[abossakon]

I don't know if I understand why everyone's saying James Blake "isn't trying" in his matches. That seems to me to be a misrepresentation of his statement. And wasn't he just in a clay court final? He said Americans don't prepare for the French Open as much because they're focusing on preparing for other tournaments. Is this not a description of the second half of Pete Sampras' career? He really telegraphed in some poor results there after 1996.

And I'm not terribly pleased with the selective reporting either. I just watched some of and read the transcript of the interview and the message I'm getting is not "I didn't try." He was asked a question about why US men don't handle best-of-five-set matches on clay well. James countered that by mentioning some good Davis Cup results (by Andy Roddick) but James, being James, tries to be diplomatic and suggests reasons why U.S. men haven't done well. He's not making excuses, he's stating a fact. But seriously, people here have a problem with the notion that Andy Roddick would take his Wimbledon preparation more seriously than his French Open prep?