James Blake

James Blake
Blake James.jpg
Country ``United States
Residence Saddlebrook, Tampa, Florida, United States
Date of birth December 28, 1979 (1979-12-28) (age 29)
Place of birth Yonkers, NY
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight 183 lb (83 kg/13.1 st)
Turned pro 1999
Plays Right-handed; one-handed backhand
Career prize money US$6,210,501
Singles
Career record: 292–175
Career titles: 10
Highest ranking: No. 4 (November 20, 2006)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open QF (2008)
French Open 3R (2006)
Wimbledon 3R (2006, 2007)
US Open QF (2005, 2006)
Doubles
Career record: 90–90
Career titles: 5
Highest ranking: No. 31 (March 31, 2003)
Mixed Doubles
Career record: {{{mixedrecord}}}
Career titles: {{{mixedtitles}}}
Highest ranking: {{{highestmixedranking}}}

Infobox last updated on: November 3, 2008.

James Riley Blake[1] (born December 28, 1979 in Yonkers, New York, United States) is an American professional tennis player and is currently the 10th ranked player in the world. Blake is known for his speed and powerful forehands. He reached the final of the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup but lost to World No. 1 Roger Federer in straight 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 Best Seller list. He wrote this book along with Andrew Friedman.

Contents

Early life

Blake was born in Yonkers, New York, United States to an African American father Thomas Sr. and a White British mother Betty.[2] He has a brother, Thomas Jr., 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 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 Warde High School (then called Fairfield High School), in Fairfield, Connecticut. A schoolmate 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.

Career

2000–2001

At the age 21, Blake saw his first Davis Cup action in 2001 against India and became the third person of African-American heritage to play for the Davis Cup for the United States (after Arthur Ashe and MaliVai Washington).

Ranked No. 120 in the world, Blake accepted a wild card into AMS Cincinnati. He beat a qualifier and Arnaud Clément to reach the round of 16 where he met Patrick Rafter. Blake came close to winning the first set (falling in a tiebreak), and after dropping the second set, Rafter, according to Blake's autobiography, complimented him at the net and boosted his confidence immeasurably by saying "Now do you believe you can beat someone like me, or even me?"

2002–2003

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 quarterfinals at the ATP Masters Series (AMS) event in Rome in May and then the finals at Newport in July.

In August, in Cincinnati, he won his first career ATP Tour title and his first ATP Masters Series title: it came in doubles with Todd Martin and it made Blake the first African-American male to win a title of any kind in Cincinnati's 101-year history. He was also the first African-American to reach a final in Cincinnati since 1969 when Arthur Ashe reached the doubles finals with Charlie Pasarell. The next week in Washington, he won his first ATP Tour singles title by beating Andre Agassi in the semifinals and Paradorn Srichaphan in the final.

At the U.S. Open, he reached the third round before falling to top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt in five sets. Lleyton Hewitt had once called James out on his ethnicity.

In 2003 his best results were a quarterfinal showing at AMS Indian Wells; a Round of 16 finish at the Australian Open, AMS Cincinnati and AMS Miami; a semifinal appearance at San Jose; and a finals appearance at Long Island.

2004

The year of 2004 was an especially difficult year for Blake. While practicing with Robby Ginepri for the Masters event being held in Rome, he broke his neck when he slipped on the clay and collided with the net post. In July, his father died as a result of stomach cancer. At the same time, Blake developed shingles, which temporarily paralyzed half his face and blurred his sight.

With all these stresses and setbacks occurring at once, Blake's future in tennis was in serious jeopardy.

2005

Blake's injuries and personal issues caused him to post relatively poor results for the first half of 2005, and by April his ranking was at No. 210. Blake made the decision to play the Challenger circuit, the "minor leagues" of tennis, in order to gain confidence and get more matches. In May, he entered Challenger events in Tunica, Mississippi, and Forest Hills, New York, and won both. He then rejoined the ATP circuit, and by August he was playing well enough to reach the final at the International Series event in Washington, D.C., where he fell to Roddick.

He was then given a wild card into AMS Cincinnati, where he drew Federer in the first round. The following week he entered and won the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, defeating Feliciano López in the final.

