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
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.
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.
All I think about is the fact that I need to do everything I can to win each game, because it's not, you know, a social game. It's not a country-club game where we're going to go have tea and cookies afterwards. We're doing this for a living, trying to win. That's my goal. It's not to embarrass anyone, it's to go out and win.
I fought my heart out, did everything I could, ... He played a little too good. He really started going for broke on some of those, and champions make those. I'm happy for the game of tennis. This match was hyped four or five days ago and I feel like at least it lived up to it.
I figure most people, it's going to be their game plan to attack my backhand, ... I got a lot more confidence in it. When I have time to hit it, I feel like I can really go after it and hurt people with it, as opposed to playing defense all the time. I think I passed him with three backhands that first game and that's probably something he wasn't expecting.
That first set was definitely not his best tennis and I didn't expect that to continue but sometimes it's tough to pick your game up when someone has such a bad set and then they pick their game up, ... I really didn't want it to go to three sets because I knew how well he was starting to play and he can really get rolling. It was a great match and a great tiebreaker at the end.
I fought my heart out, did everything I could. He played a little too good. He really started going for broke on some of those, and champions make those. I'm happy for the game of tennis. This match was hyped four or five days ago and I feel like at least it lived up to it. If there's anyone I'm cheering for, it's Andre.
You never feel good after a loss, but I guess it's about as good as I can feel, ... I'm happy for the game of tennis. This match was hyped from four or five days ago, and I feel like we lived up to it. We both played a pretty high level of tennis. If there's anyone I am cheering for, it's Andre.
You never feel good after a loss, but I guess it's about as good as I can feel. I'm happy for the game of tennis. This match was hyped from four or five days ago, and I feel like we lived up to it. We both played a pretty high level of tennis. If there's anyone I am cheering for, it's Andre.
I needed to show everyone else that I'm confident and show everyone what I'm made of, ... I feel like I've been back in the game for a while.
I served very well, and once you get rolling with one part of your game the rest of it follows, so it's a good feeling.
I have said it before, that if every week was like this, I would never retire,
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.