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
It looked like Rafael was getting a little upset towards the end of the match noticing that my fans were pretty vocal, ... I'm proud that they never make it personal and they never do anything too negative toward the other player...maybe it helps that it was during the day and they maybe didn't have quite as many Heinekens today. That helps, I think.
It took a while for the fans to warm to Pete Sampras,
He's got so many fans that I think they're also going to be cheering very vocally for him.
I want everybody to tune in, ... people who are tennis fans and people who aren't tennis fans, and we'll give them a good show and do it the right way.
Everyone seems to have a connection to me, and that?s such a great feeling. That?s what comes with growing up close to here and going to high school around here and trying to be as friendly as you can to those people around you. It makes for great fans ... even if they do happen to cheer a few times when he double faults. You just kind of grin and bear it.
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.
I never feel great after a loss, but I guess it's about as good as I can feel. I fought my heart out. I did everything I could, ... He just played too good for me at the end.
I am definitely flattered and humbled any time I can put my name in the same sentence as Arthur Ashe.
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,