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 anyone wants to make the statement that they don't think he can win it, I'd love to see him prove them wrong. I am not going to make that statement. I think he has got a great chance.
I don't want respect just because I'm in the Nike ad or just because I've got some sort of endorsement deal, ... I want people to look at me as a tennis player, as a legitimate player that's won a lot of matches. I'm doing my part these last couple days to prove that to them.
It's interesting, I hadn't thought about that. I guess I'll have to spell Andy this one time, since he's been doing it for years. I'll take the burden this time and I'm sure he'll take it back soon. He's one of the best players in the world and I'm sure he'll prove it for the rest of this year. For this one, it's good to see we have some depth in American tennis.
The only thing I don't like about this job is the travelling but here I don't have to. I sleep in my own bed, I have dinner with my mum or my friends and I feel at home on the court too.
This summer is a little better than last summer, ... I can actually sit here without feeling I am going to fall off the chair. I can actually smile, and, yeah, I definitely feel so much better and I am enjoying it a whole lot. And it does put a few things in perspective and I am just so happy to be playing and now that it is going well and I feel like I'm healthy. I feel like things are starting to go my way, it's such a good feeling.
To be in the quarterfinals is pretty unexpected for most people. But I didn't feel like it was that absurd to think that I could be here, and hopefully even further.
To be in the quarterfinals is pretty unexpected for most people, ... But I didn't feel like it was that absurd to think that I could be here, and hopefully even further.
We got him back, ... He was one of the team members when they beat us in Paris. It's a good feeling. I knew it was going to be this way when I heard how many fans were coming out and how many of my fans were going to be here. It's a good feeling when they're on your side.
This was the most fun I've had losing,
To hear them get fired up, it just makes it that much more emotional, ... If I'm down, I know I have them to count on to pick me up pretty quickly and not let myself get too far down on myself.
You have to play pretty close to perfect.
Even though individually I didn't have the best of weekends, I consider this week a 100 percent total and complete success.
Being this close to home, you really can't beat it with this crowd, ... I'm staying in my own bed, being around so many friends, people that go way back, that know me from when I was a kid, is something that is very rare on tour. We travel the world, so it's very seldom that we're in our hometown.
Being around so many friends, people who are supporting me, people I have known since I was a kid, is a great feeling, ... You travel the world, and it is very seldom that we are in our hometown.