This guy has a killa game. He just beat down Blake so bad today in Hamburg that near the end of the match Blake through his racket from the net to the baseline as if to say, "I've had it. No mas." Tipsy is all business on the court, just plows straight ahead, for a little guy has a good serve and just throws his body into his shots and can even volley. I like watching him play and have a good feeling he'll be Top 10 one day.

He just needs to get his mind to stay in the game consistently and I think he could definately be a top 15 player this year.

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Tennis Store

Hard to break into the top ten when you dont follow up a big win with another win. You open up your bracket by taking out the "seed" and then you get blown away the next match by Montanes 2 and 1...Thats not going to get you into the top 10. You need those quarters and semi's results when you take out a seed early.

I reall like watching the guy as he goes for it and as Redhead says for a smaller guy he can crank his serve. But Top 10? I don't see it happening. He's got weapons, but he can be wildly erratic on a match to match basis. Remember, this is a guy who has never posted a .500 record in any single season. he does have a winning record this year but he's still a little too feast or famine (five first-round losses in I think 13 tournaments this year)? But he is fun to watch (the Federer match in Australia was a blast, the win over Gonzo at Wimbledon last year) and he's a good personality too so hope you are right and he does pick it up.

Redhead-You really like those Serbs, eh?

 

Tipsy may seem like a gypsy, but he ain't no Djoke!  Get it?!

 

Janko ain't Janko-vic, and he isn't going to be top 10, ever. Another personality, but without as much game as that "other" personality .

 

Funny how the guys who beat Blake always seem to get a special mention from you. Last time I checked James Blake was in the top 10, and not Tipsy. 

 

 

Tipsarevic is another guy that has a bad habit of tossing the towel in early. He's had two retirements and a walkover already this year. He's well known to retire in big matches as he did against Nadal in NY (2007) and Nalbandian  at the Oz Open. I remember during a telecast  Darren Cahill mentioned that Tipsy mouthed off to Lleyton Hewitt in the locker room before the match and then proceeded to retire against him during the second set of their match in Adelaide after getting down a set and a break. Having said that, I am a fan of the guy. The Serbs all seem to have exceptional two handed backhands. Jankovic and Ivanovic have strong ones as well. Like Djoko, he has an amazing amount of control with his, but he can crank it. I don't know if I see him in the top ten soon however.

Let's be serious, DMan1, I know you're not a great believer in Blake either, but to my surprise, he has played fairly well in 08. The two matches he lost to Nadal were tight at IW and Miami, and then to reach the quarters, I don't care if he only had to beat Verdasco to do so (who amazingly is a wilder player than Blake), of Rome was impressive.

But Blake is a top-10 player only in America. Take a look at his career records, besides reaching the 4th rd in Aussie O last year, I think, he's done zippo in big tournaments outside America. Zippo. So he's top-10 in America, but I'm impressed hes playing as well as he is at 28.

Redhead has become the Don King "only in America" of the board :)

Yes, Blake's best results have obviously come on American hard courts, but to claim Blake has done "zippo"  outside the USA is just false.

 He won Stockholm back to back years (2005-2006), he won Bangkok in 2006, and he won Sydney last January. And I know you're probably going to come back and claim those are minor titles, but Blake's 4 titles outside of the USA are 3 more titles than Spadea and Tipsy - 2 guys you have touted as top 10 potential players in the past - have won combined (Spadea has 1 career title, Tipsy has 0) yet somehow in your world those 2 have top 10 potential and Blake is not a legitimate top 10 player. 

It is an interesting perversion of top 10: you don't credit a guy who has actually been a top 10 player for much of the past 2 years yet 2 guys not near the top 10 you credit with top 10 potential?

It's like claiming someone who lives in Montana is more of a New Yorker than a Manhattan resident.  

Also, Blake did get to the Tennis Masters Cup final in Shanghai in '06 where he got tuned by Federer, but still he made it to the final of one of the most important non-Slam tournaments in tennis.

RP, you should be a writer--of fiction. I said Blake had done nothing in tourneys outside the US that mattered, Stockholm and the rest don't really matter. The Tennis Masters Series finals is more of an event than a tourney. I like watching Blake play, I marvel at the way he has developed his bh return of serve which he didn't have at all when he turned pro. I'm amazed that he is more fit and mentally strong now than a few years ago, but when you watch him play matches like in the past couple of weeks--that kind of capsulize his career--where he's beating down Wawrinka and Tipsy in first sets and then plays third sets where he turns into the mad scientist and just starts spraying shots left and right, you say to yourself, "This guy is great, but he's not a champion tennis player."

As for Spadea, I've never said he's top-10 material. Vince has said it, but I would always say to him, "Vince, get in the top-30 first." Now the guy is struggling to stay in his job, but to his credit, all this year, I've never heard him say, "I've had enough. It's too tough." He always believes in himself and his chances of coming back, now into the top-70. 

Redhead-

 

I would like to know your definition of  a champion tennis player. 

 

James Blake has been a world top 10  player for the last 2 years. That's a fact. If you want to come up with a different system for ranking players I'd like to see it.

James Blake is a great tennis player. He is not a Grand Slam champion caliber player. But then very few guys are.  Every guy has ups and downs. And I agree that Blake has shown a penchant for losing his competitive fire mid match, making poor decisions, etc.

 

For some reason I still believe you are a true blue J-Block supporter. You are just frustrated James hasn't won a few majors by now.

