Critical point touchy subject to Blake

After losing in the semifinal, American James Blake delivers an icy stare to Chile's Fernando Gonzalez. (CHARLES KRUPA/Associated Press)

BEIJING - The Olympic spirit was broken for James Blake at the Olympic Green Tennis Center.

Throughout the tournament, the former Harvard star praised the virtues of the Olympic spirit.

Following today's hard-fought 4-6, 7-5, 11-9 semifinal loss to Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, Blake lost "a little faith in your fellow competitor."

After holding serve to take a 9-8 lead in the deciding set, the eighth-seeded Blake hit a shot that headed directly at the 12th-seeded Gonzalez.

Gonzalez was close to the ball, which landed past the baseline. However, it appeared the ball deflected off Gonzalez's racket. The umpire ruled the point in favor of Gonzalez, which enraged Blake.

Blake raced to the chair umpire to plead his case. Replays showed the ball did graze off the racket.

"Yeah, hit a shot that hit Fernando's racket and then went out," Blake said. "The umpire didn't see that it hit his racket. Playing in the Olympics, in what's supposed to be considered a gentlemen's sport, that's a time to call it on yourself. Fernando looked me square in the eye and didn't call it."

In games such as tennis and golf, in which self-policing and sportsmanship are the norm, Blake was dismayed that at the world's biggest sporting event, the integrity of the game appeared to be compromised.

"Should I expect him to do that? Maybe not," said Blake, who has lost his last six matches to Gonzalez. "Maybe I shouldn't expect people to hold themselves to high standards, sportsmanship. But, yes, I did expect it a little more so in the Olympics when we're all competing under the banner of this event being to promote sportsmanship, to promote good will amongst countries. So, yes, maybe I did expect a little more out of the Olympics. Maybe I wouldn't have expected this at the US Open or something."

From that point, Blake was rattled, and his chance to win his first major tournament ended with Gonzalez advancing to the final.

Gonzalez wasn't so sure the ball hit his racket.

"I don't know. I mean, nobody ask me anything," said Gonzalez, who won the bronze medal in singles and the gold in doubles in 2004. "We were on the court like two hours and a half. I was really tired. I didn't feel anything. I just tried to move from the ball, and I didn't feel anything, you know. I mean, it's just one point. If I'm 100 percent sure about it, I mean, I will give it. But I'm not sure, you know. I'm just moving, that's all."

But it was a critical point at a critical time.

In the subsequent game, Blake won the first two points, but then fizzled out as Gonzalez broke Blake's serve on an unforced error.

Blake denied three match points before hitting a shot into the net to end the 2-hour-52-minute match.

In tomorrow's gold medal match, Gonzalez will meet Spain's Rafael Nadal, who beat Serbia's Novak Djokovic, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Blake will play Djokovic for the bronze.

"You know, I tried to put it out of my head," said Blake, who was attempting to become the first American man to win a gold medal in tennis since 1996, when Andre Agassi did it in Atlanta. "I think I won the next point. But I really didn't want it to affect me at all. I don't think it did. But it's got to be there in the back of your mind, thinking that he kind of took one that you deserved. And that's disappointing."

But the match should have never come down to that point, as Blake had three match points in the 12th game of the final set. Blake held a 40-0 lead, but then played two loose points in which he hit two unforced errors before the hard-hitting, baseline-loving Gonzalez hit a deep forehand winner to reach deuce.

Next, Gonzalez hit a service winner, and then won the game with a passing shot that clipped the top of the net.

"I can't take away anything from the fact he won the match," Blake said. "Came back from three match points down, served really well, hung in the whole time. I'm not going to take anything away from the kind of tennis he can play. But there's still a level of disappointment in him."

Blake was in position to win a gold. After all, he ended his eight-match drought against Roger Federer the day before. And after winning the first set against Gonzalez, Blake seemed on the way.

But in the first game of the second set, Blake let the momentum slip as Gonzalez broke his serve.

Then things started to get testy. After a long rally, Gonzalez caught Blake charging the net and sent a hard shot directly at him.

"He hit it right at me," said Blake. "Hit me. Probably didn't want to hear an apology right away because I thought it was intentional. When we changed sides, he said, 'Sorry, it's part of the game.' I said, 'OK, that's fine. It's part of the game, you're right.' Move on. And we did. That wasn't an incident. That was, like he said, part of the game."

Blake's latest loss to Gonzalez has rocked his definition of the Olympic spirit.

"I'm still going to have very fond memories of this Olympic experience," Blake said. "I still have a chance to get a bronze medal. If it's still kind of nagging at the back of my head or if I've moved on . . . but that disappoints me a little bit more in my competitor than the whole Olympic spirit because I haven't seen anything else like that in these entire Olympics."