James Blake Resumes His Comeback with the Sarasota Open

The excitement of the Sarasota Open continued throughout the weekend. In Saturday’s semi-final match between James Blake (11^th seed) and Ryan Sweeting (1^st seed), crowds were on the edge of their seats throughout the match that ended with a recurring tie-breaker. In the neck-in-neck match, Blake ousted Sweeting 17/15.

Saturday was also a good day for Alex Bogomolov (USA). Immediately after winning his semi-final match against Dancevic, Bogomolov and partner Kuznetsov went on to play and win the doubles semi-finals against the South African team of Rik de Voest and Van der Merwe

On Sunday, thirty-one year old James Blake continued his winning streak, winning the final singles match 62, 62 against Bogomolov. Seeming to lose his momentum, Bogomolov along with partner Kuznetsov lost the doubles finals to the Australian team of Fisher and Huss, 63, 64. At Sunday’s final round of matches, spectators may have mistakenly seemed to be waving tennis rackets in the air…but no, they were using fans generously donated by corporate sponsor Iberia Bank to swat hordes of lovebugs that seemed to converge on the Tennis Gardens like nothing anyone had ever seen. The spectators who succumbed to the nuisance and retired before the doubles final matches missed out on some of the most fun play to watch, with both teams making masterful shots.

Although the Sarasota Open marks a comeback for James Blake, life hasn’t always been as easy for Blake as it was at the Sarasota Open. In 2004, his life became plagued by hardship. He broke his neck as a result of running into a steel net post and lost his father to stomach cancer. A case of a rare virus, Zoster, led to partial paralysis of his face and difficulties with vision, balance and hearing. His life as a rising tennis star and People magazine’s Sexiest Male Athlete of the Year 2002 came to an abrupt end. Yet within two years, Blake rose back to the occasion as the top-ranked player in America and ATP’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2005. He wrote the book “Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won My Life Back” and started a foundation, the Tom Blake Cancer Research Fund, in his father’s honor. But injuries and tendonitis in his knee hampered his comeback over the last couple of years. Now with the Sarasota Open, the comeback resumes. From this tournament, Blake immediately went on to play the Savannah Challenger, already winning his first round against Phillips. Look for him again at Wimbledon and as a potential player in the Grand Slams.

The Sarasota Open is making its mark in the tennis world. With a $75,000 purse and the beautiful venue of the Longboat Key Club’s Tennis Gardens, it’s no wonder players named it one of their favorite tournaments of the year. In its second year, the tournament has already increased spectator attendance by 25 percent, giving our community an event to look forward to year after year.

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