James Blake (tennis player)

James Blake
James Blake at the 2009 Estoril Open in Oeiras
Nation:	United States
Birthday:	December 28, 1979
Size:	185 cm
Weight:	83 kg
1st professional season:	1999
Resignation:	2013
Playing hand:	Right, one-handed backhand
Trainer:	Brian Barker
Prize money:	$ 7,981,786
singles
Career record:	366: 256
Career title:	10
Highest ranking:	4 (November 20, 2006)
Grand Slam record
Double
Career record:	132: 121
Career title:	7th
Highest ranking:	31 (March 31, 2003)
Grand Slam record
Mixed
Grand Slam record
Sources: official player profiles at the ATP / WTA and ITF (see web links )

James Riley Blake (born December 28, 1979 in Yonkers , New York ) is a retired American tennis player . In 2006 he was number four in the world rankings.

Career

Beginnings

James Blake, whose father Thomas is African American and whose mother Betty is from England , was born in Yonkers in 1979. His brother Thomas Blake also played a few professional-level matches. He started playing tennis at the age of 5. When he was 13, he was diagnosed with severe scoliosis which forced him to wear a back brace until he turned 18. Blake's family moved to Fairfield, Connecticut , where he attended Fairfield High School . The future singer John Mayer was his school friend there. Blake is said to have been inspired to play tennis by Arthur Ashe . He first attracted attention on the professional tour in 2001 at the US Open , when he forced the then world number one Lleyton Hewitt in the second round over the full distance of five sets. At the age of 21 he played for the USA for the first time in the Davis Cup against India ; making him the third player of African descent who competed in the Davis Cup for the United States. With Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport he could each win the Hopman Cup once .

2002 to 2004

In 2002 there was another duel with Lleyton Hewitt at the US Open , this time in the third round; Blake lost again in five sets. In the same year he won his first title on the professional tour with the tournament of the International Series in Washington ; with two further finals, he ended the season among the top 30 players in the world rankings . 2003 was a rather quiet year for Blake with only one final appearance (he was 37th at the end of the season), 2004 turned out to be an extremely difficult year for the 24-year-old American. During a training session in May of that year, he suffered a fractured cervical vertebra and only barely escaped paraplegia . Six weeks later, his father died of cancer before Blake himself suffered another setback two weeks later with shingles , which temporarily paralyzed the left side of his face. He was only able to start training again in November of that year, and in the meantime he had fallen far behind in the world rankings.

2005 to 2009

2005 turned into a comeback season, with Blake returning to the top 50 tennis players in the world that summer. In New Haven he achieved his second career title, at the US Open he made it to the quarter-finals, where he only had to admit defeat to his compatriot Andre Agassi after five sets . Blake later managed another tournament victory in Stockholm , with which he improved to 22nd place in the world rankings at the end of the season.

The 2006 season should be even more successful for the now 26-year-old Blake, who won his first title of the season in Sydney in January . After another title, his first participation in the final followed at a tournament of the Masters Series category in Indian Wells . With three more titles and another quarter-finals at the US Open , Blake managed to take part in the Tennis Masters Cup , the season finale of the season's best eight players, at the end of the year . Here Blake was able to win the group games against Rafael Nadal and Nikolai Dawydenko to move into the semifinals. Against the Argentine David Nalbandian he managed to reach the finals of the prestigious tournament with a 6: 4, 6: 1 victory, in which he was clearly defeated by the world number one Roger Federer with 0: 6, 3: 6, 4: 6. For Blake, the entry into the final of the fifth most important tennis tournament was the greatest success of his career so far, at the end of the season he was fourth in the world rankings, his best position ever achieved.

At the beginning of 2007 he again won the Sydney tournament and reached the round of 16 of the Australian Open , in which he was defeated by Fernando González . At Wimbledon the end came in the third round. In late July he reached the final in Los Angeles , which he lost to Radek Štěpánek . In August, Blake reached the finals of the Cincinnati Masters Tournament. There he was defeated by Roger Federer with 1: 6 and 4: 6. The following week he celebrated his tenth victory on the tour at the ATP tournament in New Haven when he defeated his compatriot Mardy Fish 7: 5, 6: 4 in the final . At the US Open in September he reached the last sixteen, which he lost to Tommy Haas in five sets.

In 2008 Blake reached the quarter-finals at the Australian Open , where he lost to Federer 5: 7, 6: 7, 3: 6. At the French Open , he lost in round two to Ernests Gulbis . Also in Wimbledon was for Blake already in round two last stop; there he lost to the later semi-finalist Rainer Schüttler . At the Olympic Games in Beijing, however, he was able to defeat Federer for the first time (6: 4, 7: 6). In the semifinals he lost to Fernando González after a dramatic match. He then lost the game for bronze to Novak Đoković . At the US Open Blake came out early again, in the third round against compatriot Mardy Fish.

