Karlovic sends Blake into retirement
Print Edition
James Blake walked off the court at the US Open for the last time as a singles player early yesterday morning after blowing a two-set lead and losing in a fifth-set tiebreaker.
The 33-year-old American fell 6-7 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (2) in the first round to Ivo Karlovic.
Blake had announced on Monday that this would be his last tournament, ready to spend more time with his wife and young daughter. He couldn’t quite extend his stay another round. Blake will still play doubles.
He rallied from down a break in the final set to force the tiebreaker, but couldn’t overcome the 6-foot-10 Croat’s big serve at the end. Karlovic closed out the victory in 3 hours, 24 minutes with his 38th ace.
Blake threw his sweat bands, white shirt and black hat into the stands at Louis Armstrong Stadium, where the fans stayed late to try to will him to victory.
“That ovation makes me realize that everything I did, every bit of hard work, was worth it,” he said in an on-court interview, his eyes welling up.
Blake had won 11 straight first-round matches at Flushing Meadows since losing in his debut in 1999. He has been ranked as high as No. 4 in the world in his career and reached three grand slam quarterfinals.
“I’m proud that I have the rest of my career to look back on as some pretty good matches, some pretty good wins. Hopefully this won’t be my lasting memory, is that loss, up two sets to love, two tiebreakers in the fourth and fifth, losing both of those. Pretty much in my hands at times, and I was the one that I felt like I gave them away.”
Blake ended his career 4-15 in five-set matches.
“I definitely won’t sleep a whole lot tonight,” Blake said. “I’ll be thinking about opportunities I had.”
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