James Blake pumps his fist after winning a crucial point Monday. (Greg Ruffing photo) | ZOOM |

        MASON — James Blake has a black father (American), a white mother (British) and a yellow favorite family (he's a Simpsons fanatic). He learned tennis in Harlem and attended Harvard. He has gone from insecure adolescent to fashion model and ladies' man.

        He represents all the best of diversity.

        The 22-year-old Blake, who defeated Andrei Pavel 6-4, 7-6 (9) Monday night at the Western & Southern Financial Masters, has the onus of being the lone African-American at tennis' highest levels. He also has an unassuming charm, as willing to chat up the ball boys or relate a Bart Simpson gag as he is to fulfill the obligations of his burgeoning fame.

        “With me being a little different than most of the guys, probably getting more African-Americans watching and things like that, a lot of people look at that as pressure,” Blake said. “I look at that as an opportunity to make a difference.”

        Sunday, he met with a group of inner-city kids who were attending that day's session as part of an outreach program. Blake spends his offseason volunteering lessons for kids with his father, Thomas.

IF YOU GO

What: Western & Southern Financial Group Masters.     Where: ATP Tennis Center, Mason.     Today's schedule: Sessions at 11 a.m., 7 p.m.     TV: 1-3 p.m., ESPN (live), 10 p.m.-midnight, ESPN2 (same-day delayed)     Tickets: Available for both sessions at $20 each. Call 651-0303 or TicketMaster at 562-4949 (www.ticketmaster.com). Click here to view tournament draw bracket (Acrobat PDF file, 10K)

        “He's a good promoter of tennis in general, what it's done for him and what it can do for everyone,” said Brian Barker, Blake's coach. “A lot of African-Americans look up to him. He takes that serious, being a role model.”

        The tennis? Pretty serious there, too. Blake has raised his ranking nearly 200 spots in 18 months and is now No.30, the highest-ranking African-American since MaliVai Washington hit the top 20 in 1996.

        Blake had severe scoliosis that necessitated his wearing a ridicule-inducing back brace from the time he was 12 until he was 18. It was either that or tennis-ending surgery to insert spine-straightening steel rods in his back.

        “It made me pretty shy,” Blake said of the brace. “I learned to deal with that, and it made me appreciate those three hours a day being out of the brace (to play tennis) a lot more.”

        He reached the NCAA singles final in his sophomore year at Harvard but won only two matches in his first two years on tour.

        Then last year, he had his career turning point here, defeating 11th-ranked Arnaud Clement to reach the third round. He gave Patrick Rafter a good match but lost 7-6, 6-2, and Rafter counseled him afterward.

Before his match, James Blake takes time to sign autographs for fans at the ATP Tennis Center in Mason. (Gary Landers photo) | ZOOM |

        “You know you couldn't have beaten me, don't you?” Rafter said. “The only reason you didn't is you didn't believe you could.”

        Blake was thereafter a changed man. In the U.S.Open, he pushed eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt to five sets. Blake has gone 5-0 in Davis Cup play and reached two singles finals this year.

        “It made a big difference,” Blake said of Rafter's pep talk. “I think that's the only difference in my game from this year to last, just confidence.”

        As for the modeling, and his recently being voted best-looking player in a informal poll done for a tour publication: “In high school, I was about 5-foot-3, 90 pounds and wearing a back brace. Girls weren't calling me for dates. Now to have these magazines and modeling offers, things like that, it's pretty funny. I could go back to being the same old kid any time.”

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