His efforts that summer helped him re-enter the ATP Top 50, and after New Haven he was ranked No. 49.

Blake then accepted a wildcard into the US Open, where he defeated No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the round of 32. In the round of 16, he beat Tommy Robredo in four sets to reach the quarterfinals where he succumbed to Andre Agassi in a memorable fifth-set tiebreak after winning the first two sets. He lost 3–6, 3–6, 6–3, 6–3, 7–6 (6).

In October at the Stockholm Open in Sweden, Blake won his third ATP tour title, defeating Srichaphan in the final. Blake finished 2005 ranked #22 in the world.

2006

Blake started the year strong, winning the title at Sydney to take his fourth ATP tour title. He defeated Russian Igor Andreev in the final.

At the Australian Open he was seeded twentieth, and lost in the third round to Spaniard Tommy Robredo. Despite the loss, he cracked into the Top 20 for the first time in his career.

In March, he beat Hewitt in the final at Las Vegas for his fifth ATP tour title.

At the first AMS event of the year, Indian Wells, Blake defeated Robredo in the third round and world No. 2 Nadal in the semifinals to reach his first career ATP Masters Series singles final. He lost in the final to Federer, but by reaching the final, Blake became the first African-American man since Arthur Ashe to reach the world's top 10.

On clay, Blake defeated former world No. 1 Carlos Moyà in the first round at AMS Hamburg before losing to Mario Ančić in the third round.

At the French Open, he took down rising Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in four sets in the second round, to become the last remaining American man at the French. However, in the next round, he was beaten by Frenchman Gaël Monfils in five sets.

To start the grass court season, he made what many considered to be a surprising run at the Stella Artois Championships, defeating Andy Roddick in the semifinals before losing to Lleyton Hewitt in the final.

At Wimbledon, Blake progressed to the third round, but lost to Max Mirnyi in five sets.[3]

Blake's first tournament after Wimbledon was at the International Series event at Indianapolis, and he went on to win the singles title by defeating Roddick (for the second time in 2006) in the final. Just by reaching the Indy final, Blake earned enough points to be ranked No. 5 in the world. He lost in the third round to Marat Safin in Washington, D.C., and in the first round in New Haven to Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo.

Blake did not enjoy as much success during the summer's biggest tournaments, losing in the second round to the eventual finalist in both of the summer ATP Masters Series events. At AMS Canada, he fell to Richard Gasquet (who would reach the final that week before losing to Roger Federer), and at AMS Cincinnati he lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero (who lost in the final to Andy Roddick).

At the U.S. Open, Blake reached the quarterfinals where he lost to top seed and defending champion Roger Federer. In that match, Blake managed to win his first set against Federer, winning the third set in a tiebreaker (11–9).

In his debut appearance at the Thailand Open in Bangkok, Blake won his seventh singles title, defeating Jarkko Nieminen in the quarterfinals, Marat Safin in the semifinals, and Ivan Ljubičić for the first time in the final.

Just two weeks later, Blake won his fifth title of 2006, successfully defending his 2005 title in Stockholm, by defeating Jarkko Nieminen in the final.

For the first time in his career, Blake qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. Blake went 2–1 in the Gold Group, defeating world No. 2 Nadal and No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko, while losing to No. 6 Tommy Robredo. Blake qualified for the semifinals, where he steamrolled defending champion David Nalbandian, 6–4, 6–1. He went on to the final against Federer, but lost the match in straight sets, 6-0, 6-3, 6-4. Blake finished 2006 at a career-high World Number 4, and also finished the year as the highest-ranked American tennis player.

2007

Blake won at the Sydney International for the second consecutive year. However, he then suffered a disappointing loss in the Round of 16 at the Australian Open, losing to tenth seed and eventual finalist Fernando González 7–5, 6–4, 7–6 (4). He followed that up with a loss to Tomáš Berdych in Davis Cup play and a second round loss in the SAP Open (San Jose) to #103 ranked Ivo Karlović.

