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
If I'm up two sets to one and a break, I'm not going to start getting ahead of myself, thinking, 'This is Andre Agassi, the legend, I'm going to beat,' ... I'm just going to try to keep the same maturity and the same focus and perspective I've had so far this tournament and this whole year.
I feel great. Similar to the way after going into the U.S. Open last year. This is two in row for me right before a Slam.
I feel great, ... It's amazing how good you feel after you win. I might have been tired if I had lost.
I feel confident to go after my shots and feel pretty clear-minded at big moments,
I feel that I'm playing just about as well as when I was 20-something in the world. I think I'm a more mature player, a more in-control player. I think I'm playing as well right now as I was when I was 20-something in the world. I'm happy I'm back, happy that I'm playing well again.
I did check however many voice mails I have now, and one of them is Andy, ... I'm sure it's a message first congratulating me and then making fun of me for something I'm sure I did wrong on the court. I'll get back at him and I'm sure it will be a similar message where I make fun of him.
Now that he's gotten through that, he'll be more of a nightmare for the rest of the guys in the tournament.
Obviously he can do about anything with a tennis racket in his hand. But on a given day, hopefully so can I.
It's just amazing, ... I really couldn't have dreamed it to be any better at the beginning of the week.
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.
It's like we are up 1-0 going into every tie.
It's going to take time because no matter how good you are or how hard you've worked, there's no substitute for playing matches. I think he needs to get a few matches in, and then once he gets a little bit of confidence in match play, I think he's going to get that ranking right back up there.
It's going to be a great match. We've had some great battles over the years, hopefully I can come out on top this time.
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.