Blake out

BEIJING – The Olympic spirit has been broken for James Blake.

During today’s hard-fought three-set loss to Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez of the semifinals of the Olympic tournament, Blake said Gonzalez violated a code as part of the gentleman portion of the game.

Serving at 8-9 of the final set, Gonzalez avoided a ball that was coming at him on the baseline. In the process, the ball apparently hit his racket a fell out.

The point went to Gonzalez as Blake raced to the chair umpire that the ball had hit the Chilean’s racket.

From that point on Blake was rattled and his chance to win his first major tournament ended with Gonzalez advancing to the finals with a 4-6, 7-5 11-9 victory.

Blake was attempting to be the first American to win a gold medal since 1996 when Andre Agassi won title during the Atlanta games.

Blake hadn’t beaten Gonzalez in his last six tries, last beating him in 2003 Paris Open