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
Wow ... that would be something. I?d think we?d need to hold a big party at Fairfield High. It would be huge.
He's a good friend, and those are always interesting matches. We're friends, but tomorrow we're going to want to go out and beat each other's brains in. On the court, we're both professionals and want to win the title.
Andy plays at a different level than the other guys I played this week but I know it's not impossible to beat him, ... I was going for too much (on my serve) because I didn't want him to get my second serves and sometimes that backfires.
He made me earn it today. He's gotten me in so many close matches and beaten me up so many times.
I got to give my best win to Andre Agassi, being a legend, everything he's accomplished. That match, it just seemed like everything was going right for me, as it did today similarly. But, you know, it was emotional to really beat Andre Agassi, someone I idolized.
I look forward to playing a guy like (Haas). He is someone who really has been at the top of the game and whether or not his ranking states it, he is one of the top players in the world, ... Beating guys like the way I have the last two days makes me think I can hopefully do some good things the rest of the week here and the next two weeks at the U.S. Open.
Beating guys like that the way I have the past two days makes me think I can do hopefully some really good things the rest of the week here and the next two weeks at the Open,
Maybe I'm a slow learner. But he doesn't make it easy. I'm starting to feel like one of those basketball players in the early '90s. You feel like you make Michael Jordan play well, but then every time he comes up and beats you and makes you realize why he's the best.
I have said it before, that if every week was like this, I would never retire,
Any time getting on a grass court is going to be pretty fast, especially a lot faster than the hard courts we've been hitting on. It's just going to be a matter of time getting used to it. I feel comfortable on it. It's not a huge adjustment from the hard courts. It's still quicker. You have to change your game a little more, the movement's different.
Your heart drops a little. You feel that in your stomach, once you realize it's over, ... You've got to just walk up there and congratulate Andre. That's all I could do, is think about how proud I am and move on.
It was impressive to watch him on the courts of the French Open, ... Let's hope it is different here in New York.
The ups and downs are going be everywhere no matter what sport you're in, no matter what profession you're in,
He's really a true gentleman, ... one of the friendliest guys in the locker room. ... He's someone that you can tell your kids to look up to and be proud of it.