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
That was an amazing point, ... It shows how well you have to play to get a break to get ahead of him. Those are the kind of points earlier in the year I would have lost earlier in the rally.
To win on Tommy's serve was great. It was welcome. I had no regrets going after his second serve on match point. Six months ago I wouldn't have had the confidence to do it. Early in the year, the break points were the ones I was missing. I need to keep those points going my way.
He didn't get many free points on his serve and I was getting some on mine,
I heard the Blake chant and I decided mentally I'd start the match over. I would try to dictate more points because playing defense clearly wasn't working.
It was one of those days where everything was going in, ... I felt like I was able to dictate. He didn't get many free points on his serve, but I was able to get some on mine.
It's a tricky proposition to play against him. You have to get your emotions in check. You have to take care of each one of those points instead of getting down on myself.
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.