Nada, Niente

You know who has been a spectacular disappointment so far this year? James Blake.

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Seriously, I can't think of a single tournament in which he's gone deep. Of course, my memory isn't encyclopaedic, but if he'd done something noteworthy, I'm pretty sure I would have, you know, noted it. But nada. Nothing. Nil. Niente. And now he's just taken another loss in the first round of Rome, to little known Romanian qualifier Victor Crivoi.

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Sure, I mean, we're on clay, and clay has traditionally not been the best surface for Blake and for Americans in general - from memory, the furthest any American got last year was the third round, and that American was Bobby Reynolds, who is hardly one of the big leagues. But first round? To a qualifer ranked #112 in the world? That really signals a bit of a problem.

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And, of course, it's not just the clay. Blake has flown under the radar for pretty much the entire year - because he hasn't done anything noteworthy. A quick scan of his ATP profile shows that his best result this year was a semi in San Jose. Radek Stepanek won that title. Blake should be able to outclass him with relative ease. But nada. Niente.

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It's sad - I like Blake. He's good to watch play and he's a lovely guy as well. So pick up the ball, James, because there's no room for performances like this in a tour this deep.

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Today's Results

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Internazionali BNL d'Italia (Rome)

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Stanislas Wawrinka def. Igor Kunitsyn, 6-3 6-4

Victor Crivoi def. James Blake, 7-5 6-3

Marin Cilic def. Flavio Cipolla, 6-2 6-2

Christophe Rochus def. Juan Ignacio Chela, 6-1 6-2

Juan Monaco def. Nicolas Kiefer, 6-2 6-3

Viktor Troicki def. Victor Hanescu, 6-3 6-3

Ivo Karlovic def. Jan Hernych, 4-6 6-4 6-2

Albert Montanes def. Potito Starace, 7-6 (10-8) 6-4

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Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart)

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Victoria Azarenka def. Carla Suárez Navarro, 6-1 6-4

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Grand Prix de SAR le Princesse Lalla Meryem (Fes)

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Marta Domachowska def. Maria Kirilenko, 6-4 6-4

Ekaterina Makarova def. Ioana Raluca Olaru, 7-6 (7-5) 6-4