The Front Row: More than an off day

BLAKE BEATS FEDERER: When Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer in one of the greatest tennis matches of all-time, most saw that match as the ultimate “passing the torch” moment in modern tennis — when the flashy, youthful Spainard took the sport away from the clinical, efficient Swede.

When a player is on the losing end of a match like that, it takes some time to recover — if he can recover at all.

Federer’s surprisingly lopsided loss to James Blake at the Beijing Olympics proved that he might still be on the mend.

Blake, who had never beaten Federer in eight career matches, scored a 6-4, 7-6 (2) victory against a player who barely resembled the brilliant tactician who had made the tennis courts his personal playground for the past six years.

Frustration has clearly seeped in, as his seemingly effortless dominance has started to subside. He didn’t pull a John McEnroe or anything, but Federer had a handful of uncharacteristic moments where he questioned the official’s calls.

Either he uses this match as motivation to bounce back at the U.S. Open — a tournament he has conquered the last four years — or he continues to slide toward the pack, off his perch as tennis’ elite figure.

Federer’s quest to stave off “Father Time” will be the sport’s most interesting subplot going into Flushing Meadows in 10 days.

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PHELPS DOES IT AGAIN: He’s really going to pull this off, isn’t he?

If Michael Phelps can somehow eclipse Mark Spitz’s seven-gold-medal haul in the 1972 Olympics, it’s going to be interesting to see where this achievement rates in the pantheon of all-time athletic accomplishments.

Considering the razor-thin margin for error he’s working with, it’d be tough to argue that Phelps’ Beijing run would rank anywhere outside of the top five. One false stroke, one mediocre event, one French fingertip edging past Jason Lezak and we’re not even having this conversation.

I’m still ranking it behind what Jesse Owens accomplished in 1936 in Berlin, which will forever stand alone as the most remarkable and important Olympic performance.

But we’re going to need to give serious consideration to Phelps’ aquatic dominance.

Yes, Phelps is a completely blank slate without anything in his personal history worth filling NBC’s puff-piece quota. Still, this is one of those rare sports stories that has earned the considerable hype surrounding it. We’re seeing something we’ve never seen before.

That is, if he can really pull this off. Two more to go.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747