By Mike Pucci, Register Staff
mpucci@newhavenregister.com.

NEW HAVEN — By design or not, James Blake returns to this year’s Pilot Pen hoping, for the second time, it resurrects his career.

In 2004, arguably the worst year of Blake’s life, he suffered a broken neck when he slipped on the clay and collided with a net post while practicing in Rome. Later that year, Blake lost his father to cancer and then developed shingles, which blurred his vision and temporarily left half his face paralyzed.

The next year, those injuries and personal issues affected Blake’s play and he fell out of the Top 200 in the ATP rankings. However, a trip to the Pilot Pen that summer altered the course of his career. Blake captured the championship in New Haven, his second career title, and it began a run that resulted in a string of Blake’s greatest successes on the tennis court, including catapulting him into the Top 10.

At the 2005 U.S. Open, the tournament which followed his Pilot Pen title, Blake advanced to the quarterfinals. In 2006, Blake won five titles and ascended to a career-best No. 4 in the world. Blake won again at the Pilot Pen in 2007, which marked the last time Blake lofted a championship trophy.

After a rash of injuries this season, Blake, now 30 and winner of 10 career titles, feels this year’s Pilot Pen could mark his second comeback tour.

“It could change with one or two matches, just getting that confidence and playing the way I am able to,” Blake said. “It’s just a matter of transferring that to the matches, getting that confidence and getting on a little roll. Here’s where (at the Pilot Pen) it started for me in 2005. I’m hoping it could be a little repeat of that.”

The summer hard court season has been a bag of mixed results for Blake. Although he advanced to the quarterfinals at Los Angeles, he lost in the first round at both Washington D.C. and Atlanta. Still, Blake believes his game is improving.

“It’s getting better, which is what I always hope to be doing,” Blake said. “It definitely hasn’t been at its best this summer. I’ve had, I guess you can say, a little ups and downs. I was playing well in L.A. But I feel like, having not played as many matches as I’m used to, I definitely don’t have the experience and the confidence going into every single match.”

Blake, currently ranked No. 107 and who will likely play his first-round match against Spain’s Pere Riba on Monday, feels confident he can make a lengthy run here.

“I still see myself as a player that can win this tournament,” Blake said. “I know I’ve got better tennis in me than what I am ranked.” Continued...

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Blake took the entire clay court season off this year due to a knee injury and didn’t play in the French Open for the first time since 2004. A three-month layoff dropped Blake out of the Top 100. In his second tournament back, at Wimbledon, Blake lost in the first round.

Ailments to his shoulder and hamstring, which Blake called “little, nagging injuries”, has prevented him from playing at full strength for much of the summer, although Blake now says he’s back almost at full strength.

“I haven’t had that one thing that just told me I that I need to shut it down for a long time,” Blake said. “It gets pretty frustrating when you think you can practice, and you’re 80 percent and then you’re 90 percent, and you think you’re fine and something else pops up.

“Back then (in 2004), it was something where they were pretty serious from the start and I knew I wasn’t getting back for awhile. When you wrap your mind around that, it sort of gives you a little bit of a peaceful feeling (because) there’s nothing you can do, especially with the illness.”

Despite the injuries, Blake still has a passion for the sport and enjoys each moment on the court.

“The weird thing is tennis has been fun,” Blake said. “The other parts haven’t been fun. The fact that I miss playing tennis has gotten me so frustrated. Being on the training table for longer than you’re on the tennis court is what’s not fun. Being able to be on the court now is a lot of fun, and being in front of my home crowd is always a great time. I have so much fun playing for these guys here. The J-Block (Blake’s cheering section) will be excited. They will be pretty vocal I’m sure.”

Whether this year’s Pilot Pen puts his career back on track or not, Blake hasn’t considered retiring just yet.

“I don’t look at setting like a definite time line or anything like that,” Blake said. “Probably since 2004, when I was sick, I’ve always thought about the fact that I have a finite career. It could come to an end at any time. I always thought about that there will be a life after tennis, or after my playing career. I haven’t set a time for when we’re going to plan that retirement party or anything. I haven’t done that. It’s something that’ll, I think, feel natural when the time is right. Right now it doesn’t feel that way. I still feel like I have some pretty darn good tennis in me. I still feel like I can play at this high level.”

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