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
I could not have dreamed a better ending than this week, ... Everything clicked. I was feeling good all time.
Then you get to come, basically, home. It's a great feeling before the Open.
It's a great feeling just to come out and be healthy,
It's a good feeling when they're on your side. We travel the world, so it's very seldom that we're in our home town.
I hope that's kind of the reason they put me on this team, was that I hope the rest of the teammates have the confidence in me to deal with the pressure of playing a fifth match. I'm feeling pretty good about the way I'm playing. Hopefully, I'll do the same on Sunday.
My defense has definitely gotten a little better. My serve's gotten a little stronger. I've put on four or five pounds, which I think has helped me make it through the long seasons without getting injured. I think all that combined is turning into me feeling more confident when I play Top 10 players like I did today.
It was one of those days where everything seemed to be going in, ... That?s a good feeling once you get a little bit of confidence in the beginning and then just keep rolling.
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.