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22/11/08 20:31 GMT

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AUSTRALIAN OPEN MEN'S PROFILES

(12) James Blake
PRE-TOURNAMENT ODDS:	100/1
NATIONALITY:	USA
BIRTH DATE:	28/12/79
BECAME PRO:	1999
WORLD RANKING:	13

VERDICT

Blake has a deserved reputation as a hardcourt expert but he's always done better on the slicker US surfaces than the ones Down Under. The new Plexicushion surface in Melbourne is designed to speed up the Australian Open courts, which should suit Blake, but early reports suggest that's not the case. Certainly the likeable New Yorker failed to get to grips with the surface in Syndey recently, losing in the first round, and it's difficult to see him emerging victorious.

TEN-YEAR GRAND SLAM HISTORY
	07	06	05	04	03	02	01	00	99	98
Australian Open	4R	3R	2R	4R	3R	2R	-	-	-	-
French Open	1R	3R	2R	-	2R	2R	-	-	-	-
Wimbledon	3R	3R	1R	-	2R	2R	-	-	-	-
US Open	4R	QF	QF	-	-	3R	2R	-	1R	-

Men's Profiles

(1) R Federer
(2) R Nadal
(3) N Djokovic
(4) N Davydenko
(5) D Ferrer
(6) A Roddick
(7) F Gonzalez
(8) R Gasquet
(9) A Murray
(10) D Nalbandian
(11) T Robredo
(12) J Blake
(13) T Berdych
(14) M Youzhny
(15) M Baghdatis
(16) C Moya
(17) I Ljubicic
(18) J I Chela
(19) L Hewitt
(20) I Karlovic
(21) J Monaco
(22) J C Ferrero
(23) P-H Mathieu
(24) J Nieminen
(25) F Verdasco
(26) S Wawrinka
(27) N Almagro
(28) G Simon
(29) P Kohlschreiber
(30) R Stepanek
(31) I Andreev
(32) D Tursunov

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