Blake Seeks Rebound from 4-tourny Slide at US Open

At Washington he lost in his second match to an ever-fearsome but still out-of-practice Marat Safin who has been struggling to return from a knee injury. At the Masters Series-Canada he lost second round to the talented French comer Richard Gasquet. At the Masters Series-Cincinnati it was a second-round loss to eventual runner-up and former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero. And in New Haven, with the "J-Block" rockin', it was an opening-round loss to the unheralded Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.

Still, Blake says his 3-4 win-loss record in his last four events doesn't overshadow reaching a career-high No. 5 this year, and supplanting Roddick as the top-ranked American.

"The year's been great so far," Blake said Saturday. "Couple of early exits the last two or three weeks. But other than that, I feel great. I know there's gonna be highs and lows in every season, and most of this season has been a high. Every time I come into the US Open, it's the time of the year I want to be playing my best tennis."

Blake says he thrives on pressure, but the results have stated otherwise. Defending his title from last year last week at New Haven, the first-round exit was a shocker to fans and friends that had dug in for a week-long Blake block party. Add to this that Blake is 0-9 in the ultimate test of pressure, the five-set match, and there is work to be done -- though the American says otherwise.

"I've always felt that coming into the US Open, Pilot Pen (New Haven), those tournaments put the most pressure on me because I am performing in front of my friends and family and so many people that want me to do well," Blake said. "But those are also the tournaments I do best at. I feel like I kind of thrive under that kind of pressure. I've always, throughout my whole career, looked at pressure as a positive thing because it's an opportunity to do something good."

One pressure Blake has dealt well with in 2006 is maintaining his new Top 10 and American No. 1 status.

"It's a pretty good feeling," Blake said. "I know it can change in a hurry. I know Andy is playing some of the best tennis right now...I'm proud and honored to be considered in the same list of guys that have been No. 1 in America with Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier. There aren't too many guys on that list that aren't very impressive players. I'm honored to be a part of that. Whether it's for three or four weeks or whether it's for a year or five years, I'm proud to be a part of it."

Blake opens at the US Open against Argentine Juan Monaco, and with a soft draw should not be challenged until the 4th round when he'll likely face either giant-killer Tomas Berdych or giant-blogger Dmitry Tursunov.

Blake routinely voices his admiration of the No. 1-ranked Federer, but says it would be an oversight to count out Rafael Nadal on the US Open hardcourts -- especially with tournaments slowing down their hardcourts in an effort to produce longer rallies.

"I think they've been slowing down a lot of the hard courts," Blake said. "Rafael has not just been successful on that, he's been successful on everything -- on the grass, as well. He's just a tremendous talent. He can hit the ball so heavy and never gives up.  There's something to be said for someone that fights that hard no matter what the situation. Guys know that going in. It's a situation where you see it in the locker room and it gets in your head before you even go out on the court. I think a lot of guys are scared to play him because they know that even if they're up a set and a break, they haven't even come close to winning a match, it's still a long way because he's going to fight for everything. Then when he does get on top of you, his forehand is so heavy, his backhand is great, too, I mean, he's gonna hurt you and he's gonna keep punishing you. I'm not surprised that those guys have had success with the courts being a little slower."

Richard Vach (rvach at comcast.net), Tennis-X.com senior writer, is reporting live from the US Open this week and can currently be seen on The Tennis Channel's "Tennis Insiders: Super Insiders" episodes, and was recently awarded "Best Hard News" story for 2005 by the United States Tennis Writers Association.