At the first Grand Slam tournament in 2009, Blake was defeated by Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in three sets in the round of 16 . At the beginning of May he reached the final of the Estoril Open ( ATP World Tour 250 ) for the first time , but lost there in three sets against the Spaniard Albert Montañés , who was in 7th position . At the lawn tournament in London's Queen's Club, he was defeated in the final by the Scot Andy Murray . Blake lost his first-round matches at both the Grand Slam tournament in Roland Garros and the one in Wimbledon.

2010 until the end of his career

The 2010 season was little better for Blake. At the Australian Open he was eliminated in the second round, at the French Open he was unable to compete for the first time since 2004 due to a knee injury. At Wimbledon he was already defeated by Robin Haase in the opening round . At the US Open he was eliminated in the third round against Novak Đoković. From the beginning to the end of the season, Blake dropped from 44th to 135th in the world rankings. In the following season he was able to improve again to rank 59 by December 2011, but as in 2010 he remained without a title win. He skipped both the Australian Open and the French Open, at Wimbledon he did not get past the first and at the US Open not beyond the second round. In the course of the 2012 season he fell again from the top 100. Again, he did not start in Melbourne, while he was eliminated in Paris and Wimbledon in the first round. He was only able to reach the third round at the US Open. His biggest success of the season was winning the title in the doubles competition in Houston on the side of Sam Querrey .

In the 2013 season Blake appeared again in Melbourne , but was already eliminated in qualifying. In doubles, however, he was more successful. With Jack Sock he reached the finals in Miami , shortly afterwards the two won the tournament in Delray Beach . At the French Open he was directly qualified for the main field, but, as in previous years, did not get past the first round. Shortly before the start of the US Open , he announced that he would end his career with the tournament. He lost his first round match against the Croatian Ivo Karlović 7: 6, 6: 3, 4: 6, 6: 7 and 6: 7. In doubles, he lost his very last professional game alongside Jack Sock on August 29, 2013 with the opening game.

Davis Cup

Between 2001 and 2009, Blake completed a total of 17 games for the US Davis Cup team . He won 18 of his 29 singles and three of his four doubles games. In 2007 he won the trophy with the USA team.

After retirement

In 2018 it was announced that Blake would become the new tournament director of the Miami Masters .

Personal

He married Emily Snider in November 2012. In June 2012 they became parents to a daughter.

In September 2015, Blake was knocked down, handcuffed and arrested by a police officer following a mistake. As a result, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city's chief of police, Bill Bratton , personally apologized to Blake.

successes

Legend (number of victories) Grand Slam Tennis Masters Cup ATP World Tour Finals ATP Masters Series ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (1) ATP International Series Gold ATP World Tour 500 Series (1) ATP International Series ATP World Tour 250 Series (15) ATP Challenger Tour (11)

Title after covering Hard Court (14) Sand (3) Lawn (0)

singles

Tournament victories

ATP World Tour

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	August 12, 2002	Washington	Hard court	Paradorn Srichaphan	1: 6, 7: 6 5 , 6: 4
2.	August 22, 2005	New Haven (1)	Hard court	Feliciano López	3: 6, 7: 5, 6: 1
3.	October 10, 2005	Stockholm (1)	Hard court (i)	Paradorn Srichaphan	6: 1, 7: 6 6
4th	January 9, 2006	Sydney (1)	Hard court	Igor Andreyev	6: 2, 3: 6, 7: 6 3
5.	February 27, 2006	Las Vegas	Hard court	Lleyton Hewitt	7: 5, 2: 6, 6: 3
6th	July 17, 2006	Indianapolis	Hard court	Andy Roddick	4: 6, 6: 4, 7: 6 5
7th	September 25, 2006	Bangkok	Hard court (i)	Ivan Ljubičić	6: 3, 6: 1
8th.	October 15, 2006	Stockholm (2)	Hard court (i)	Jarkko Nieminen	6: 4, 6: 2
9.	January 13, 2007	Sydney (2)	Hard court	Carlos Moyá	6: 3, 5: 7, 6: 1
10.	August 25, 2007	New Haven (2)	Hard court	Mardy Fish	7: 5, 6: 4

ATP Challenger Tour

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	September 24, 2000	Houston	Hard court	Michel Kratochvil	7: 6 5 , 6: 7 12 , 6: 3
2.	November 19, 2000	Rancho Mirage	Hard court	Cecil Mamiit	3: 6, 6: 4, 6: 2
3.	November 18, 2001	Knoxville	Hard court (i)	Gabriel Trifu	6: 4, 6: 4
4th	January 27, 2002	Waikoloa	Hard court	Martin Verkerk	6: 2, 6: 3
5.	May 7, 2005	Tunica resorts	Sand (i)	Brian Baker	6: 2, 6: 3
6th	May 14, 2005	Forest Hills	Sand (i)	Dušan Vemić	6: 3, 6: 4
7th	May 1, 2011	Sarasota	sand	Alex Bogomolov junior	6: 2, 6: 2
8th.	July 3, 2011	Winnetka	Hard court	Bobby Reynolds	6: 3, 6: 1
9.	October 7, 2012	Sacramento	Hard court	Mischa Zverev	6: 1, 1: 6, 6: 4

