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
He's a great player. We've had some really good matches. He hits the ball so clean, we're going to have a lot of points. There's some good shot-making and we both have pretty big serves to get free points.
His serve obviously gives him a lot of confidence. I think I had about five chances to break in the match and didn't get near any of them. It's frustrating to deal with because it makes you feel under pressure when you serve.
His serve is a joke. Sometimes it doesn't matter how you return. He can ace you out of a game. If he's hitting his spots, serving at 140 mph from that angle, there's not much you can do except say 'good serve' and move on and not get frustrated. I have to focus on holding serve like I did today.
He's been my biggest win in my career so far. Hopefully it will be again.
Hopefully the maintenance crew won't have as much to do on the court after the first match here. Andy actually came up with that joke, so I blame him. This is the first time my name has been picked. I'm usually second. But playing first, it should be fun.
The rain delay helped me, ... My coach gave me some advice. I regrouped and came back more focused.
He was serving big. I don't think he missed many forehands and his backhand was more solid than I'd expected after practicing with him a lot in December. He played a great set.
He didn't get many free points on his serve and I was getting some on mine,
Knowing that I was that close to a semi or final, it makes me realize that the goal going into these Slams isn't just getting to the second week. Maybe I can get in there and win one.
Just to keep me calm, ... I might have been a little too hyper if I was going out there in front of those crowds this week ...
I think it has been blown out of proportion that the grass was meant to make them uncomfortable. It was all about our being comfortable. It's the surface Andy is most comfortable on and I think he's the second best grass court player in the world.
He was trying hard to get out of it, but we put so much pressure on him last week that he had to do it.
He taught me about hard work, the joy of hard work for just improving yourself.
He says it is cool to see us play, but for me it is cool seeing him sell out MSG,