Feet of Clay

I was surprised to see James Blake lose his match to Mario Ancic at the Hamburg Masters (caught it on The Tennis Channel, so I have no idea when it actually took place). Blake had it on his racquet twice and just couldn't close the deal, in either the second or third set. What's interesting here is that Blake has a decent, if unorthodox, game for clay. I guess he adds a touch more spin, but otherwise he looks to hammer forehands, the sluggish red surface be damned. This actually screws up the rhythm of the dedicated dirtballers, who are far more accustomed to seeing a lot of topspin. Unfortunately, I think the clay exposes a weakness in his game that's less evident on, say, a hard court: he doesn't have the best first serve in the world. For whatever reason, because his backhand has gotten so much better and because his forehand is explosive, his serve is overlooked. Honestly, a guy like Blake ought to be able to bang out enough good serves when a match is on the line to yank out a win. But no.

That said, I impressed as hell with the guy on clay. He could conceivable do something at the French, if he makes some adjustments. Obviously, this might screw him up for Wimbledon and the US Open, but so what? In a weird way, he has a better shot on clay than he does on grass, given that he is in essence a power-baseliner variation. Plus, you gotta root for JB, after all he's gone through, to come back and crack the top ten.

JB and A-Rod need to put their heads together and try to figure out why each of them is currently coming up short. Frankly, I think A-Rod could learn some stuff from Blake. However, A-Rod is going to defy his critics at Wimbledon. For whatever reason, when he's on grass, his serve just gets bigger and bigger, and the bang-bang nature of the return game masks his flaky backhand.

Ancic, meanwhile, is playing nicely. No chance to win the French, but I look for his to make some noise at Wimbledon. He has that huge serve, and now quite a lot of variety and touch to back it up.