James Blake

• Date of birth: Dec 28, 1979
• Birthplace:  Yonkers, New York, USA
• Residence:  Tampa, Florida, USA
• Height: 6'1'' (185 cm)
• Weight: 183 lbs (83 kg)
• Plays: Right-handed
• Turned Pro: 1999

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James Riley Blake (born December 28, 1979 in Yonkers, New York, United States) is an American professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful forehand. In 2006 he reached the final of the Tennis Masters Cup but lost to World No. 1 Roger Federer in three sets.

Early life

Blake was born in Yonkers, New York, United States to African-American father Tommy Sr. and White British mother Betty. He has a brother, Thomas Jr., who is also a professional tennis player, and three older half-brothers, Jason, Christopher, and Howard, and a half-sister, Michelle.

Blake started playing tennis at age 5 alongside his brother Thomas. When 13, he was diagnosed with severe scoliosis and for five years as a teenager, he had to wear a full-length back brace for 18 hours a day, though not while playing tennis. Blake attended Fairfield Warde High School (then called Fairfield High School), in Fairfield, Connecticut. He went to school with musician John Mayer. Blake was inspired to pursue tennis after hearing his role model, Arthur Ashe, speak to the Harlem Junior Tennis Program. Brian Barker was his first (and current) coach. He dropped out of Harvard University after his sophomore year to pursue a career in tennis.

Career

2000-2001

James Blake was named Rookie of the Year for the 2000 World Team Tennis season. Blake gained the attention of the tennis community worldwide after playing eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt at the 2001 U.S. Open, eventually losing in five sets in a match marred by Hewitt telling the chair umpire, after a black linesman called him for a foot fault, to "look at him and tell me what the similarity is", which Blake took as a racist remark. At age 21, Blake saw his first Davis Cup action in 2001 against India and became the third man with African-American heritage to play the Davis Cup for the United States (after Arthur Ashe and MaliVai Washington).

2002-2003

In January, Blake won the 2002 USTA Waikola Challenger in Hawaii. A month later, in Memphis, he posted his first win over a top-ten ranked opponent, Tommy Haas, who was then ranked fifth, and reached the finals, losing to Andy Roddick. He posted solid results over the summer, reaching the quarter-finals in Rome and then the finals at Newport. Then James won his first ATP-tour tournament in Washington, beating Andre Agassi in the semis. He again ran into trouble at the U.S. Open losing to top ranked Lleyton Hewitt in five sets.

2003 was an up-and-down year, reaching the 4th round of the Australian Open, the semis at San Jose and the finals of Long Island.

 2004

The year of 2004 was an especially difficult year for Blake. While practicing with Robby Ginepri for the Masters being held in Rome, he broke his neck by running into a net-post. In July his father died as a result of stomach cancer. At the same time, Blake developed shingles that temporarily paralyzed half his face and blurred his sight. Blake doubted if he would ever play tennis again.

2005

In the summer of 2005, once Blake had recovered from his injuries, he re-entered the ATP Top 50, climbing from #210 to #49. He won the 2005 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, defeating Feliciano Lopez. Having received a wildcard to enter the 2005 US Open, he defeated then #2 Rafael Nadal in the round of 32. In the round of 16, Blake beat Tommy Robredo in four sets to send himself to the quarterfinals. This result marks Blake's best effort yet in a Grand Slam, where he succumbed to Andre Agassi in a memorable fifth-set tiebreak after winning the first two sets. Blake won his third ATP tour title in October 2005 at the Stockholm Open in Sweden. Blake defeated Thai player Paradorn Srichaphan in the final. Blake finished 2005 ranked #22 in the world.