At the 2007 Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas, as the defending champion, he was involved with a deep controversy. It was one of the several tournaments experimenting with the new round robin format,[4] and Blake had lost his first match to Evgeny Korolev. Korolev lost his other match to Juan Martín del Potro. In order for Blake to advance to the quarters, he had to defeat Del Potro in straight sets while losing five games or less. This would result in a three-way tie, with Blake losing the fewest games. With Blake leading 6–1 3–1, Del Potro retired. This eliminated Del Potro from the three-way tie as he failed to complete one of his matches. Korolev then moved on to the next round, breaking the tie because he had defeated Blake in their match.

That caused a big uproar among fans, James Blake, and commentators, as they felt James Blake deserved to advance. After a press conference of many hours, the ATP, led by Etienne de Villiers, decided that, since Blake would have met the guidelines the way the match was going, and since neither player knew the consequences of retiring (Del Potro said he would have finished the match had he known), Blake would have advanced anyway. They overruled the tournament guidelines, giving Blake a place in the quarterfinals.

The following morning, De Villiers reversed his reversal deeming that it was unfair to Korolev as you shouldn't change the rules in mid-tournament, regardless of what happened. As a result, Korolev re-advanced to the quarterfinals, sending Blake to Indian Wells without a 3rd consecutive title defense. Shortly after this incident, the ATP decided to cancel the round robin format, reverting any tournaments planning a round robin draw to the standard single-elimination draw.[5]

Roland Garros 2007 was a disappointment for Blake, losing in the first round to Ivo Karlović 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 male 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.

During the summer hardcourt season, he advanced to his second career ATP Masters Series event and won a singles title. At AMS Cincinnati, he beat Alejandro Falla, Nicolas Kiefer, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Sam Querrey and Nikolay Davydenko en route to the final before falling to Roger Federer. He won the singles title at Penn Pilot in New Haven,CT, and started the North American hardcourt season by reaching the finals at Los Angeles, losing to Radek Štěpánek in three sets, 7–6, 5–7, 6–2 after having three set points in the first set.

In the second round of the 2007 U.S. Open, he won his first career five-set match against Fabrice Santoro, whom he defeated 6–4, 3–6, 6–2, 4–6, 6–4. Blake made it to the fourth round, where he lost to No. 10 Tommy Haas in five sets, 4–6, 6–4, 3–6, 6–0, 7–6(4), despite having match points in the fifth set.

Blake and the rest of the US Davis Cup team defeated Sweden in September to reach the finals against Russia.

James also participated in Madrid and Basel. In Madrid, he fell to former top ten star Mario Ančić in the second round. In Basel, he fell in the second round to Ivo Karlović. However, Blake teamed with former number one doubles player Mark Knowles of the Bahamas to make the final. In the first round, he and Knowles upset U.S. Open champions Simon Aspelin and Julian Knowle in three sets. In the semifinals, the team bore match points twelve times, and finally defeated Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett, the second seeds, 7–5 6–7 [12–10] with thirteen needed match points. [6] Their luck, however, was halted by top seeds and top ranked Bob and Mike Bryan, who are Blake's Davis Cup teammates. Blake and Knowles lost 6–1 6–1. After the match, James quoted: "'Yes, they played as well I have seen them play in a while. It's tough. I have seen them do it to a lot of guys in Davis Cup from the sidelines and know how little fun it is to face them. That's the reason why they are the best doubles team in the world right now. [At the start of the week] I told Mark I had not won a lot of doubles matches this year, so I was glad to have him get me through a couple of wins. I had a great time and a lot of fun. Getting a chance to play with one of the best doubles players, really ever, was exciting for me. I learnt plenty and hopefully we’ll be better next time.'" [7]

Blake lost in the third round of Paris to Richard Gasquet and thus finished outside the top eight players, losing his chance to defend the points he gained as finalist in the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup.

James Blake won his match in the 2007 Davis Cup finals against Mikhail Youzhny, 6–3, 7–6, 6–7, 7–6 (and also against Dmitry Tursunov). Andy Roddick won his match versus Tursunov and Bob and Mike Bryan won the doubles rubber over Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko, sealing the Davis Cup win for the United States.[8][9]

2008

James Blake began 2008 hoping to win his third consecutive Medibank International title. However, the defending champion bowed out of the tournament in the first round, losing to French veteran Fabrice Santoro 6–7(4), 2–6. The third seed (Blake) was said to be "uncharacteristic" in reference to his frustration.

