James Blake says U.S. Open will be his last tournament

This year's U.S. Open still was in the overture stage early Monday when James Blake, well past the time when he was included in the "next American champion" conversation, announced that this is last tournament.

His first-round Open match -- possibly his last in professional tennis -- is scheduled Wednesday against Croatian veteran Ivo Karlovic.

Blake had his moments in a 14-year career, most memorably a fifth-set tiebreaker loss to Andre Agassi in the 2005 Open quarterfinals that kept enthralled fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium past 1 a.m. He once was the world's No. 4 player and twice lost Grand Slam quarterfinals to Roger Federer, at the 2006 Open and 2008 Australian Open.

But Blake now is 33, married and with a 1-year-old daughter, ranked No. 100, six years past his last tour title, and believes he now can leave "on my own terms. I didn't want to be dragged away from the game."

"I will miss pressure-packed moments, break points, set points, match points, the crowd getting into it," he said. "But there are some things I'm not going to miss: the constant travel, living out of a suitcase, my body aching a little more than it used to."

He leaves a sport still wondering whether the United States is anywhere near producing another major champion -- Andy Roddick, winner of the 2003 Open, is the last. In this year's 128-player men's draw at the Open, there are as many French entries, 15, as Americans.

And the state of U.S. affairs was emphasized Monday by 21-year-old Ryan Harrison's straight-sets loss to 12-time major champion Rafael Nadal.

Blake, though he never got past a Slam quarterfinal, for years was a prominent member of the U.S. Davis Cup team, including the 2007 champions.

"I don't kid myself," Blake said. "I know I have had a great career in my eyes, but it's not one that's going to go down in history. It's not one that's going to end in Newport . But it's one that I'm proud of."

He long ago realized, he said, "how lucky I was" to reach some of his competitive heights after the death of his father in 2004 and fracturing a vertebra in his neck when he slammed into a net post that same year.

He was widely popular among fans, and even brought his own group of rowdy partisan backers -- many from his two years at Harvard -- known as the J-Block, to tournaments.

Beyond Blake's on-court results, Harrison said, "far more important is that he left a really positive impact on tennis and the people he was around. James has been a good friend in the locker room to everybody."

As a kid, Blake recalled, he had found "a little trench" under a fence that allowed him to sneak into the National Tennis Center and be inspired by watching Open matches.

Security was not what it is now. But Blake proved to be a fellow that tennis was better off for not keeping out.