Today, James Blake lost in the final of the US Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston to a Spanish guy named Marcel Granollers-Pujol who is ranked 84 in the world. These are the kinds of losses that keep James from being considering an elite player. I think he lost to another low-ranked player (# 244) earlier this year in Delray Beach. I know that Federer, Nadal, and Roddick occasionally lose to players ranked significantly lower than them but at least it's in the early rounds of the tournament.
I would cut James some slack considering the fact that he played a Spanish guy who probably grew up playing on clay, but this was a third-tier Spanish player at best. The top Spanish players were mostly playing in Valencia, Spain and Estoril, Portugal this week.
On another note, the Spanish player made a good choice in choosing to play in the US Clay Court Championships rather than the tournaments in Spain or Portugal. In those tournaments he would have been seeded lower and he would have played much better clay court players. Sure, his travel expenses where much higher, but I'm sure the winner's check will ease the strain on his bank account.
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