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	Final opponent	Result
1.	February 25, 2002	Memphis	Hard court (i)	Andy Roddick	4: 6, 6: 3, 5: 7
2.	July 15, 2002	Newport	race	Taylor Dent	1: 6, 6: 4, 4: 6
3.	August 25, 2003	long Island	Hard court	Paradorn Srichaphan	2: 6, 4: 6
4th	August 8, 2005	Washington	Hard court	Andy Roddick	5: 7, 3: 6
5.	March 20, 2006	Indian Wells	Hard court	Roger Federer	5: 7, 3: 6, 0: 6
6th	June 19, 2006	Queen's Club (1)	race	Lleyton Hewitt	4: 6, 4: 6
7th	November 20, 2006	Shanghai	Hard court (i)	Roger Federer	0: 6, 3: 6, 4: 6
8th.	February 4, 2007	Delray Beach (1)	Hard court	Xavier Malisse	7: 5, 4: 6, 4: 6
9.	July 22, 2007	los Angeles	Hard court	Radek Štěpánek	6: 7 7 , 7: 5, 2: 6
10.	August 19, 2007	Cincinnati	Hard court	Roger Federer	1: 6, 4: 6
11.	February 17, 2008	Delray Beach (2)	Hard court	Kei Nishikori	6: 3, 1: 6, 4: 6
12.	April 20, 2008	Houston	sand	Marcel Granollers	4: 6, 6: 1, 5: 7
13.	May 10, 2009	Estoril	sand	Albert Montañés	7: 5, 6: 7 6 , 0: 6
14th	June 14, 2009	Queen's Club (2)	race	Andy Murray	5: 7, 4: 6

Double

Tournament victories

ATP World Tour

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	August 5, 2002	Cincinnati	Hard court	Todd Martin	Mahesh Bhupathi Max Mirny	7: 5, 6: 3
2.	March 9, 2003	Scottsdale	Hard court	Mark Merklein	Mark Philippoussis Lleyton Hewitt	6: 4, 6: 7 2 , 7: 6 5
3.	February 16, 2004	San Jose	Hard court (i)	Mardy Fish	Rick Leach Brian MacPhie	6: 2, 7: 5
4th	April 19, 2004	Houston (1)	sand	Mardy Fish	Rick Leach Brian MacPhie	6: 3, 6: 4
5.	April 26, 2004	Munich	sand	Mark Merklein	Julian Knowle Nenad Zimonjić	6: 2, 6: 4
6th	April 15, 2012	Houston (2)	sand	Sam Querrey	Treat Conrad Huey Dominic Inglot	7: 6 14 , 6: 4
7th	March 3, 2013	Delray Beach	Hard court	Jack Sock	Max Mirny Horia Tecau	6: 4, 6: 4

ATP Challenger Tour

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	July 24, 1999	Winnetka	Hard court	Thomas Blake	Max Mirny Alexander Reichel	6: 4, 6: 7, 6: 3
2.	May 12, 2001	Birmingham	sand	Mark Merklein	Ramón Delgado Ignacio Hirigoyen	7: 5, 6: 1

Final participation

No.	date	competition	Topping	partner	Final opponent	Result
1.	February 27, 2006	Memphis (1)	Hard court (i)	Mardy Fish	Chris Haggard Ivo Karlović	6: 0, 5: 7, [5:10]
2.	October 28, 2007	Basel	carpet	Mark Knowles	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	1: 6, 1: 6
3.	February 24, 2013	Memphis (2)	Hard court (i)	Jack Sock	Bob Bryan Mike Bryan	1: 6, 2: 6

literature

• Blake, James & Friedman, Andrew: Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life . It Books, 2008. ISBN 978-0061560606 .

Web links

Commons : James Blake  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

• ATP profile of James Blake (English)
• ITF Profile of James Blake (English)
• Davis Cup stats by James Blake (English)
• official homepage

Individual evidence

1. ^ James Blake announces retirement at the US Open. In: usatoday.com. August 26, 2013, accessed December 15, 2017 . 
2. ↑ James Blake confirmed as the new tournament director of the Miami Open. In: spox.com. January 12, 2018, accessed January 12, 2018 . 
3. ↑ Tennis star confused with cell phone thief. In: faz.net. FAZ, September 11, 2015, accessed on December 15, 2017 . 
4. ↑ Blake: Mayor apologizes. In: sport1.de. September 11, 2015, accessed December 15, 2017 .