[SapELee]

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[SapELee]

Blake shows he can still play at 32

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- James Blake isn't quite ready to get another job or be a stay-at-home father.
The American veteran, who will turn 33 in December, showed in the $100,000 RelyAid Natomas Challenger that he still has some tennis left in him. Blake, seeded second, fought off unseeded Mischa Zverev of Germany 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 Sunday at the Natomas Racquet Club for the title.
"It's nice to still be able to move around at 32 and do this for a living," Blake told the crowd afterward.

In an All-American doubles final, former University of Tennessee teammates Tennys Sandgren and Rhyne Williams saved four match points to defeat Devin Britton and Austin Krajicek 4-6, 6-4, 12-10 tiebreak for their first Challenger doubles crown. Both teams were unseeded.

Blake, ranked No. 97 entering the tournament after reaching a career-high No. 4 in 2006, underwent surgery on his right knee last November and earlier this year seriously considered retiring.

"Without my legs, I'm a below-average player," he told ESPN.com in August at the U.S. Open. "To be honest, I was worried that my knee wasn't coming around. I was going to give it this summer. I was thinking that might be it."
Love of the game brought him back, and his knee responded.
Blake's life off the court also is looking up. He became a father when his fiancee, Emily Snyder, gave birth to a daughter, Riley, on June 10. The wedding is scheduled for November in California.

"Winning here is great," said Blake, who narrowly lost to 6-foot-10 Ivo Karlovic in last year's Sacramento final, "but nothing puts a smile on my face like seeing my daughter."
Zverev had plenty of reason to smile, too.
"I went to the Golden Gate Bridge and got to the final, so it was a good week," said the private pilot, who twice rented a plane and went for a spin during the week.
Zverev, a 25-year-old left-hander, was born in Moscow but moved to Germany at 4. His father, who played Davis Cup for the Soviet from 1982 to 1987, received an attractive coaching offer there. Mischa climbed to No. 45 in the world in 2009 before injuries derailed his career. He was No. 168 entering the Natomas Challenger.

Blake and Zverev enthralled the crowd with vicious groundstrokes, amazing gets and outstanding athleticism. Zverev also volleyed crisply.
The first two sets were almost exact opposites. There were two service breaks in each set, and both provided leads of 3-1 and 5-1.
The only break of the third set came in the last game. From 15-15, Blake ripped a forehand winner off Zverev's second serve and a backhand cross-court passing shot off Zverev's first delivery for 15-40. After Zverev missed his first serve, Blake slugged a deep forehand, and Zverev sent a forehand long to end the battle.

Blake committed no double-faults in the match and won 20 of 23 points (87 percent) on his serve in the third set, including all 11 on his first serve.
Looking ahead, Blake isn't eyeing a return to the top 20.
"I never make ranking goals," he said. "I just want to get better and play as long as I can."

[SapELee]

64 64 Kosakowski up next

[BAMJ6]

Anyone know if this current event is James last this year, or will he make another ATP pro event

[SapELee]

I don't think this will be Jame's last event since he has lots of points to defend. I think he needs to play a couple more to make the AO maindraw.

[KrisJB]

If James wins Tiburon he will gain 100 points, so he will have 687 points. Even if he doesn't play any tournament till the end of the year he will lose 155 points for Stockholm and Basel, so he will have 532 points. This will make him about No. 106 or 107 in the world, so he could qualify to Australian Open as usually 104 players qualify automatically and some players withdraw. But if he doesn't win Tiburon, he would have to play an extra event ...

[SapELee]

Thanks, I was wondering what the avg minimum points needed for the AO cut is.

[SapELee]

James will have to play at least another event after going down to Zverev 06 26

[BAMJ6]

Could he enter the Paris qualies? The rankings for the entry were updated after he won the Sacramento event

[SapELee]

No, the qualies cut off is 75 (James' current ranking:87) and he didn't sign up for it anyway. http://www.tennisteen.it/entry-list/...mbre-2012.html

[KrisJB]

Maybe he decides to enter Charlottesville. He needs ca. 80-90 points to be in TOP 100 at the end of the year.

[SapELee]

He is not even on the Charlottesville list, but he can ask for a wildcard I suppose.

[SapELee]

[SapELee]

I guess end of the season for James, maybe he will take part in the AO wildcard playoff.

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Light the Candles: December 23-29

December 28

American James Blake, the former No. 4 player in the world, is 33. Blake is currently ranked No. 110 in the world. Blake is well known for battling shingles and for dedicating much of his time to combatting cancer after losing his father to the disease.