Love is zero in tennis. It also is what James Blake and Fernando Gonzalez have little of for each other.
Without some history, Blake's third-round match against Gonzalez in Monday's BNP Paribas Open was merely another day at the office for two players in the top 20 -- Blake 13th and Gonzalez 17th. Both are big names in the sport, Blake for the United States and Gonzalez for Chile.
Both are here at this premier Indian Wells event to add to rankings, to their millions in prize money and to get a shot at one of the big guys, Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer.
Blake's last shot at Federer is what led to the intrigue Monday. When he upset Federer in the quarterfinals of the Olympic tournament last August in Beijing, it put him in a semifinal against Gonzalez.
That resulted in a dramatic and controversial defeat for Blake, and memories of that clouded Monday's match in the bright blue skies of the desert. Blake lost again, this time a feeble 7-5, 6-1 showing that had him subdued afterward.
"This was just a bad day," he said. "It hurts. It makes me want to get back on the practice court."
His 4-6, 7-5, 11-9 loss to Gonzalez in Beijing probably hurt more. It cost him a certain Olympic medal. He still got to play Novak Djokovic in the bronze-medal match, but lost and went home empty-handed.
Before that, he had stirred the pot of sportsmanship and Olympic spirit in a dramatic post-match news conference after his loss to Gonzalez. It will be discussion fodder for years.
With Gonzalez serving at 8-9 of the final set, Gonzalez came to the net on the first point and Blake countered by hitting right at him.
Later replays seem to show that Blake's shot grazed Gonzalez's racket just enough to change course slightly before going long.
The point went on the scoreboard for Gonzalez, and after a dismayed Blake got no satisfaction from the chair umpire, he stood and gave Gonzalez a long stare.
"Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn't call it," Blake said that night.
It had been such a close match that, in the end, Gonzalez had 136 points and Blake 135.
An agitated Blake met the media and said that situations such as that, in sports such as golf and tennis, are honor situations. You call those on yourself. He added that Gonzalez's failure to do so was especially grievous because this happened at the Olympics, the poster child for fair play.
