More than one member of my tennis club, after watching the Countrywide Classic this past weekend, said to me, “They hit so hard!” Now, I don’t believe that the pros hit any harder in L.A. than they do elsewhere around the world, but I understood the point: When they go toe-to-toe on a hard court, it looks like they’re blistering the ball. Perhaps it’s the combination of the players’ court position relative to clay—they’re closer to the baseline—and the relentless squeakiness of their sneakers, which makes the points seem more physical. You can hear the guys working.
This made it all the more surprising that the L.A. final showcased so much variety of play. James Blake, the modern-game prototype, could be explosive from the backcourt, while Radek Stepanek, an all-court throwback, could throw everything but the kitchen sink back at him.
I’ve never been sure how much of a fan of Stepanek to be. From a playing standpoint, the Czech can make virtually any match entertaining. He’ll do whatever it takes to win, and he’s got a wide array of choices. One-handed slice, two-handed drive, serve and volley, drop shot, he’ll pull all of those out in a single game. He’s also a scrappy competitor who shows that he cares, and doesn’t mind if—I mean when—he looks like a nerd doing it. This is a guy who has worn a Foot Locker referee outfit on court, who keeps his shirt tucked in while he’s playing, and who does the worm dance after a big win. So why do I have my reservations? For one, it’s pretty clear he irritates his opponents with his ungainly demonstrations of emotion—his “yeah!” comes out like an angry cat’s shriek. He plays tiny, subliminally irritating mind games by taking a little extra time before crucial points. I also think I’ve been influenced over the years by people who have seen him and said, “God, he’s ugly!” Let's face it, ugly is harder to like.
But those aren’t reasons to ignore his game. Because of his unique style, he’ll almost always offer a contrast with his opponent. Against Blake, Stepanek scrambled and stretched to his limit in saving two remarkable set points in the first-set tiebreaker. It would prove to be the difference in the match. More often, though, it was Stepanek’s brutally reliable down the backhand that earned him points. It’s an odd shot because while Stepanek is an attacking player who likes the net, he hits his backhand best when he’s counterpunching. I lost count of how many times he took a solid Blake ground stroke deep in the corner and turned the tables by sending it perfectly up the line.
I suppose Cliff Drysdale said it best about Stepanek: He’s an expert at finding the spaces and holes the other guy has left open (Cliff was not quite so spot on when he described the atmosphere of this final as “electrical”). Again, for a serve-and-volleyer with a no-frills baseline game, Stepanek is an uncanny passing-shot artist: He finds the spaces and put the ball through them, just as he does when he sticks his volleys at net. And he seemed particularly motivated on Sunday; this time the cliché may have been true: Stepanek “wanted it more.” He didn’t fold after losing the second set—instead he made the veteran move and took a long injury timeout!—and he didn’t fold when he started to gag trying to close out the tournament. Ladies and gentlemen, your U.S. Open Series leader: Radek Stepanek! While I’m not going to join his fanclub tomorrow—does he have one?—I will go see him play whenever I can.
As for his opponent, well, you’d have to say this was an encouraging week in the big picture (we've heard that before, of course). Blake hadn’t been to a final of any sort since the start of the season in Delray, and he looked at times to have found the swagger he gets every year around this time. He even mixed up his returns and ground strokes at times—though at other times he just went for broke. In the end, it was a typical story for Blake: Rather than matching his irritating opponent with fire of his own, he chose to take the quiet road. Even in the most crucial moments, I didn’t detect a desire to get the crowd involved and help him ride the European out of town. Instead he let Stepanek set the tempo and tone of the match; whatever you think of Andy Roddick, he wouldn't have let that happen. A hesitancy to embrace expectations: This may always be Blake’s Achilles’ heel.
Speaking of which, did you read Toure’s review of Blake’s new book in the NY Times on Sunday? He made a point about Blake I had never thought of. “Many have long sensed that his potential has been limited because he doesn’t truly believe he belongs in big-time tennis. He’s cursed with the unsureness of Dave Chappell.” In other words, even though Blake was brought up middle class and within shouting distance of the country club, his skin color alone is enough to keep him from embracing what he was born to do. I’ve always thought Blake was brought up too well to need to destroy people on a tennis court, but this may figure into to his make-up as well. Either way, it’s good to have him in the mix as the summer games begin.