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
Fernando is always dangerous no matter what, and he started playing like the Fernando I've come to know, the one who can hurt you in an instant. He wasn't pushing like he was in the first couple of sets. He was going after his shots and they were going in.
There's no way I would have believed that I'd be playing a legend like Andre Agassi in the quarter-finals on Wednesday at the Open.
I served very well, and once you get rolling with one part of your game the rest of it follows, so it's a good feeling.
I've matured a little. I think I learned that a little while ago, but now it's translating to my game, ... Now I know that I can play pretty darn good tennis.
I've been asked a lot about the state of dubstep in America, and everyone wants me to say something controversial, but I have no negative feelings toward anything, really.
On clay, his serve still isn't a weapon, but he can back it up really well. Here, he wasn't able to do that. I was able to hit a couple of clean winners off of first serves, and that can rattle you early.
The moment you hear your father passes away is about as low as it gets.
If I'm playing tennis like this, I'm a guy that NOBODY wants to play. I think there are a lot of guys who don't want to see me in their draw.
I figure most people, it's going to be their game plan to attack my backhand, ... I got a lot more confidence in it. When I have time to hit it, I feel like I can really go after it and hurt people with it, as opposed to playing defense all the time. I think I passed him with three backhands that first game and that's probably something he wasn't expecting.
I brought that up just about every 20 minutes of the match. 'Yeah, good call, it's going to go quick.'
I definitely feel like I'm a better player than when I was 22, ... There are certain things that have improved: My defense has improved a lot, my serve has improved a lot. I feel like mentally I'm just a little stronger. I don't think there is any way I would be able to do what I'm doing right now two or three years ago.
I can't stop smiling right now, ... If I could play here every tournament, I would never retire.
He's one of the hottest players on the circuit right now, ... And I'm playing close to my best, so it should be a good match.
He's not quite ready for it. Most 16-year-olds aren't. It's very rare that a kid of that age is ready to compete at this level.