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
This summer is a little better than last summer, ... I can actually sit here without feeling I am going to fall off the chair. I can actually smile, and, yeah, I definitely feel so much better and I am enjoying it a whole lot. And it does put a few things in perspective and I am just so happy to be playing and now that it is going well and I feel like I'm healthy. I feel like things are starting to go my way, it's such a good feeling.
When you're down out here, it doesn't seem like you're down because I have so many fans rooting for me,
We weren't sure if I was ever really going to be back to a 100 percent, if I was ever going to be back to this level again. I said whatever tournament I win, the next Grand Slam, you have to wear a gold tooth for the whole time I'm in the tournament.
Those guys carried me through. I had a lot of tough three-set matches this week, and they were my legs in those third sets.
To win on Tommy's serve was great. It was welcome. I had no regrets going after his second serve on match point. Six months ago I wouldn't have had the confidence to do it. Early in the year, the break points were the ones I was missing. I need to keep those points going my way.
We got him back, ... He was one of the team members when they beat us in Paris. It's a good feeling. I knew it was going to be this way when I heard how many fans were coming out and how many of my fans were going to be here. It's a good feeling when they're on your side.
To be able to win in front of my friends and family is one of my greatest memories to date. It was a big turning point for me and propelled me to my great finish at the U.S Open and then throughout the rest of 2005.
Those are a lot of my friends, a lot of people that have some sort of connection to me,
Tommy just steamrolled me (in 19 minutes) in that first set, ... He returns your serve so well, it seems like you have to win every point three times.
Tommy's a great player who hits the ball so clean, ... We're both big servers. I look forward to playing him. No matter what his ranking is, he's one of the top players in the world.
Whether I win or lose, it's nice to be able to give it my best.
We're doing this for a living, trying to win. That's my goal. It's not to embarrass anyone; it's to go out and win.
Wow ... that would be something. I?d think we?d need to hold a big party at Fairfield High. It would be huge.
Unfortunately my down was pretty far down, but it makes you appreciate the ups a lot more,