2006

In January 2006, Blake lost in the second round of the Adelaide International. However, Blake bounced back and won the Sydney International winning his fourth ATP tour title defeating Russian Igor Andreev in the final. At the 2006 Australian Open, he was seeded #20, where he lost in the third round to Spanish player Tommy Robredo. Despite the loss, he cracked into the Top 20 for the first time in his career. In March 2006, he beat Lleyton Hewitt in the finals of the Las Vegas Open for his fifth ATP tour title. At the first Tennis Masters Series event in Indian Wells, Blake defeated Tommy Robredo in the third round and beat world #2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals; he would lose in the final to Roger Federer. By reaching the finals of that event, Blake became the first man with African-American heritage since Arthur Ashe to reach the Top 10.

Kicking off the 2006 clay court season, after two first round losses, Blake had a victory over Carlos Moyà at the Hamburg Masters event in the first round, but lost to Mario Ancic in the third round. At the French Open, he took down rising Spanish player Nicolas Almagro in four sets in the second round. Being the last remaining American man in the third round, he was beaten by French home favorite Gael Monfils in five sets.

To start the grass court season, he made what many considered to be a surprising run at the Stella Artois Championships, reaching the finals, defeating Andy Roddick in the semifinal. He lost to Lleyton Hewitt in the final. At Wimbledon, Blake progressed to the third round, but lost to Max Mirnyi in five sets.

Blake's first tournament after the loss at Wimbledon was the RCA Championships, a tournament which he would go on to win by defeating Andy Roddick in the final. With his advancement to the RCA final, Blake was then ranked 5th in the world. Following that title, he had a lackluster summer hardcourt season, having a third round loss to Marat Safin, and three consecutive second round losses to Richard Gasquet, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. Blake defeated Tomáš Berdych in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals of 2006 U.S. Open, but lost to first seed and defending champion Roger Federer. In that match, Blake managed to win his first set against Federer, winning the third set tiebreaker (11-9).

In his debut appearance at the Thailand Open in Bangkok, Blake won his seventh singles title, defeating Jarkko Nieminen in the quarterfinal, Marat Safin in the semifinal, and Ivan Ljubicic for the first time in the final. Just two weeks later, Blake won another title, successfully defending his reign in Stockholm, defeating Jarkko Nieminen again in the final.

For the first time in his career, Blake qualified for the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. Blake went 2-1 in the Gold Group, beating #2 Rafael Nadal and #3 Nikolay Davydenko, only losing in an inconsequential match against #6 Tommy Robredo. Blake qualified for the semifinals, where he steamrolled defending champion David Nalbandian, 6-4 6-1. He went on to the final against Roger Federer, but lost the match in three sets. Blake finished 2006 at a career-high world #4, and also finished the year as the highest ranked American tennis player.

2007

2007 prepared a great start for Blake, who collected his first title of the year at the Sydney International for second consecutive time, beating Carlos Moyà 6-3 7-5 6-1. However, he then suffered a disappointing loss in the Round of 16 at the Australian Open, losing to tenth seed and eventual finalist Fernando Gonzalez 5-7 4-6 6-7(4). He followed that up with a loss to Tomáš Berdych in Davis Cup play and a second round loss in the SAP Open (San Jose) to #103 ranked Ivo Karlovic.

At the Tennis Channel Open (Las Vegas), as the defending champion, he was involved with a deep controversy. It was one of the several tournaments experimenting with the new round robin format, and Blake had lost his first match to Evgeny Korolev. Korolev lost his other match to Juan Martin Del Potro. In order for Blake to advance to the quarters, he had to defeat Del Potro in straight sets while losing only 5 games or less. Blake led 6-1 3-1 before Del Potro retired, which led to the 3rd scenario: Korolev would advance because the match played would not count. That caused a big uproar among fans, James Blake, and commentators, as they felt James Blake deserved to advance. After a press conference of many hours, the ATP, led by Etienne De Villiers, decided that, since Blake would have met the guidelines the way the match was going, and since neither player knew the consequences of retiring (Del Potro said he would have finished the match had he known), Blake would have advanced anyway; He reversed the call. The following morning, De Villiers reversed his reversal deeming that it was unfair to Korolev as you shouldn't change the rules mid-tournament, regardless of what happened. As a result, Korolev re-advanced to the quarterfinals, sending Blake to Indian Wells without a 3rd consecutive title defense. Shortly after this incident, the ATP decided to cancel the round robin format, reverting any tournaments planning a round robin draw to the standard single-elimination draw.

