James Blake
James Blake
James Riley Blakeis an American retired professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. During his career, Blake had amassed 24 singles finals appearances, while his career-high singles ranking was World No. 4. His career highlights included reaching the final of the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup, the semifinals of the Beijing Olympics and the quarterfinals of the Australian Openand US Open, as well as being the former American No. 1. His two titles for the...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTennis Player
Date of Birth28 December 1979
CountryUnited States of America
I'm from New York and I'm still the underdog. He's the favorite everywhere he goes. If I was in the stands I'd be cheering for him, too,
I'm just excited to be on the court. It was a rough patch for me for a while. I would have given anything last year just to be playing. It's not easy to take that long of a time off with so many things on your mind. So I'm happy to be playing. I know I'm going to get better.
If my legs start going at all, the crowd will be my legs for a little while,
It helped with my perspective, with knowing that every match isn't the end of the world.
Being down a break and a set doesn't mean that much. I knew that I had the confidence to win the match and luckily it came through for me today. I knew I had to pressure early in the third set. He doesn't have much of an offensive game.
I never really approach collaborations as kind of normal things where they're arranged and they happen because you've arranged them. I've always been like this, I just have friends I hang out with, and while we're hanging out, if music happens then it happens.
I need to return really well. His serve is a joke. He can ace you right out of a match.
I needed to show everyone else that I'm confident and show everyone what I'm made of, ... I feel like I've been back in the game for a while.
I'm happy for them that they're comfortable, and I think we're pretty comfortable as well on the grass. Especially, Andy, he's always very comfortable when he's playing on grass.
I like to think I keep getting better. I feel like now I'm playing as well as I did when I was 20-something in the world. It's been a while since I've really felt like I have played this well.
If there's anyone I'm cheering for it's Andre.
I heard the Blake chant and I decided mentally I'd start the match over. I would try to dictate more points because playing defense clearly wasn't working.
I have said it before, that if every week was like this, I would never retire,
I really think it is going to make me a better player, giving me the perspective ... that there are much worse things in life than losing a tennis match, ... It will give me a little more calm on the court.