At the Australian Open, Blake defeated his first round opponent, Chilean Nicolás Massú. He then defeated compatriot Michael Russell 6–3 6–2 6–2. In the third round, he fought back from two sets down to beat French veteran Sébastien Grosjean 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 7-6(5), 6-2, who had beaten him in each of their three previous meetings.

In the fourth round, Blake beat Marin Čilić in three sets to advance to the quarterfinals, his best showing yet down under. In the quarterfinal, James Blake faced world No. 1 Roger Federer, and fell in straight sets, 7–5, 7–6(5), 6–4. Although out of the Australian Open, Blake's ranking jumped back into the Top 10 to No. 9 following his best performance in the tournament yet.

In Davis Cup, the USA played Austria on clay. James defeated Stefan Koubek in four sets (5–7, 7–5, 6–2, 6–2). Despite being down 2–5 in the second set, James turned things around, helped in part by unforced errors by Koubek.

In Delray Beach, James made it to the final for the second consecutive year, but fell to No. 244 Kei Nishikori of Japan in three sets in the final (6-3, 1-6, 4-6). At the 2008 SAP Open, he rebounded from that loss by defeating compatriot Sam Warburg in straight sets in the first round (6-3, 6-1) and Jesse Levine in straight sets in the second round (6-3, 6-4). However, he lost to Robby Ginepri (2-6, 2-6) on the following round.

At the 2008 Pacific Life Open, Blake, the ninth seed, received a "bye" in the first round, before defeating Marc Gicquel 6–3, 6–7(5), 6–1 in the second round. In the third round, Blake beat former world #1 Carlos Moyà 6–3, 6–4.[10][11]. He then defeated Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the fourth round in straight sets 6–4, 6–2, before losing to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals 5–7, 6–3, 3–6.

At the 2008 Miami Masters, Blake reached the quarterfinals, but again lost to Rafael Nadal in three sets (6-3, 3-6, 1-6).

In Davis Cup, Team USA played France. Unfortunately for France, they were missing two of their best players, Richard Gasquet and Jo Wilfried Tsonga due to injuries. Gasquet had blisters on his right hand and a sore knee, and Tsonga had an ankle injury. So Michaël Llodra and Paul Henri-Mathieu were the players playing singles for France. After Andy Roddick defeated Llodra, James would play Mathieu. James won in a three-hour, 48-minute, five-set match against the Frenchman, 7–6, 6–7, 6–3, 3–6, 7–5. He had to save two match points to defeat the number 12 Mathieu.

Blake then started the clay court season at the River Oaks International tournament in Houston, Texas. He defeated Kei Nishikori in the first round (6–4, 6–4), 15-year-old Ryan Harrison in the second round, No. 5 seed Agustín Calleri of Argentina in the quarterfinals, and Oscar Hernandez of Spain in the semifinals (6–3, 7–6(3)). In his second ATP final of the year and his first career clay-court final, Blake fell to Spaniard Marcel Granollers Pujol, 4–6, 6–1, 5–7.

James received a wild card to play in the clay tournament in Barcelona, Spain. However, he lost in the first round to German Denis Gremelmayr in straight sets.

Looking for a better performance on clay, James played in the Master Series tournament in Rome. He received a bye in the first round. In the second round, he faced Italian hopeful Andreas Seppi. James won in three sets 7–6, 3–6, 6–1. In the third round, he faced Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. He won in three sets 5–7, 7–5, 6–2. His run was ended in the quarterfinals by Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in three sets 7-6, 6-7, 1-6.

At the French, he made it to the second round before being defeated by Ernests Gulbis in four sets. He fared no better at Wimbledon, losing in the 2nd round to the resurgent semi-finalist Rainer Schuettler in five sets, 3-6, 7-6(8), 6-4, 4-6, 4-6.

At the Cincinnati Masters, Blake lost to Ernests Gulbis 4-6, 6-1, 3-6 in the third round.