Currently, Blake is hopeful to enter the United States team for the 2008 Summer Olympics that will be held in Beijing, China.

Blake was signed with Prince. Prince worked extensively with him to create a new racquet featuring Prince's O3 technology. The endeavor resulted in the Prince O3 Hybrid Tour. However, Blake did not feel comfortable with this racquet, or with the O3 technology. Prince was working with Blake on creating a brand new, more traditional Prince frame which will hopefully help Blake continue to rise the ATP rankings.

As of May 29, 2007, Blake has ended his relationship with Prince. Dunlop plans to unveil which one of its cutting-edge Aerogel racquets James Blake will play at the Wimbledon championships. Blake says, "The new Aerogel racquet technology provides several frame specifications that will suit my game well and give me the confidence to know that I can take my career to new heights." 

Roland Garros 2007 was a disappointment for Blake, losing in the first round to Ivo Karlovic 6-4 4-6 5-7 5-7. Blake was one of nine American men to lose in the first round of Roland Garros. This was the first time in the open era where an American had not made it into a Grand Slam second round.

In Wimbledon 2007, James reached the third round, matching his best showing there (2006), but was unable to get past former world number 1, Juan Carlos Ferrero, losing 6-3 3-6 3-6 6-7(4).

He started an optimistic North American hardcourt journey by reaching the finals of Los Angeles, losing to Radek Stepanek in 3 sets, 6-7(7) 7-5 2-6 after having three set points in the first set. He also advanced to the final of the ATP Masters tournament in Cincinnati where he lost to Roger Federer. He then won the Penn Pilot in New Haven,CT.

Blake made it to the fourth round of the 2007 U.S. Open, but was defeated by #10-ranked Tommy Haas in five sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 0-6, 6-7. He also won his first 5 set match in the second round when he defeated Fabrice Santoro.

Blake and the rest of the US Davis Cup team defeated Sweden in September to reach the finals against Russia.

James also participated in Madrid and Basel. In Madrid, he fell to former top ten star Mario An?i? in the second round. In Basel, he fell in the second round to Ivo Karlovi?. However, Blake teamed with former number one doubles player Mark Knowles of the Bahamas to make the final. In the first round, he and Knowles upset U.S. Open champions Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle in three sets. In the semifinals, the team bore match points twelve times, and finally defeated Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett, the second seeds, 7–5 6–7 [12–10] with thirteen needed match points. Their luck, however, was halted by top seeds and top ranked Bob and Mike Bryan, who are Blake's Davis Cup teammates. Blake and Knowles lost 6–1 6–1. After the match, James quoted: "'Yes, they played as well I have seen them play in a while. It's tough. I have seen them do it to a lot of guys in Davis Cup from the sidelines and know how little fun it is to face them. That's the reason why they are the best doubles team in the world right now. [At the start of the week] I told Mark I had not won a lot of doubles matches this year, so I was glad to have him get me through a couple of wins. I had a great time and a lot of fun. Getting a chance to play with one of the best doubles players, really ever, was exciting for me. I learnt plenty and hopefully we’ll be better next time.'" .

Blake lost in the third round of Paris to Richard Gasquet and thus finished outside the top eight players, losing his chance to defend the points he gained as finalist in the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup.

James Blake won his match in the 2007 Davis Cup finals against Mikhail Youzhny, 6–3, 7–6, 6–7, 7–6 (and also against Dmitry Tursunov). Andy Roddick won his match versus Tursunov and Bob and Mike Bryan won the doubles rubber over Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko, sealing the Davis Cup win for the United States.

