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
I've been playing pretty solid all week. I was happy to get through the way I did. I'm just happy to get back to the final, and there's no pressure on me tomorrow against Andy. He's one of the top players in the world, and I'm just going to go out and play and have fun.
He's a guy that I'm never going to count out, ... It's so amazing to me how many people write or ask him the question when he's going to retire. You don't see that happen too much with a guy that's top 10 in the world and has won tournaments. Why should he retire if he's enjoying it, and he's still the biggest name, the biggest draw in tennis?
My defense has definitely gotten a little better. My serve's gotten a little stronger. I've put on four or five pounds, which I think has helped me make it through the long seasons without getting injured. I think all that combined is turning into me feeling more confident when I play Top 10 players like I did today.
I look forward to playing a guy like (Haas). He is someone who really has been at the top of the game and whether or not his ranking states it, he is one of the top players in the world, ... Beating guys like the way I have the last two days makes me think I can hopefully do some good things the rest of the week here and the next two weeks at the U.S. Open.
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.
The courts were great, the balls were great, and the fans were great. No excuses. (Roddick) had to make the same adjustment. Antony served very well. These guys are all so good you have to be on top of your game every night.
Tommy's a great player who hits the ball so clean, ... We're both big servers. I look forward to playing him. No matter what his ranking is, he's one of the top players in the world.
Any of the top 100 guys in the world can beat any of the top 10 guys on a given day,
He's top 20 in the world for a reason,
We weren't sure if I was ever really going to be back to a 100 percent, if I was ever going to be back to this level again. I said whatever tournament I win, the next Grand Slam, you have to wear a gold tooth for the whole time I'm in the tournament.
I've never seen that called in my career.
I've never played well in Europe before but it's been great so far,
I've never played well in Europe before and it feels like I'm home again. I love it here. It's been great so far.
It was very important to me because half the tour is in Europe, ... I'm excited and it gives me confidence to know that I can win here. This is the first time I've had success in the European season. Other times I've kind of made my rankings just on the U.S. season and maybe down in Australia a little bit.