James Blake and Taylor Dent Try to Find their Games
Tennis news may be a little quiet right now, but Tuesday evening at the Atlanta Tennis Championships featured quite an interesting match-up.
James Blake, ranked as high as No. 4 in 2006, played Taylor Dent, whose best ranking was No. 21 in 2005.
Both Americans have undergone injury problems and have experienced a recession in their careers away from the pro tour.
In Rome in 2004, Blake collided with a net post and fractured some vertebrae in his neck. To make matters worse, he had already suffered from severe scoliosis (curvature of the spine) as a kid and spent most of his days in a cast. On top of all that, during his rehab from the injury, his father Thomas died of cancer. Things just kept getting worse for Blake as he soon suffered a debilitating case of Zoster that caused paralysis on one side of his face.
Dent’s injuries haven't been a cake-walk either. He underwent back surgery in 2006 and was out of the sport for two years. He received two additional surgeries in 2007 and had to spend six months in a full body cast.
Blake is now ranked No. 115th and has spent most of the year battling tendonitis in his knee.
Dent, 29, became a father this past year when his wife, former WTA Tour pro Jennifer Hopkins, gave birth to their son Declan. Dent has also struggled so far in 2010. He has been eliminated in the first round in 10 out of 17 tournaments.
Meanwhile, Blake, 30, suffered a first round loss at Wimbledon last month and didn’t feel like he would play much longer if the tendonitis didn’t improve.
He has recently stated that his knee is getting better: “I was unfortunately unable to train the way I’d like to for a long time (March/April/May). But now I’m back to being able to train full bore and that has given me a whole other level of excitement. It seems crazy, but I love the feeling of kind of beating myself up, getting out on the court for a long time and getting out on the track and getting in the gym and feeling like I’ve really done a full day’s work.”
The match-up between the two injury-ridden stars provided a very intriguing match. After two sets, the two were tied after Dent took the first 6-3 before Blake prevailed 6-3 in the second.
Blake was already being counted out after the first round but he stuck in there and fought back.
In the following game, Dent held two match points at 40-15 but tightened up, botching a routine forehand and then double-faulting to give Blake new life. Dent went on to lose the game with another double-fault.
Both players struggled to find their form though as Blake himself hit a double fault to start his service game at 4-5. Down love-30, he fought back to take a 40-30 lead but some bad errors opened the door to a Dent victory. Dent took the game 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Dent will face Argentina’s Horacio Zeballos in the second round, giving himself a shot to advance past the second round for the first time this year.
Meanwhile, Blake will take his recovering knee to Los Angeles and Washington D.C over the next few weeks.
Despite his loss to Dent, We can’t forget that Blake played brilliantly in the Australian Open just a few months ago. He lost in the second round only after a very long match against Juan Martin del Potro. The match lasted over four hours, however, del Potro eventually took the match 6-4, 6-7(3), 5-7, 6-3, 10-8.
No matter what happens this year, both players will one day get their opportunities to bounce back and re-emerge in the tennis world.
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