2008

James Blake began 2008 hoping to win his third consecutive Medibank International title. However, the defending champion bowed out of the tournament in the first round, losing to French veteran Fabrice Santoro 6–7(4), 2–6. The third seed (Blake) was said to be "uncharacteristic" in reference to his frustration.

At the Australian Open, Blake defeated his first round opponent, Chilean Nicolás Massú. He then defeated compatriot Michael Russell 6–3 6–2 6–2. In the third round, he fought back from two sets down to beat French veteran Sébastien Grosjean 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 7-6(5), 6-2, who had beaten him in each of their three previous meetings.

In the fourth round, Blake beat Marin Cilic in three sets to advance to the quarterfinals, his best showing yet down under. In the quarterfinal, James Blake faced world No. 1 Roger Federer, and fell in straight sets, 7–5, 7–6(5), 6–4. Although out of the Australian Open, Blake's ranking jumped back into the Top 10 to No. 9 following his best performance in the tournament yet.

In Davis Cup, the USA played Austria on clay. James defeated Stefan Koubek in four sets (5–7, 7–5, 6–2, 6–2). Despite being down 2–5 in the second set, James turned things around, helped in part by unforced errors by Koubek.

In Delray Beach, James made it to the final for the second consecutive year, but fell to No. 244 Kei Nishikori of Japan in three sets in the final (6-3, 1-6, 4-6). At the 2008 SAP Open, he rebounded from that loss by defeating compatriot Sam Warburg in straight sets in the first round (6-3, 6-1) and Jesse Levine in straight sets in the second round (6-3, 6-4). However, he lost to Robby Ginepri (2-6, 2-6) on the following round.

At the 2008 Pacific Life Open, Blake, the ninth seed, received a "bye" in the first round, before defeating Marc Gicquel 6–3, 6–7(5), 6–1 in the second round. In the third round, Blake beat former world #1 Carlos Moya 6–3, 6–4.. He then defeated Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the fourth round in straight sets 6–4, 6–2, before losing to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals 5–7, 6–3, 3–6.

At the 2008 Miami Masters, Blake reached the quarterfinals, but again lost to Rafael Nadal in three sets (6-3, 3-6, 1-6).

In Davis Cup, Team USA played France. Unfortunately for France, they were missing two of their best players, Richard Gasquet and Jo Wilfried Tsonga due to injuries. Gasquet had blisters on his right hand and a sore knee, and Tsonga had an ankle injury. So Michaël Llodra and Paul Henri-Mathieu were the players playing singles for France. After Andy Roddick defeated Llodra, James would play Mathieu. James won in a three-hour, 48-minute, five-set match against the Frenchman, 7–6, 6–7, 6–3, 3–6, 7–5. He had to save two match points to defeat the number 12 Mathieu.

Blake then started the clay court season at the River Oaks International tournament in Houston, Texas. He defeated Kei Nishikori in the first round (6–4, 6–4), 15-year-old Ryan Harrison in the second round, No. 5 seed Agustín Calleri of Argentina in the quarterfinals, and Oscar Hernandez of Spain in the semifinals (6–3, 7–6(3)). In his second ATP final of the year and his first career clay-court final, Blake fell to Spaniard Marcel Granollers Pujol, 4–6, 6–1, 5–7.

James received a wild card to play in the clay tournament in Barcelona, Spain. However, he lost in the first round to German Denis Gremelmayr in straight sets.

Looking for a better performance on clay, James played in the Master Series tournament in Rome. He received a bye in the first round. In the second round, he faced Italian hopeful Andreas Seppi. James won in three sets 7–6, 3–6, 6–1. In the third round, he faced Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. He won in three sets 5–7, 7–5, 6–2. His run was ended in the quarterfinals by Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in three sets 7-6, 6-7, 1-6.

At the French, he made it to the second round before being defeated by Ernests Gulbis in four sets. He fared no better at Wimbledon, losing in the 2nd round to the resurgent semi-finalist Rainer Schuettler in five sets, 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4, 4-6, 4-6.

