The line was delivered in New York, the day after the quarter-final retirement. “I didn’t expect to climb so fast […]. At times I’m capable of playing very good matches, and if I manage to hold that level consistently, I see no limits for myself. I’m still capable of great things,” Alexander Blockx said.
Maxime read it twice.
Silly question, but: a limit, in tennis, what is it exactly? I asked around. One colleague told me “the ranking”. Except he’s gone from the top 100 to 27th in the world, so the ranking moves, so it isn’t a limit, it’s a number on the run. Another told me “the body”. But he says himself that he’s improving and that there’s work left. Nobody knows where this limit is kept. I’m digging.
The player did talk about his body: “I hadn’t played many long matches yet. It’s the first time I’ve played more than three hours almost every day. I’ve made progress physically but I still have work to do.”
More than three hours, almost every day, for a fortnight. Spread over an office week, that’s a part-time job. Spread over a Sunday of club league (interclubs, Belgium’s weekend team league), that’s a round trip to Namur with the doubles thrown in — the C30.4, a club-level ranking, would like it noted that he has already done exactly that, “travel included, mind you”.
The two-week verdict is clear enough: “Two unforgettable weeks! I’d have liked to go further, but I knew it was impossible given the state of my body. Given all the work and the way I’ve played these past weeks, I half expected it.”
That leaves the Davis Cup tie against Austria, and an answer that is no answer. Asked on Thursday at 8pm, Blockx replied: “I don’t know if I’ll play against Austria […]. The most important thing is to rest my body. I want to play but first I have to do medical tests here in the USA.” So the tests come first, in the United States, and the decision after.
It’s true, we checked: DH Les Sports+.
