Harvard Can Wait

By Tennis Writer Extraordinaire Jon Wertheim

James Blake is as affable and self-possessed a tennis player as you'll meet. Name another pro who thanks the ballkids each time they bounce him a ball. But when you disparage his favorite television show, The Simpsons, you do so at your own peril. "I hate when people say, 'How can you like a cartoon?'" says Blake, who just finished reading the book, The Gospel According to the Simpsons. "If you get past the slapstick, it's so clever. Just give it some time and get used to it."

That's the same approach Blake took with his career. In his first two years on tour since leaving Harvard after his sophomore year in 1999, he won a sum total of four main draw ATP matches. (D'ohhh.) Subsisting barely on a diet of wild cards, qualifying draws and challenger circuit matches, he was ranked in the triple-digit hinterlands. Still, he never gave much thought to switching the channel and returning to school. "My attitude was that as long as I felt I was improving and was gradually getting more confident, the wins would come."

Blake's star turn came at last fall's U.S. Open. In the second round, he nearly took out eventual champ, Lleyton Hewitt, before wilting in the fifth set. (Blake garnished his superb tennis by showing exceptional poise and grace afterwards, effectively letting Hewitt off the hook for a racially-tinged outburst during the match.) Confidence begat confidence, and, to borrow from another Blake, he has continued burning bright in 2002. Endowed with an athletic, all-court game and a weapons-grade forehand, Blake, 22, has beaten players like Tommy Haas, Alex Corretja, and Fabrice Santoro, and infiltrated the top 40 of the ATP Champions Race. What's more, he has become a Davis Cup stalwart. Last weekend in Houston, Blake partnered with Todd Martin, won the crucial "doubles point" to defeat the Spanish team of Alex Corretja and Juan Balcells, giving the U.S. the decisive point. (The U.S. will play France in the semifinals, July). "James' improvement has been dramatic," says captain, Pat McEnroe. "But the best part is that I don't think he's hit a plateau yet."

When Blake turned pro after reaching the finals of the NCAA tournament, he assumed that his innate intelligence would be an asset on the circuit. But he had to learn not to overthink on the court. One of tennis' great myths is that it's a cognitive game, a physical version of chess. While it helps to have a sense of strategy and courtcraft, the most successful practitioners perform on instinct and tend not to have many conflicting thoughts rolling around in their heads. "There are definitely players who are at 6-5, 30-all in the third set and they're too clueless to understand that it's a big point," says Blake, who plans on returning to Harvard to complete his economics degree when he's through playing. "It doesn't come naturally, but I'm learning to simplify things."

The son of a British mother, Betty, and an African-American father, Tom, Blake moves easily between worlds and cultures. Always did. He grew up in Fairfield, CT, one of the wealthiest zip codes in the U.S., but every Sunday, James, his father and older brother, Thomas, volunteered at junior tennis clinics in Harlem. "It was no big deal- I had my Fairfield friends and my Harlem friends." Yet now that's he suddenly the most highly-regarded minority ATP player since Mal Washington, he faces the additional pressure wrought by race. "I hope I can be looked at as another young American," he says, absently running a hand through his Sideshow Bob-esque dreads. " But I understand that there are people who will be more inclined to watch me because they can relate to me more. And I understand that there haven't been many top players who look like I do."

Another difference between Blake and the run-of-the-mill pro: he has a full appreciation for the charmed existence that he leads. "Trust me," he says. "We have no reason to complain." This was thrown into particularly sharp relief last month, after Blake had tuned top-20 player, Guillermo Canas, to reach the fourth round of the Key Biscayne event. Upon returning to his hotel, Blake read an email sent by an old Harvard friend, Chris Verdini, who had just turned in a 40-page brief and was lamenting his life as an overworked law student at the University of Virginia. In closing, Verdini wrote: "What's up with you, James?" Blake pondered the question. Let's see, I played tennis in the sun for a while today; I probably made $20,000; got a massage; I'm driving around in a Mercedes the tournament is lending me; now I'll take a nap and decide where to go to dinner on South Beach tonight. He spared his friend the gruesome details and responded simply: "Life is good, man."