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
His serve is a joke. Sometimes it doesn't matter how you return. He can ace you out of a game. If he's hitting his spots, serving at 140 mph from that angle, there's not much you can do except say 'good serve' and move on and not get frustrated. I have to focus on holding serve like I did today.
After the break, I made a little bit of an adjustment, ... I moved back just a couple of steps, trying to see if I could get looks. If he hits the corner, it doesn't matter where I am standing, it is going to be an ace. I just had to accept that he was going to get his aces...Once I got that first break (in the third set), having the sense it was almost over was great. Having that crowd to front run is great.
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's been a great week. This stings right now. I think as long as I'm a competitor, as long as I'm on tour, it's always going to sting after a loss. But I'll just reflect on the fact that it's a good week, I moved up in the rankings played some great tennis, had some fun out here.
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.
When you're down out here, it doesn't seem like you're down because I have so many fans rooting for me,
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,
I think I have found a balance partly due to a different perspective,
It couldn't have been more fun to lose.
I think Japanese audiences are much more attentive than a London audience.
I thought I played really well tonight. I was able to execute and keep it going. I think he (Brian) got down on himself in the second set and I'll take that anytime.
I thought in the past maybe I've had girlfriends that complained a lot, but he took that to a whole new level complaining when they get called.