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| Birth Name(s) : James Blake |
Date of Birth: N/A |
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Single
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Athlete |
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Full James Blake Biography
James Riley Blake (born December 28, 1979 in Yonkers, New York, United States) is an American professional tennis player and is currently the 8th ranked player in the world (8th in the ATP Race points). He is the second-ranked American player behind Andy Roddick. Blake is known for his speed and powerful forehands. In 2006 he reached the final of the Tennis Masters Cup but lost to World No. 1 Roger Federer in three sets(6-0, 6-3, 6-4) . 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 #22 on the New York Times bestseller list.
In January, Blake won the 2002 USTA Waikola Challenger in Hawaii. A month later, in Memphis, he posted his first win over a top-ten ranked opponent, Tommy Haas, who was then ranked fifth, and reached the finals, losing to Andy Roddick. He posted solid results over the summer, reaching the quarter-finals in Rome and then the finals at Newport. Then James won his first ATP-tour tournament in Washington, beating Andre Agassi in the semis. He again ran into trouble at the U.S. Open losing to top ranked Lleyton Hewitt in five sets.
2003 was an up-and-down year, reaching the 4th round of the Australian Open, the semis at San Jose and the finals of Long Island.
In January 2006, Blake lost in the second round of the Adelaide International. However, Blake bounced back and won the Sydney International winning his fourth ATP tour title defeating Russian Igor Andreev in the final. At the 2006 Australian Open, he was seeded #20, where he lost in the third round to Spanish player Tommy Robredo. Despite the loss, he cracked into the Top 20 for the first time in his career. In March 2006, he beat Lleyton Hewitt in the finals of the Las Vegas Open for his fifth ATP tour title. At the first Tennis Masters Series event in Indian Wells, Blake defeated Tommy Robredo in the third round and beat world #2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals; he would lose in the final to Roger Federer. By reaching the finals of that event, Blake became the first man with African-American heritage since Arthur Ashe to reach the Top 10.
Kicking off the 2006 clay court season, after two first round losses, Blake had a victory over Carlos Moyà at the Hamburg Masters event in the first round, but lost to Mario Ancic in the third round. At the French Open, he took down rising Spanish player Nicolas Almagro in four sets in the second round. Being the last remaining American man in the third round, he was beaten by French home favorite Gael Monfils in five sets.
Blake's first tournament after the loss at Wimbledon was the RCA Championships, a tournament which he would go on to win by defeating Andy Roddick in the final. With his advancement to the RCA final, Blake was then ranked 5th in the world. Following that title, he had a lackluster summer hardcourt season, having a third round loss to Marat Safin, and three consecutive second round losses to Richard Gasquet, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo. Blake defeated Tomáš Berdych in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals of 2006 U.S. Open, but lost to first seed and defending champion Roger Federer. In that match, Blake managed to win his first set against Federer, winning the third set tiebreaker (11-9).
In his debut appearance at the Thailand Open in Bangkok, Blake won his seventh singles title, defeating Jarkko Nieminen in the quarterfinal, Marat Safin in the semifinal, and Ivan Ljubicic for the first time in the final. Just two weeks later, Blake won another title, successfully defending his reign in Stockholm, defeating Jarkko Nieminen again in the final.
Blake worked with Prince to create a new racquet featuring Prince's O3 technology. The endeavor resulted in the Prince O3 Hybrid Tour. However, Blake did not feel comfortable with this racquet, or with the O3 technology. As of May 29, 2007, Blake has ended his relationship with Prince. Dunlop plans to unveil which one of its cutting-edge Aerogel racquets James Blake will play at the Wimbledon championships. Blake says, "The new Aerogel racquet technology provides several frame specifications that will suit my game well and give me the confidence to know that I can take my career to new heights."
Roland Garros 2007 was a disappointment for Blake, losing in the first round to Ivo Karlovic 4-6, 6-4 7-5 7-5. Blake was one of nine American men to lose in the first round of Roland Garros. This was the first time in the open era where an American had not made it into a Grand Slam second round.
In Wimbledon 2007, James reached the third round, matching his best showing there (2006), but was unable to get past former world number 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-6.
He also won his first 5 set match in the second round of the 2007 U.S. Open defeating Fabrice Santoro 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Blake made it to the fourth round, where he lost to #10-ranked Tommy Haas in five sets, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-0, 7-6. |
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