From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
James Riley Blake[1] (born December 28, 1979 in Yonkers, New York, United States) is a professional tennis player and currently the second-highest ranked American, 24th in the world (as of September 14, 2009).
Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. He reached the final of the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup but lost to World No. 1 Roger Federer in straight sets.
On July 3, 2007, Blake's book, Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life, discussing his comeback after his unlucky 2004 season, was released and debuted at Number 22 on the New York Times Best Seller list. He wrote this book along with Andrew Friedman.
Blake was born in Yonkers, New York, United States to an African American father Thomas and a White British mother Betty.[2] He has a brother, Thomas, who is also a professional tennis player, and three older half-brothers, Jason, Christopher, and Howard, and a half-sister, Michelle.
Blake started playing tennis at age five alongside his brother Thomas. When he was 13, he was diagnosed with severe scoliosis and for five years as a teenager, he was forced to wear a full-length back brace for 18 hours a day, though not while playing tennis. Blake attended Fairfield High School, in Fairfield, Connecticut, where a schoolmate and childhood friend was future musician John Mayer. Blake was inspired to pursue tennis after hearing his role model, Arthur Ashe, speak to the Harlem Junior Tennis Program. Brian Barker was his first (and current) coach. He left Harvard University after his sophomore year to pursue a career in professional tennis.
Blake's style of play is primarily that of an offensive baseliner. That is he generally prefers to hit winners from the baseline but his solid net volley and transition game gives him an effective all-court game as well. His forehand along with Roger Federer and Fernando Gonzalez is considered to be one of the best in the game. His other major strength is his great foot speed. Blake tends to return serves (especially second serves) with great pace and also makes contact with the ball earlier (on the uprise) when hitting groundstrokes. Combined with his relatively flat strokes, these techniques allows him to put more pace on the ball and gives his opponents less time to react despite being riskier in terms of making errors. Blake likes to take control of points as soon as possible and will usually attempt to hit an outright winner earlier in the rally than many other top pros. He is known as a "shot maker" and his go-for-broke style makes him one of the most exciting and entertaining players on the tour, but also tends to make him an inconsistent player with up and down results.