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
At the beginning of the year I had a little spot in my heart that hoped I could earn my way back onto the Davis Cup team and show I can help this team.
At the beginning of the year, I probably wouldn't have won a match like this.
If I couldn't play tennis again, am I still going to be happy going back to school, maybe going to business school, doing whatever else I could do? ... Would I be able to be happy if my eye never came back to normal and I couldn't really be athletic at all the rest of my life? Could I find a way to still be happy? All those I tried to answer yes.
That's legitimate. That's a reason for people not to do it. Morally, people should have a reason not to do it to begin with and physically, the harm you're doing to your body in the long-term. Two years is pretty reasonable to make people think twice about it. It's not a chance worth taking.
I definitely feel like I'm a better player than when I was 22, ... There are certain things that have improved: My defense has improved a lot, my serve has improved a lot. I feel like mentally I'm just a little stronger. I don't think there is any way I would be able to do what I'm doing right now two or three years ago.
It was one of those days where everything was going in, ... I felt like I was able to dictate. He didn't get many free points on his serve, but I was able to get some on mine.
My serve was the biggest difference today, ... It's good to be playing so well at this time of the year.
At the beginning of the week, I couldn't have dreamed it up any better,
If my legs start going at all, the crowd will be my legs for a little while,
Andy plays at a little bit different level than some other guys that I played, and he made me hit some more balls today,
It's a lot of fun, ... Just being home, staying in my own bed, being around so many friends, people that go way back ... it's something that's very rare on tour. To be back so close to my hometown is a great feeling.
He's got so many fans that I think they're also going to be cheering very vocally for him.
I've never played well in Europe before but it's been great so far,
I felt I wasn't moving my feet too well, ... Once I was in it, I started moving my feet a little better, going after it a little more, just trying to take it into my hand. At the start, I felt like I was pushing and leaving it in his hands, and he took advantage.