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
When you're down out here, it doesn't seem like you're down because I have so many fans rooting for me,
I think my friends are definitely going to be here. But I know he's got fans all over the world, especially here. He's won here. I mean, he's such a legend,
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.
The courts were great, the balls were great, and the fans were great. No excuses. (Roddick) had to make the same adjustment. Antony served very well. These guys are all so good you have to be on top of your game every night.
He's got so many fans that I think they're also going to be cheering very vocally for him.
It was a fun crowd. I was down there in the first two rounds in the first few rounds he was kind of on the back court and hearing the crowd go crazy. It seemed like they were almost a soccer crowd because I don't think they were all real tennis fans at the beginning of these few weeks, but by now I'm sure they are. It really does help and make a big difference when you know you have people cheering for you.
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.
It took a while for the fans to warm to Pete Sampras,
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.
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.
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.
It does still seem like Andy's the leader of the pack and will continue to be, ... but we're all doing our best. I think we all hit a little slump at one point ... but we're all, I think, better and wiser for it now.
I think I found a balance partly in knowing that I found a little bit of a different perspective. It is not the end of the world if I lose a tennis match, but also the realization that my career won?t last forever. A moment like this is not guaranteed, and I want to work to make sure I have more moments like these. I want to appreciate them for what they are and realize that it can happen and it can be me out there.
I think I'm playing better every time I step on the court now,