One weekend Jeff and Patty asked if we could take Blake to a USTA tennis tournament because they needed to be out of town. It was somewhere in eastern NC if memory serves me correct. Anyway, Blake won his side of the draw to move on to the championship game. We knew who Blake’s opponent would be because we watched him finish his last match. But the other guy had no idea of who his opponent would be.
We had a break in the afternoon, waiting for a court to be assigned for the championship match. It was really hot. Blake’s opponent says “I wonder who I play in the final?” Blake looked up at him and said, “Oh. You play me.” The guy looked down at him and remarked “No way I play you.” And Blake flashed him a big grin again, saying “Yes you do.” It was classic.
Blake pushed him hard before losing. At the end we had to take a picture to show just how much size and age Blake gave up to most of his opponents. He was a little phenom, and I so miss watching him shock older, bigger players. Blake was amazing on the tennis court. You had to experience it to believe it.