 Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 08 Mar 2009 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 05 Mar 2009 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 06 Mar 2009 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 12 Apr 2008 |  Photographer: Paul Zimmer
Date: 01 Dec 2007 |  Photographer: Ron Angle
Date: 08 Apr 2007 |
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| 29 May 2009 - Jorge Viale | |
| Clay challenge will be tough for Blake and the USA |
The United States will find an added difficulty in their Davis Cup by BNP Paribas quarterfinal match in Croatia. It may not have a surname ending in ic and it’s not even a player itself, but the surface is the component that perhaps represents the toughest test for the 32-time champion of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas. The tie will be played on red clay at the Zatika Sports Hall in Porec on July 10-12.
However, USA captain Patrick McEnroe will be a little happier as James Blake seems to be finding a little more form on the slowest surface. The second-best American player in the rankings, who holds a 21-10 Davis Cup record, has recently became the first American to reach a final on European clay since Andy Roddick won St. Poelten in 2003.
Blake defeated clay-court specialist Nikolay Davydenko in Estoril before falling to Spain's Albert Montañés in the deciding match. He went on to win a couple of matches at Madrid Masters 1000, the second of which being a tight three-set encounter against Croat Ivo Karlovic. Things didn’t go quite to plan at the French Open, losing to Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer in the first round, but Blake is solely looking at the positives.
A matter of confidence
"When I was playing in Houston and Rome I was thinking I might not be a choice for the Davis Cup team", Blake told Daviscup.com. However, his week in Portugal changed his mind: "The way I played there, and in the last few weeks in general, is like going back to my old self. I feel that I can play great on clay," Blake reckons.
For the American, it's all about the attitude. "I didn't have to change my game plan in order to adapt to clay. You have to think positive and stay a little more patient, but I still want to make points fast," he says. "My game has gotten better and better each week and I'm really dictating like I want to on court."
Blake, 29, is 1-4 on clay in live-rubber Davis Cup singles matches during his career. During McEnroe's captaincy, USA compiled a 4-4 win-loss record on that surface since 2001, but none of those victories came against the best teams on that surface: Spain and Argentina.
No clay-court specialists
Blake's win against Karlovic in Madrid might be extremely important heading to the quarterfinal tie. "It felt good to beat him. There's a good chance he'll be the guy I'm playing in Davis Cup and we actually played under similar conditions. Madrid was almost like an indoor clay court, so the fact that I got a win there was awesome. Hopefully I can take that confidence to beat him in Croatia as well."
The tie in Porec will be difficult for all the players as none of them are specific clay-court specialists. "At least none from our side," Blake stresses. "Ljubicic and Ancic have played well on clay before and Karlovic can play well on any surface, it's just a matter of how his serve is coming in. And Cilic is so young, it's tough to tell, he can excel on any surface."
While Cilic is the host's best singles player, Croatia will rely on Ljubicic or Karlovic for the second singles. At the moment, Ancic is injured and has only played one tournament since March.
This will be the third encounter between USA and Croatia, and the former has yet to win a tie. The Europeans won both matches in 2003 (4-1) and 2005 (3-2).
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