In August 2008, Blake represented the United States as one of its three men's singles tennis players in the Beijing Olympics. In the quarterfinals, he gained one of the biggest wins of his career with his first ever win over Roger Federer, 6-4 7-6(2). At the time, Federer was ranked as the world's No. 1 men's player.[12] His semifinal match was against Fernando González, the Men's Singles bronze medalist at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Blake had triple match point in the middle of the final set, but would go on to lose 4-6, 7-5, 11-9. He then lost in the bronze medal match to Serbian Novak Djokovic 4-6, 6-7(4).

In the US Open, Blake was stretched to a 5 set thriller against American teenager Donald Young 6-1, 3-6, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in the first round. Blake easily won his second round match after Steve Darcis retired, 4-6, 6-3, 1-0. Blake then lost to friend and fellow American Mardy Fish in the third round in straight sets 3-6, 3-6, 6-7(4).

Playing style

Blake adopts an offensive baseline strategy which he achieves through his aggressive powerful forehands that are deep and flat. He undoubtedly possesses one of the strongest forehands on the tour. He is also an excellent returner of serve, he makes use of compact swings to aggressively return, reminiscent of Andre Agassi. His forehands, due to being flat and deep, offer little room for error when compared to high margin shots which employ topspin. Although, Blake can incorporate an all-court playing style by aiming his shots down the lines, or moving an opponent from side to side and proceeding to finish the point at the net by smash or volley. Blake is also noted for his exceptional court coverage, speed, and athleticism. He is noted for having incredible foot speed but lacking in footwork. His backhand has improved tremendously over the course of his career, what used to be considered a weakness has now become a powerful and reliable shot. He occasionally employs the slice backhand. He has been criticized for not having variety in his game, seeing as he will try to outhit his opponent on the baseline with raw power, rather than consistency.

Blake's style of play is best suited for hard courts as his flat shots tend to stay low and move quickly across the court; this approach is relatively ineffective on clay courts. Apart from winning hard court tournaments, Blake has made some considerable runs to the finals of a few grass tournaments.

Equipment

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. Blake ended his relationship with Prince. He switched to the Dunlop Aerogel 2Hundred for Wimbledon which is characterized by its low power, 95 square inch head size, and a dense 18 x 20 string pattern. Blake said, "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."[13] His racquet is strung with Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 16L String at a relatively high tension (60+ pounds). The high tension and dense string pattern are thought to help provide better control for his powerful strokes.

His clothing sponsor is Nike, and he frequently wears the power sleeveless tops which are identical to Rafael Nadal's and Carlos Moyà's. His shoes are Nike Air Max Breathe Cage II.

Career Highlights

Personal life

Away from tennis, Blake also enjoys golf and basketball. He is a big fan of the New York Mets. Blake was featured on Bravo's second edition of Celebrity Poker Showdown, but got 2nd after losing to Maura Tierney.[14]

Blake appeared in People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive issue. [15] He once dated Jennifer Scholle[16] and US Women's Soccer Player Heather Mitts. [17]

He is also good friends with singer/songwriter John Mayer, who also attended Fairfield High School.[18] When Blake was invited by Virginia's Anthem Insurance to do a cancer charity game honoring his late father, he invited John Mayer, Andy Roddick and Gavin DeGraw to perform.[19]

Tennis Masters Cup singles finals

Runner-up (1)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2006 Shanghai Flag of Switzerland Roger Federer 6–0, 6–3, 6–4

ATP Masters Series singles finals

Runner-ups (2)

Year Championship Opponent in Final Score in Final
2006 Indian Wells Flag of Switzerland Roger Federer 7–5, 6–3, 6–0
2007 Cincinnati Flag of Switzerland Roger Federer 6–1, 6–4

Career finals (29)

Singles wins (10)