At the Cincinnati Masters, Blake lost to Ernests Gulbis 4-6, 6-1, 3-6 in the third round.

In August 2008, Blake represented the United States as one of its three men's singles tennis players in the Beijing Olympics. In the quarterfinals, he gained one of the biggest wins of his career with his first ever win over Roger Federer, 6-4 7-6(2). At the time, Federer was ranked as the world's No. 1 men's player. His semifinal match was against Fernando González, the Men's Singles bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Blake had triple match point in the middle of the final set, but would go on to lose 4-6, 7-5, 11-9. He then lost in the bronze medal match to Serbian Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-7(4).

In the US Open, Blake was stretched to a 5 set thriller against American teenager Donald Young 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round. Blake easily won his second round match after Steve Darcis retired, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0. Blake then lost to friend and fellow American Mardy Fish in the third round in straight sets 3-6, 3-6, 6-7(4).

Literary Success and Controversy over racial Ambivalence

On July 3, 2007, Blake's book, "Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life" was released and debuted at #22 on New York Times bestseller list. His book discusses his comeback after his unlucky 2004 season. However, African American critic Toure criticized the memoir in the New York Times book review for ignoring the issue of racism in tennis. Toure highlights the 2001 US OPEN incident with white Australian tennis pro Lleyton Hewitt as a part of Blake's life that should of been explored in more detail in the memoir. Hewitt humiliated Blake by claiming a black linesman cheated for Blake due to his skin color. Toure viewpoint is Blake has psychological issues with success and his heritage and this is the reason he is afraid to become a tennis champion. Blake is 1-10 in five set matches he has the worst five set record ever for a top 10 male tennis player. 

Personal life

Away from tennis, Blake also enjoys golf, basketball, and baseball. He is a big fan of the New York Mets. Blake was featured on Bravo's second edition of Celebrity Poker Showdown, but lost to Maura Tierney.

Blake appeared in People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive issue.  He dated Jennifer Scholle and is currently dating US Women's Soccer Player Heather Mitts. 

He is also good friends with singer/songwriter John Mayer, who also attended Fairfield High School. When Blake was invited by Virginia's Anthem Insurance to do a cancer charity game honoring his late father, he invited John Mayer, Andy Roddick and Gavin DeGraw to perform.

Highlights

• Finished 2002 ranked No. 28 on the ATP men's tour
• Reached the fourth round in the 2003 Australian Open, losing to finalist Rainer Schüttler in four sets
• Reached the fourth round in the 2004 Australian Open, losing to finalist Marat Safin in four sets
• 3 September 2005, beat Rafael Nadal in the third round of the 2005 US Open, his first win over a Top 10 player in a Grand Slam event
• 2005 US Open quarterfinals: Lost to Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 6-7(6)—dominated Agassi in the first two sets with a break early in the third; however, Agassi adapted to Blake's game and took the match to a fifth set tiebreak where Blake got the early lead, though Agassi would take the match. The inspired play from both men led many to call this one of the greatest matches in US history; the match itself was even nominated for an ESPY award
• March 20, 2006: Blake gains world #9 ranking, losing to Roger Federer in the final match of the Pacific Life Open on March 19; first time Blake has been ranked in the men's top 10, moving up from #14
• June 17, 2006: Defeated Andy Roddick for the first time in the semifinals of the Stella Artois Championships
• August 21, 2006: Achieves #5 ranking
• November 4, 2006: Secures the 8th and final spot at the prestigious circuit finale, Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai for the first time in his career
• November 18, 2006: Becomes second debut Masters Cup finalist in Shanghai, after crushing David Nalbandian 6-4, 6-1
• November 19, 2006: Achieves #4 ranking, becoming the top-ranked American, despite losing the final against Roger Federer
• August 30, 2007: James Blake won his first 5-set match over Fabrice Santoro, 6-4 3-6 6-2 4-6 6-4 at the U.S. Open. It was his tenth 5-set match.
• Blake once hit a 130mph forehand off a serve

source:  Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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