By Bill Simons
How wonderful!
Twice this year there have been stunning moments for African-Americans in tennis.
In March, Serena Williams ended her 14-year boycott of Indian Wells. It was a poignant and important breakthrough for racial reconciliation.
Then, last Tuesday night, there was one of the greatest moments in African-American history.
In front of the likes of superstar Oprah Winfrey and Katrina Adams (the first African-American president of the USTA), Venus Williams faced off against Serena, who was battling to make history in a roaring stadium named after the beloved Arthur Ashe. Sweet.
Then, just 14 hours after Serena won to continue her journey, America’s perplexing battle with racism and police excess came right to tennis. Sour.
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There usually is plenty of action both inside and outside the Grand Hyatt – the USTA’s snazzy US Open headquarters. Players are hopping into vans, doormen are hailing cabs, USTA volunteers are dashing to catch the bus to the Open.
On the sidewalk and in the hotel there are many whispered conversations between insiders who are trying to tackle the problems of the game. But Wednesday, just before high noon, an ill-conceived tackle by a police officer brought the issue of police behavior toward African-Americans front and center.
James Blake – the star player known for his groupie fans called the J-Block, was, without any warning, viciously tackled and then arrested by five white policemen.
This was not Ferguson, Missouri or Baltimore’s inner city or a hardscrabble park in Cleveland.
This was right smack in front of one of the busiest hotels in New York.
This was not a 17-year old kid in a hoodie – Floridian Trayvon Martin.
This was the impeccably dressed, hunky as usual, James Blake.
This was not a man who’d been in prison for two years – Baltimore’s Freddie Gray.
This was the thoughtful, reflective Harvard product who grew up in one of the wealthiest suburbs in the world – Fairfield, Connecticut.
This was not Michael Brown, the Ferguson teen whose controversial death inspired Black Lives Matter.
This was the best African-American male player since Ashe, whose astonishing power, quiet elegance and courageous comebacks mattered so much to so many.
This was not an LA taxi driver who’d been arrested 30 times – Rodney King. This was the man who gave us a string of memorable thrills at the King National Tennis Center.
This was the user-friendly, poker-playing, one-of-the-boys New Englander who easily befriended the top Americans of his era – Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish, John Isner, the Bryans, and then after his retirement seamlessly rose in the USTA establishment to become the president of the feel-good USTA Foundation. On opening night of the Open, he was front and center at a gala shrimp and chardonnay foundation dinner which (thanks in part to an array of celebrities including Alec Baldwin, Anna Wintour and Vanessa Williams) raised almost $1 million for tennis charities.
Blake earned $8 million in prize money and gained endorsement contracts with Italian apparel corporations and French bottled water companies. And almost ten years ago to the day, he narrowly lost the greatest men’s night match in US Open history. The winner, Andre Agassi, then shared a beautiful truth, telling the crowd, “At 1:15 in the morning, for 20,000 people to still be here, I wasn’t the winner. Tennis was.”
But tennis didn’t win Wednesday.
Just before high noon we learned the low truth that excessive police force against African-Americans can strike anyone, anywhere. Charlie Sanders, who was selling papers on 42nd street, told the New York Times that the police roughed up Blake, saying, “They were real aggressive, like he robbed a bank. They were shoving him around.” A policeman rush Blake, slammed him to the ground and put his knee on his back.
The 35-year-old Blake, who had just finished an interview with Inside Tennis’ Lucia Hoffman, recalled, “I was standing there doing nothing — not running, not resisting, in fact smiling…[then a policeman] picked me up and body-slammed me and put me on the ground and told me to turn over and shut my mouth, and [he] put the cuffs on me.”
All this was because James was thought to be part of a fraudulent $18,000 credit card scheme. He was handcuffed for ten minutes until a security guard at the hotel essentially said, “Hey, that’s Blake.”
James Frascatore, the officer who tackled Blake, at first seemed to Blake like an eager fan approaching him. But Frascatore did not apologize, and allegedly tried to cover up the arrest, failing to fill out the required voided arrest report. Soon after, his gun and badge were seized, and he was assigned to a desk job. He is a defendant in four civil excessive force cases, and has had at least five complaints against him filed to the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
As previously reported, Blake’s mother Betty told IT that she was “very scared for my sons. James was knocked to the ground, but the way things are in our society today he could have been shot – and I am scared.”
She called on her son to use his considerable voice to speak out, contending, “Maybe that would do something to alleviate the situation in our country right now.”
Since the incident, there has been a statement from the USTA. New York’s Chief of Police William Bratton expressed regret that the arrest did not follow protocol. But he insisted that race was not involved.
Blake himself, who said that most cops do a great job, went back and forth on the issue of racial profiling. At first he told the Daily News, “there probably is a race factor involved.” Then, on Good Morning America, he said that the police should be accountable and he would like an explanation – but that the incident was about excessive aggression, not race.
His stance reminded observers of the time early in his career when Lleyton Hewitt essentially claimed that an African-American US Open linesman made a line call in Blake’s favor because both were black. Blake’s father was livid about the apparent racism. But James promptly defused the controversy, saying there was nothing racial involved.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who spoke on opening night at the Open, apologized to Blake and said he would meet with him. Blake called on de Blasio to spend significant dollars to improve police relations.
Ironically, while running for mayor, de Blasio drew bitter criticism from police and others when he said that “because of a history that still hangs over us…we’ve had to literally train [our son Dante, who like Blake is biracial]…to take special care in any encounter he has with police officers…There’s a history we have to overcome…I’ve had to worry over the years. Is dante safe each night? There are so many families in this city who feel that, each and every night. Is my child safe…from the very people they want to have faith in as their protectors?”