Legend
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (10)
Titles by Surface
Hard (10)
Clay (0)
Grass (0)
Carpet (0)
No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. August 12, 2002 Washington, D.C., United States Hard Flag of Thailand Paradorn Srichaphan 1–6, 7–6(5), 6–4
2. August 22, 2005 New Haven, United States Hard Flag of Spain Feliciano López 3–6, 7–5, 6–1
3. October 10, 2005 Stockholm, Sweden Hard (i) Flag of Thailand Paradorn Srichaphan 6–1, 7–6(6)
4. January 9, 2006 Sydney, Australia Hard Flag of Russia Igor Andreev 6–2, 3–6, 7–6(3)
5. February 27, 2006 Las Vegas, United States Hard Flag of Australia Lleyton Hewitt 7–5, 2–6, 6–3
6. July 17, 2006 Indianapolis, United States Hard Flag of the United States Andy Roddick 4–6, 6–4, 7–6(5)
7. September 25, 2006 Bangkok, Thailand Hard (i) Flag of Croatia Ivan Ljubičić 6–3, 6–1
8. October 15, 2006 Stockholm, Sweden Hard (i) Flag of Finland Jarkko Nieminen 6–4, 6–2
9. January 13, 2007 Sydney, Australia Hard Flag of Spain Carlos Moyà 6–3, 5–7, 6–1
10. August 25, 2007 New Haven, United States Hard Flag of the United States Mardy Fish 7–5, 6–4

Singles runner-ups (12)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. February 25, 2002 Memphis, United States Hard (i) Flag of the United States Andy Roddick 6–4, 3–6, 7–5
2. July 15, 2002 Newport, United States Grass Flag of the United States Taylor Dent 6–1, 4–6, 6–4
3. August 25, 2003 Long Island, United States Hard Flag of Thailand Paradorn Srichaphan 6–2, 6–4
4. August 8, 2005 Washington, D.C., United States Hard Flag of the United States Andy Roddick 7–5, 6–3
5. March 20, 2006 Indian Wells, United States Hard Flag of Switzerland Roger Federer 7–5, 6–3, 6–0
6. June 19, 2006 London/Queen's Club, England Grass Flag of Australia Lleyton Hewitt 6–4, 6–4
7. November 20, 2006 Tennis Masters Cup, Shanghai Hard (i) Flag of Switzerland Roger Federer 6–0, 6–3, 6–4
8. February 4, 2007 Delray Beach, United States Hard Flag of Belgium Xavier Malisse 5–7, 6–4, 6–4
9. July 22, 2007 Los Angeles, United States Hard Flag of the Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek 7–6(7) 5–7 6–2
10. August 19, 2007 Cincinnati, United States Hard Flag of Switzerland Roger Federer 6–1, 6–4
11. February 17, 2008 Delray Beach, United States Hard Flag of Japan Kei Nishikori 3–6, 6–1, 6–4
12. April 20, 2008 Houston, United States Clay Flag of Spain Marcel Granollers Pujol 6–4, 1–6, 7–5

Doubles wins (5)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponent in the final Score
1. August 5, 2002 Cincinnati, United States Hard Flag of the United States Todd Martin Flag of India Mahesh Bhupathi
Flag of Belarus Max Mirnyi		 7–5, 6–3
2. March 10, 2003 Scottsdale, United States Hard Flag of the Bahamas Mark Merklein Flag of Australia Mark Philippoussis
Flag of Australia Lleyton Hewitt		 6–4, 6–7(2), 7–6(5)
3. February 16, 2004 San Jose, United States Hard (i) Flag of the United States Mardy Fish Flag of the United States Rick Leach
Flag of the United States Brian MacPhie		 6–2, 7–5
4. April 19, 2004 Houston, United States Clay Flag of the United States Mardy Fish Flag of the United States Rick Leach
Flag of the United States Brian MacPhie		 6–3, 6–4
5. April 26, 2004 Munich, Germany Clay Flag of the Bahamas Mark Merklein Flag of Austria Julian Knowle
Flag of Serbia and Montenegro Nenad Zimonjić		 6–2, 6–4

Doubles runner-ups (2)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partnering Opponent in the final Score
1. February 27, 2006 Memphis, United States Hard (i) Flag of the United States Mardy Fish Flag of South Africa Chris Haggard
Flag of Croatia Ivo Karlović		 0–6, 7–5, 10–5
2. October 28, 2007 Basel, Switzerland Carpet Flag of the Bahamas Mark Knowles Flag of the United States Bob Bryan
Flag of the United States Mike Bryan		 6–1, 6–1

