[EaglesPhan36]

WIMBLEDON, England (AP)—James Blake of the United States is one of three players to be given entries to the men’s draw at Wimbledon after a trio of withdrawals.


Blake, who was once ranked No. 4 but has slipped out of the top 100, replaced Paul-Henri Mathieu after the French player pulled out on Wednesday with a knee injury. France’s Florent Serra came in for the injured Richard Berankis and Germany’s Denis Gremelmayr replaced Thiemo de Bakker, who withdrew because of illness.


Former No. 1 Dinara Safina was one of six women to pull out of the grass-court tournament, which starts on June 20. Pauline Parmentier replaced Safina, with Vesna Dolonts, Anastasiya Yakimova, Olga Govortsova, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner and Kateryna Bondarenko also handed late entries.

James has been toiling on the Challenger circuit during the clay swing. Has not played in a tournament now in about six weeks. Not sure if he is sneaking into one of the grass court tournaments this week, but this seems like a horrible idea. Obviously going to collect whatever check a 1st round loss gets you. I hope JB concentrates on the US Open Hardcourt Series this Summer and ends his career at the US Open. I think it would be fitting since that's the place he really made his name. This Wimbledon train wreck should be neat to watch. Can't wait to see who he draws. He's ranked 109.

[gators0708]

They should of been nice and gave it to Dustin Brown

[Cross]

It is good to see him battling through the challenger tourneys instead of looking for wildcards. I'm not saying he's going to come back like Agassi did, but I like the Challenger route for him right now. Hopefully he can find a racket, he doesn't have many of his Blake specials left!

[Diamondgeezer]

C'mon Eagles that's really mean man. Blake came back from a broken neck after they told him he would never play again. Plus he's a multi millionaire who doesn't need to do this. The fact he is making the effort speaks volumes in my book.

Hopefully he can win a couple of rounds and get the ranking up.

[beefcake]

I think you get around 8 to 10 grand for a first round loss at Wimby..