died, Blake could not move the left side of his face and had a rash on his head. The diagnosis was shingles. After three weeks, he regained movement in his facial muscles, but still experienced blurred vision and the occasional loss of equilibrium. He missed the United States Open and played sparingly the rest of the season. But Blake returned to action in January, losing to Hewitt in the second round of the Australian Open. Blake advanced to the second round at Roland Garros by defeating Tomas Tenconi of Italy, and is scheduled to play Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland today. "For me to do well here would mean a whole lot," Blake said, referring to the clay surface. "That means whatever else I've overcome, this means I've overcome players who have grown up on this stuff and I haven't. "It's interesting to be known for the things I've endured. I hope they know me a lot more because I've also had some success on the tennis court." With Andre Agassi fading, United States men's tennis is overmatched by European young guns. Monfils lost in the first round, too, but Gasquet and the 18-year-old Rafael Nadal of Spain will meet in the third round. Blake is the oldest of an inconsistent group of young Americans. Taylor Dent is 24, Mardy Fish is 23 and Robby Ginepri is 22. Blake has lessons to teach the younger players he coaches as part of Harlem Junior Tennis. He obviously knows about the lows, but he has had enough success to know the dangers of losing the hunger to improve. "You have a breakthrough year; the endorsements start coming in," Blake said. "There are demands on your time; you have more things than tennis on your mind. You maybe think that you deserve that spot, that you don't have to earn it again. In actuality, every year you have to earn that spot. You get complacent. I went through that, and it eventually made me better." There is a buzz here around the emerging young legs, but there is a lot to be said for perseverance. Blake is a testament to that. Next year, a poster of Blake should greet visitors at Roland Garros gates, a reminder to the game's young guns that the road is very long, and very hard. E-mail: wcr@nytimes.com Copyright 2005 The New
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