As the best in men’s tennis travel to Hamburg, Germany, this week for the final tune-up before the French Open, those on the fringes of the tour bring their hopes to Queens for the Clay Court Classic, a Challenger-level event at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills.

Through Saturday, New Yorkers with a free afternoon and two dollars for a subway swipe can watch James Blake and other aspiring pros (including two past NCAA singles champions) tear up the Queens clay courts in search of a place among the game’s elite.

Professional tennis is a more enjoyable way to earn a living than most, but for players ranked at no. 100 or worse, the earnings are scant and the constant competition is taxing. Only at challenger events can one find players fending off a cold wind on a Sunday morning with Nike sweatpants and a Puma sweatshirt, as might the majority of us who live without corporate sponsors. The winner of this week’s championship will pocket $7,200. More important are the 50 points toward a better ranking and, one day, a guaranteed spot in the tour’s more lucrative events.

Blake has been there before. Two years ago, the Yonkers native was ranked 22nd in the world. But he missed much of 2004 after he broke vertebrae in his neck in a collision with a net post. He later contracted shingles and, worst of all, endured the death of his father at age 57 from cancer. He is now ranked no. 210.

Since returning to the tour at the Australian Open, Blake has shown signs of regaining his past form. He pushed eventual finalist Lleyton Hewitt to four sets in Australia and more recently won two rounds at the U.S. Clay Court Championships in Houston. Last week he won a Challenger event in Mississippi. He easily advanced in his first match yesterday in Forest Hills, 6-1, 6-2.

Joining Blake this week will be Jeff Morrison, the 1999 NCAA singles champion; Amer Delic, the 2003 NCAA champ; Bobby Reynolds, a 22-year-old NCAA runner-up who lost to Rafael Nadal in the third round of this year’s Australian Open; and Jan-Michael Gambill, a former top-100 player trying to move up the ladder once again.

Just as this tournament is a stepping-stone for the players, it is also another step forward for the West Side Tennis Club, which hosted the U.S. Open from 1915 to 1977.

When the Open fled to Flushing Meadows in 1978, the Forest Hills club hosted a smaller men’s event until 1989 before losing its ties to professional tennis. Its main stadium has been neglected for decades and today remains dilapidated.

In the last two years, though, the club has built a foundation for a better future. Bob and Dina Ingersole, formerly of the Roosevelt Island Racquet Club, were brought on to manage the West Side club in 2003. Mr. Ingersole – an Australian once ranked in the top 100 – and his wife have lived on Roosevelt Island for 15 years and still own a stake in that club.

In their first month at Forest Hills, the Ingersoles put on the club’s first professional tournament in 14 years. This is the third year for the clay-court event, and next month the club will host its second annual grass-court Challenger during the second week of Wimbledon (the week of June 26). Last year, the club hosted a WTA-sanctioned women’s event the week before the U.S. Open. Mrs. Ingersole said they currently have a bid out for the Hamlet Cup, an ATP event that had been held on Long Island but is in search of a home for 2005, though that bid is unlikely to succeed.

As for the stadium, there is no definite timetable to refurbish it. “Obviously there is a lot more that needs to be done to bring it back to life,” Ms. Ingersole said. The stadium, which originally housed a grass court and then a clay court from 1975 to 1977, is now a hard court.

This week, however, the stadium is literally in the background, directly behind the bleachers and folding chairs placed alongside the main clay court for Blake and company. The club is 30-45 minutes from Midtown on the E, F, V, or R trains to the 71st Street, Continental Avenue Station. Alternately, take the Long Island Railroad to Forest Hills Station. There’s no charge through Friday; Saturday’s final will set you back $10.

***

Just as Rafael Nadal’s 16-match winning streak seemed destined for the dustbin, the 18-year-old Spaniard revealed this weekend in the final of the Rome Masters that he has a will as extraordinary as his strokes. Trailing 3-0 in the fifth set, Nadal rallied for 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (6) victory over Argentina’s Guillermo Coria in 5 hours and 14 minutes, the longest match of the season.

For a set and a half, Nadal had the face of a man in pain. He had ripped forehand after forehand despite a nasty blister on his left index finger that had opened up into an inch long wound. His finger was sprayed numb and taped; later, he had his palm covered in gauze to prevent a new blister. Nadal was wrapped like a mummy, and in between points, he walked like one, too.

Down the stretch, both players came up with extraordinary shots. Facing break point at 4-all, Nadal drew Coria into the net with a drop shot and then raced crosscourt to slice a backhand that hung in the air and spun away from Coria before dropping just inside the sideline. Down 5-4 in the tiebreak, Coria scurried all over and bunted a Nadal approach down the line for a passing shot.

In the end, Coria did himself in by flubbing ordinary shots. He missed a sitter at the net to give Nadal match point and, on the final point, patted an overhead right back to Nadal and then missed an easy backhand volley. The final point total? Nadal 190, Coria 188. One can only hope for a rematch between these two at the French Open.