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Double-Barreled Shotgun

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK: JAMES BLAKE '00

So you're sophomore James Blake, looking ahead to your sophomore year, and you notice that no Ivy player has ever won a collegiate Grand Slam event.

And you think that might be a nice goal, at least for some point in the future.

The trouble is you've never even advanced beyond the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam, much less won one.

No matter.

In fact, why don't you just win two titles in one shot.

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Blake did just that, winning both the singles and doubles titles at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association All-American Tournament one week ago, becoming only the second college player ever to accomplish such a feat in a collegiate Grand Slam event.

In the process he battled the nation's toughest conditions, rain delays and re-scheduling, that required the war-horse to run a gauntlet of 10 sets of tennis on the final day, an almost unimaginable feat.

Blake's 6-3, 7-6 (7-2) straight-set win over Notre Dame's eighth-ranked Ryan Sachire in the singles-tournament finals put him in the record books, but it was fully six sets later--in the middle of his second-straight three-setter in his fourth match of the day--that Blake would show his true mettle.

Teamed with junior Kunj Majmudar, Blake fought back from a set down to Illinois' Jeff Laski and Gavin Sontag to earn his second title of the day with a 6-7 (11-9), 6-4, 7-5 win.

That sort of determination and sheer will are what makes athletes truly memorable.

James Blake, for re-writing the record books, putting Ivy tennis on the map and facing adversity like a true champion, you are the Harvard Crimson Athlete of the Week.

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