James Blake Must Look Within to Win

NEW YORK -- It wasn't ugly, the way much of James Blake's year has been. No bickering with loud TV analysts, no blowout loss. But he didn't leave the U.S. Open with one of those miracle late-career runs, either, one of those times when an aging athlete finds himself one more time and brings out the nostalgia.

Blake deserves to go out that way. He has represented the U.S. well over the years, worked his butt off to overcome less-than-superstar talents. He has overachieved.

But he lost to third-ranked Novak Djokovic 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-3 Saturday night in the biggest tennis stadium in the world, Ashe Stadium.

And you wonder if he'll ever be back.

"I competed my heart out; I did everything I could,'' he said, talking about his career. "But I think I've got more in me, and I think I'm going to be back there. Maybe more night matches, some more excitement for the crowds, some more good times.''

I don't know.

I mean, yes, he has competed his heart out. Yes, he even has more in him. In fact, Blake, at 30, appears to have lost very little. He can still move and hit all the same shots.

But he's ranked No. 108. And there is absolutely no way that's possible.

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He has had knee pain, which has thrown off his practice. But even so, he can do way too much still to be out of the top 100, relying on a gift from the United States Tennis Association, which gave him one of its handful of wildcard entries for people who aren't ranked high enough to get into the Open without qualifying.

The question is whether Blake believes that he hasn't lost it. He says he does believe, but does he show it on the court? Does he look like someone who truly thinks he's going to win these matches, like the one Saturday night?

"Even if I'm not 100 percent right now, I don't feel like I'm, you know, hurting the game by being out here,'' he said. "I'm not on a pity tour, just getting beat up first round every week by kind of nobodies.''

OK then. Let's see it.

Honestly, I came to the Open with one thought about Blake: he needed an exit strategy.

Pete Sampras wasn't great anymore, and then had the great run, won the Open and left as a champ. Andre Agassi had his thrilling goodbyes here. Jimmy Connors, too.

Blake was not at their level, but he has represented the top of U.S. tennis for years, and deserves to go out right.

Know this: if he truly believes he can get it together again, then he can. If he's just talking, and it's wishful thinking, then he's done already.

"I don't feel like right now I'm out there looking for charity,'' he said. "I think I can play with just about anyone still, and I don't think I'm at my best physically right now.''

Blake said he's going to take six weeks off now, let his knees finish healing. He has had trouble with them for months. That means his ranking will fall even more.

And it makes logistics tough for him, as he won't be able to get into many tournaments without wildcards.

When people thought Andre Agassi's career was done, he dropped down to Challenger level events, the highest level of minor leagues, to get confidence back. That done, he returned to the tour and went all the way back to No. 1.

So I asked Blake if he's willing to do what Agassi did. Would he drop down to the minors if necessary?

"I might,'' he said. "I might.''

Blake would crush everyone in Challengers, win tournaments, string together matches and good shots.

Confidence means so much to Blake's game, decides whether it will work.

He is about first-strike tennis, blasting as hard as he can into the open court. He starts rolling when his shots go in, and he mixes that with incredible fire, and he can be intimidating.

But then things go wrong, and the shots miss, and the fire turns into panic, or worse, a funk. And he can't do anything about it.

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Greg Couch is a national columnist for FanHouse covering the U.S. Open. Click here to read all his latest columns.

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His gameplan is this: Step 1, hit hard. Step 2, hit harder. And if that doesn't work, go back to Step 1. There is no subtlety, and he defended that style the other day, saying that when he was younger, he tried everything. That's when he was losing in the minors.

In the end, he said, he settled on a style that suited his talents best.

But early in his career, he had no faith in himself, either. And from the outside, it appears he's there again.

I think his problem is as much mental as physical. To be honest, Blake has told me he disagrees with that, and doesn't understand what makes me think I know what's in his head as well as he does.

Good point. I can't. But sometimes the view from outside can be better than it is when you're too close.

It's a body language thing. He starts moping on court, or panicking. At Wimbledon, ESPN's Pam Shriver actually started bickering with him during his match. It was absurd, and Shriver has since apologized to Blake.

But he called her an ass that day, and was out of sorts even before that. In Cincinnati a few weeks ago, he lost 6-3, 6-0 to Dennis Istomin in about 45 minutes. If you look through every match of Blake's career, you can make the case that it was his worst match since becoming a good player.

So he seemed to be coming to the end, and it was ugly.

His knees are either the problem or the excuse. His actions will decide.

When he gets rolling, it is thrilling thing to see. The crowd at Ashe chants in staccato "James! James! James!'' It happened only a couple of times on Saturday, like when he ran down an impossible dropshot in the second set tiebreaker. He pushed a winner past Djokovic, then jumped and pumped his fist all the way across the court.

He can still do this. It's up to him.

E-mail me at gregcouch09@aol.com. Follow me on Twitter @gregcouch