James Blake (tennis)

For other people named James Blake (tennis), see James Blake (tennis) (disambiguation).

James Blake

Country (sports)	United States
Residence	Saddlebrook, Tampa, Florida, USA
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Turned pro	1999
Plays	Right; One-handed backhand
Prize money	US$4,416,755
Singles
Career record	205-133
Career titles	10
Highest ranking	No. 4 (November 18, 2006)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open	4r (2003, 2004, 2007)
French Open	3r (2006)
Wimbledon	3r (2006, 2007)
US Open	QF (2005, 2006)
Doubles
Career record	78-76
Career titles	5
Highest ranking	No. 31 (March 31, 2003)
Last updated on: April 2, 2007.

James Riley Blake (born December 28, 1979 in Yonkers, New York, United States) is an American professional tennis player and is currently the 6th ranked player in the world (22nd in the ATP Race points). He is the second-ranked American player behind Andy Roddick. 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.[1]

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 [2], 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 [3].

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." [4]

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.

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 a racial confusion over his racial 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. [5]

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 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

Tennis Masters Cup singles finals

Runner-up (1)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2006	Shanghai	Roger Federer	6-0, 6-3, 6-4

ATP Masters Series singles finals

Runner-up (2)

Year	Championship	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2006	Indian Wells	Roger Federer	7-5, 6-3, 6-0
2007	Cincinnati	Roger Federer	6-1, 6-4

Career finals (24)

Singles wins (10)

Legend Grand Slam (0) Tennis Masters Cup (0) ATP Masters Series (0) ATP Tour (10)

Titles by Surface Hard (10) Clay (0) Grass (0) Carpet (0)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	12 August 2002	Washington, D.C., USA	Hard	Paradorn Srichaphan	1-6, 7-6(5), 6-4
2.	22 August 2005	New Haven, USA	Hard	Feliciano López	3-6, 7-5, 6-1
3.	10 October 2005	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Paradorn Srichaphan	6-1, 7-6(6)
4.	9 January 2006	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Igor Andreev	6-2, 3-6, 7-6(3)
5.	27 February 2006	Las Vegas, USA	Hard	Lleyton Hewitt	7-5, 2-6, 6-3
6.	17 July 2006	Indianapolis, USA	Hard	Andy Roddick	4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5)
7.	25 September 2006	Bangkok, Thailand	Hard (i)	Ivan Ljubičić	6-3, 6-1
8.	15 October 2006	Stockholm, Sweden	Hard (i)	Jarkko Nieminen	6-4, 6-2
9.	13 January 2007	Sydney, Australia	Hard	Carlos Moyà	6-3, 5-7, 6-1
10.	25 August 2007	New Haven, USA	Hard	Mardy Fish	7-5 6-4

Singles runner-ups (10)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	25 February 2002	Memphis, USA	Hard (i)	Andy Roddick	6-4, 3-6, 7-5
2.	15 July 2002	Newport, USA	Grass	Taylor Dent	6-1, 4-6, 6-4
3.	25 August 2003	Long Island, USA	Hard	Paradorn Srichaphan	6-2, 6-4
4.	8 August 2005	Washington D.C., USA	Hard	Andy Roddick	7-5, 6-3
5.	20 March 2006	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Roger Federer	7-5, 6-3, 6-0
6.	19 June 2006	London/Queen's Club, England	Grass	Lleyton Hewitt	6-4, 6-4
7.	20 November 2006	Tennis Masters Cup, Shanghai	Hard (i)	Roger Federer	6-0, 6-3, 6-4
8.	4 February 2007	Delray Beach, USA	Hard	Xavier Malisse	5-7, 6-4, 6-4
9.	22 July 2007	Los Angeles, USA	Hard	Radek Štěpánek	7-6(7) 5-7 6-2
10.	19 August 2007	Cincinnati, USA	Hard	Roger Federer	6-1, 6-4

Doubles wins

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	12 March, 2002	Cincinnati, USA	Hard	Todd Martin	Mahesh Bhupathi Max Mirnyi	7-5, 6-3
2.	10 March, 2003	Scottsdale, USA	Hard	Mark Merklein	Mark Philippoussis Lleyton Hewitt	6-4, 6-7(2), 7-6(5)
3.	16 February, 2004	San Jose, USA	Hard (i)	Mardy Fish	Rick Leach Brian MacPhie	6-2, 7-5
4.	19 April, 2004	Houston, USA	Clay	Mardy Fish	Rick Leach Brian MacPhie	6-3, 6-4
5.	26 April, 2004	Munich, Germany	Clay	Mark Merklein	Julian Knowle Nenad Zimonjić	6-2, 6-4

Doubles runner-ups

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partnering	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	27 February, 2006	Memphis, USA	Hard (i)	Mardy Fish	Chris Haggard Ivo Karlović	0-6, 7-5, 10-5

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament	1999	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Career SR	Career Win-Loss
Grand Slams
Australian Open	A	A	2R	4R	4R	2R	3R	4R	0 / 6	13-6
French Open	A	A	2R	2R	A	2R	3R	1R	0 / 5	5-5
Wimbledon	A	A	2R	2R	A	1R	3R	3R	0 / 5	6-5
U.S. Open	1R	2R	3R	3R	A	QF	QF	4R	0 / 7	16-7
Grand Slam SR	0 / 1	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 1	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 4	0 / 23	37-22
Tennis Masters Cup	A	A	A	A	A	A	F		0 / 1	3-2
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells Masters	A	1R	1R	QF	QF	3R	F	3R	0 / 7	15-7
Miami Masters	A	A	4R	3R	1R	2R	QF	2R	0 / 6	8-6
Monte Carlo Masters	A	A	1R	2R	A	A	A	A	0 / 2	1-2
Rome Masters	A	A	QF	1R	1R	A	1R	2R	0 / 5	4-5
Hamburg Masters	A	A	1R	1R	A	A	3R	3R	0 / 4	3-4
Canada Masters	A	A	2R	2R	A	A	2R	2R	0 / 3	4-3
Cincinnati Masters	A	3R	2R	3R	A	1R	2R	F	0 / 6	11-6
Madrid Masters (Stuttgart)	A	A	1R	1R	A	A	2R		0 / 3	0-3
Paris Masters	A	A	2R	2R	A	2R	3R		1 / 4	4-4
ATP Tournaments Won	0	0	1	0	0	2	5	2	N/A	10
Year End Ranking	220	73	28	37	97	23	4		N/A	N/A

External links

• jamesblaketennis.com fan site
• James Blake at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• James Blake at the Davis Cup
• Blake Recent Match Results
• Blake World Ranking History
• 'Comback Kid James Blake'
• James Blake ORG Site
• James Blake bio on usolympicteam.com ... includes links to two photo galleries
• Interview with Blake on Forbes Video
• Father Thomas Blake's obituary
• James Blake News Articles