WIMBLEDON, England -- James Blake won, then took on the
critics.
After advancing to the second round at Wimbledon by beating Igor
Andreev of Russia 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 Tuesday, Blake defended the state
of American men's tennis after an 0-9 showing in the first round of
the French Open.
"It was one of those coincidences or bad luck incidents where
we had everything go wrong at the French Open," Blake said. "I
just hope that doesn't happen again for a long time, especially as
long as I'm playing."
It wasn't that bad at Wimbledon, but almost. Only three of the
14 men in the draw advanced to the second round: No. 9 Blake, No. 3
Andy Roddick and unseeded Amer Delic. The U.S. women have four
players in the second round, including former champions Venus and
Serena Williams, while five have lost and two are to play their
opening matches Wednesday.
The chances of a second straight Grand Slam shutout for the men
were squashed before the tournament even started, however, because
Roddick was drawn to play Justin Gimelstob.
"It helped when I saw Roddick vs. Gimelstob, first round,"
Blake said. "I knew we couldn't" all lose.
But besides Blake and Roddick -- the last American man to win a
Grand Slam at the 2003 U.S. Open -- only Delic reached the second
round at the All England Club. He beat Lukas Dlouhy of Czech
Republic 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 Tuesday.
Bobby Reynolds, Vince Spadea, Kevin Kim, Robert Kendrick, Mardy
Fish, Michael Russell, Sam Querrey, Zack Fleishman, Robby Ginepri
and Sam Warburg, however, all joined Gimelstob with losses over the
first two days.
Fish may have had the toughest first-round opponent. He lost to
2006 runner-up Rafael Nadal 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 Tuesday.
"They're working hard. They're doing their best," Blake said.
"It's tough when you don't get seeded, because you end up with
those tough draws."
Nonetheless, the poor showing is not likely to make the American
public easily forget former stars such as Pete Sampras, Andre
Agassi, Michael Chang and Jim Courier, who combined to win 27 Grand
Slam titles.
"It was so dominant that every American tennis fan would just
turn on the TV the second weekend of a Grand Slam, and you know
you're going to see at least one of them," Blake said. "You can't
do that any more. Just about the only person you can be pretty sure
of seeing is that Swiss guy."
That Swiss guy, also known as Roger Federer, has kept Roddick
from winning at least two Wimbledon titles, beating him in
consecutive finals in 2004 and '05.
"It's pretty tough, unless you're from Switzerland, to say you
have a star that's guaranteed to be there every second week,"
Blake said. "But having two guys that have the chance to get
there, I think we're in pretty good shape."
Blake is also going to try to help the American fans get to know
him a little better by writing a book. "Breaking Back" is
scheduled to be released next month.
"The more you get to know some of these guys, the more you're
impressed with what they've gone through to get to this level,"
Blake said.
Both Blake and Roddick will try to make it to the third round on
Wednesday.
Blake, who had his first-round match postponed Monday because of
rain delays, will face Andrei Pavel of Romania, while Roddick takes
on Danai Udomchoke of Thailand.