 

My definition of a championship player is a player who doesn't lose a match to the 35-year-old Andre Agassi when he's up two sets to love in the quarterfinals of the US Open. My definition includes a player who can come back from adversity in a match, turn the tides of a match, as Nadal did so well against Federer the last two times he's faced him, change his game plan some, and win big matches. I saw Blake do that to some degree in Portland against Youzhny in the Davis Cup Finals, but I've rarely seen him do it ever before or again.

How many big, big matches has Blake won in his career? Beating Nadal at the Open, Beating Nadal in Indian Wells, I wouldn't even call these "big" matches. Of course, Blake is an amazing player, a great athlete, inspirational and a lot of fun to watch. He's come so much further than anyone who ever saw his early career, as a junior and a pro, had a right to expect.

But is he a champion player on an international level? No, b/c simply, he has not come up with wins in the big matches of Slam and Masters tournaments. Also, if you break down his game, is his serve of championship level, his volley, his backhand (although it is much better in the last few years), his ability to think on the court?

As for me being a frustrated J-Block supporter, I've always liked players from my neck of the woods, JMac, Vitas, even Andy Kohlberg, from my own hometown, but Blake is a Connecticutian and I'm a New Yorker, big difference, and I never liked how Blake always seemed so conscious of his image. I think now we're seeing a more confident and open Blake, though, which is appealing. 

redhead:

As for me being a frustrated J-Block supporter, I've always liked players from my neck of the woods, JMac, Vitas, even Andy Kohlberg, from my own hometown, but Blake is a Connecticutian and I'm a New Yorker, big difference, and I never liked how Blake always seemed so conscious of his image. I think now we're seeing a more confident and open Blake, though, which is appealing. 

I've never heard of anyone from my state being called a Connecticutian. LOL!!!  Nutmegger yes, Connecticutian no. ;)

Blake was born in New York and spent most of his young life there. 

And he lives in Tampa now.

Not sure how much of a Nutmegger that makes him although he did go to high school here.  We'll take him though.

Redhead:

   I've got to be honest: I'm a little disappointed with your analysis of Blake's game: "Also, if you break down his game, is his serve of championship level, his volley, his backhand (although it is much better in the last few years), his ability to think on the court?..".

   You left out the classic line you and Vince professed in your book that Blake's forehand isn't that great because "he doesn't extend on his forehand..." Gee, given the fact you're questioning his serve, volley, backhand, mental capacity the fact that he grew up in Connecticut and - in your book - suggesting his forehand is overrated and that Vince would purposely play his forehand, it's absolutely astonishing to me (if your analysis is true) that Blake is in the top 100 let alone the top 10. Yet he is and has been for some time - glad you are finally acknowledging it!

   Don't worry Redhead, I can understand you being a little cantankerous little: after watching your last-place Yankees get absolutely pounded last night at home with their obnoxious fans gloating over a bad call (before fleeing the premises in the later innings) and their best pitcher on the hill I feel for you. I can imagine there is no joy in Redville.  

Firstly, Blake is from Trumbell, Ct. The little I read of his book, he talks about his friends from that Connecticut burb, playing poker and the like, and John Meyer. When I've seen photos of his life, his rearing years in tennis were really all up there in Connecticut. Yes, he was born in Yonkers, but I've never heard him talk about that part of his life so I think it was the very beginnings.

Secondly, RP, you write about what Vince and I wrote in "Break Point," but I didn't make those assessments, Vince did. The guy was taught to hit a forehand a certain way, he played against greats like Agassi, Rios and Sampras who hit their fh's similarly, and so he said he didn't love Blake's fh, and that he tried to play to it in matches b/c he felt Blake over-hit. If you read the new chapter in the paperback version that's out--and is actually out-selling Blake's book thoroughly on Amazon.com, Vince gives Blake credit for reeling in his fh and not making as many errors, while he's improved his bh.

But what do you want Vince to say? Until their last match last year in LA, he had beaten Blake, I think, five times in a row, and had a couple of bagels in those sets. You want him to say he thinks Blake is as great a player as Agassi or a warrior? Look, until Blake got better over the last few years, and Vince has gotten older, heavier, not as quick to the ball, and distracted by his after or in between-tennis life, Vince was the better player. Their head-to-head match record speaks for itself.

The Yankees losing or winning doesn't change that.
 

Redhead:

   Sorry! Just trying to offset your intensity with some levity, but I've learned you will smash all smiley faces and eradicate any attempt at humor. You have become the Rambo - "Redbo" - of the board: a survivalist firing the heavy artillery with no white flags given or accepted! Never wanted to put words in Vince's mouth - simply saying it's a bit odd that many, many top players (Federer, Agassi, Roddick, Gonzalez, Moya, etc.) have named Blake's forehand as one of the best in the world yet Vince claims he would play his forehand? Certainly he is entitled to his opinion - good luck playing the fh next time they meet and glad to hear he has revised his view (somewhat) of that stroke.

  As for the Spadea-Blake head-to-head record and your conclusion that: "Vince has gotten older, heavier, not as quick to the ball, and distracted by his after or in between-tennis life, Vince was the better player. Their head-to-head match record speaks for itself. ..."

   Dominik Hrbaty has a winning head to head record vs. Federer - is Hrbaty a better player? Michael Stich has a winning head to head record vs. Pete Sampras is he a better player?

   Wait, you don't have to answer that as I've learned the laws of logic don't apply to Blake for some reason as he's the only guy in the top 10 who actually is not a top 10 player in your opinion. As for your assertion that V hits hits his forehand similarly to Agassi, Rios and Sampras, will just let that statement speak for itself....