U.S. tennis player James Blake makes a racket over Olympic sportsmanship
BILL DWYRE:
Fresh off his win against Roger Federer, Blake loses in the semifinals to Chile's Fernando Gonzalez. The ethical questions he raises over a lost point make for a true Olympic moment.
BEIJING — They held a tennis match here Friday night and an ethics lesson broke out.
At every venue, in every sport, with every interview, the chatter is about the Olympic spirit. How it feels, what it means, what it brings to the world. But it is usually only that. Chatter.
Then, right before our eyes, a U.S. tennis player, James Blake, makes it real. This wasn't some old guy in a $5,000 suit and a seat on the International Olympic Committee mouthing words from his handbook.
This was a competitor, critiquing the sportsmanship values of the competition. He was on an international stage, and he didn't shy from it. He may have been correct in his assessment of what happened. He may have been wrong. But the values inherent in the discussion were truly an Olympic moment.
Blake had just lost a semifinal match in men's singles. Less than 24 hours earlier, he had posted the biggest win of his life, a straight-setter over Roger Federer.
In the semifinals, he battled for two hours and 52 minutes against Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, a bronze medalist in the last Olympics in Athens.
The match had started slowly and turned into superb tennis. The final score was 4-6, 7-5, 11-9. No tiebreakers in deciding sets in the Olympics.
In the last set, Blake and Gonzalez became two warriors, swinging out, going toe-to-toe. Every game was a barrage of big serves and winning ground strokes. This was not for the faint of heart.
Blake had three break points in one game early and Gonzalez saved them. Blake had three match points at 5-6 and Gonzalez saved them. In the final game, Gonzalez had four match points and Blake saved them all before finally returning a serve into the net.
So it was over. Gonzalez got to the gold-medal match Sunday and Blake will play for the bronze Saturday.
Turns out, it was far from over.
On the first point of the 18th game of the final set, with Gonzalez serving at 8-9, Blake tried to pass a charging Gonzalez by hitting it right at him. Gonzalez swerved, the ball landed long and Blake quickly realized the point had been put up for Gonzalez.
He walked to the umpire's chair and a long discussion ensued. Soon, it became obvious that Blake thought the ball had nicked Gonzalez's racket on its way out, and if so, should have been his point.