Grand Slam singles performance timeline

Tournament 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Career SR Career Win-Loss
Grand Slams
Australian Open A LQ LQ 2R 4R 4R 2R 3R 4R QF 0 / 7 17–7
French Open A A LQ 2R 2R A 2R 3R 1R 2R 0 / 6 6–6
Wimbledon A LQ LQ 2R 2R A 1R 3R 3R 2R 0 / 6 7–6
U.S. Open 1R LQ 2R 3R 3R A QF QF 4R 3R 0 / 7 16–7
Grand Slam SR 0 / 1 0 / 0 0 / 1 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 1 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 4 0 / 2 0 / 25 45–25
Tennis Masters Cup A A A A A A A F A 0 / 1 3–2
ATP Masters Series
Indian Wells Masters A 1R LQ 1R QF QF 3R F 3R QF 0 / 8 18–8
Miami Masters A LQ LQ 4R 3R 1R 2R QF 2R QF 0 / 7 11–7
Monte Carlo Masters A A A 1R 2R A A A A A 0 / 2 1–2
Rome Masters A A A QF 1R 1R A 1R 2R QF 0 / 6 6–6
Hamburg Masters A A A 1R 1R A A 3R 3R 2R 0 / 5 3–5
Canada Masters A A A 2R 2R A A 2R 2R QF 0 / 5 6–4
Cincinnati Masters A A 3R 2R 3R A 1R 2R F 3R 0 / 7 12–7
Madrid Masters (Stuttgart) A A A 1R 1R A A 2R 2R 2R 0 / 5 0–5
Paris Masters A A A 2R 2R A 2R 3R 3R SF 0 / 6 7–6
ATP Tournaments Won 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 5 2 N/A 10
Year End Ranking 220 212 73 28 37 97 23 4 13 10 N/A N/A

Notes

  1. ↑ "James Blake stats at Tennis Warehouse" Tennis-Warehouse.com (accessed November 19, 2006)
  2. ↑ A Winning Return
  3. ↑ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/tennis/specials/wimbledon/2006/06/30/bc.ten.wimbledon.1.ap/index.html
  4. ↑ http://www.atptennis.com/en/news/2007/round_robin1.asp
  5. ↑ http://www.atptennis.com/en/news/2007/roundrobin.asp
  6. ↑ ATP (2007-10-27). "Blake/Knowles Win Basel SF on 13th Match Point", ATP. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  7. ↑ ATP (2007-10-28). "Bryan Brothers Capture 10th Title of Stellar Season", ATP. Retrieved on 2007-10-28. 
  8. ↑ Association of Tennis Professionals (2007-11-30). "Roddick, Blake Place USA in Reach of Davis Cup Title", Association of Tennis Professionals. Retrieved on 2007-12-01. 
  9. ↑ International Tennis Federation (2007-12-02). "Davis Cup - World Group 2007 Final Results", International Tennis Federation. Retrieved on 2007-12-05. 
  10. ↑ Pacific Life Open (2008). "Djokovic, Canas to Face Off in Fourth Round Blockbuster", Pacific Life Open. Retrieved on 2008-03-19. 
  11. ↑ Pacific Life Open (2008). "Blake Bounces Moya; Nadal, Tsonga to Clash", Pacific Life Open. Retrieved on 2008-03-19. 
  12. ↑ Blake eliminates Federer from Olympic Tennis
  13. ↑ http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/newspage.html?cref=2311
  14. ↑ BravoTV. "Celebrity Poker Showdown Tournament 2" www.bravotv.com (accessed September 3, 2007)
  15. ↑ US Olympic Committee. "James Blake Profile" www.usoc.org (accessed August 21, 2007)
  16. ↑ Tennis | EndScore
  17. ↑ SI Extra Mustard (2007). http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/extramustard/08/21/hotclicks.0821/index.html "As the Brady Turns"] SI.com (accessed August 21, 2007)
  18. ↑ Patrick, Dan (2003). "Outtakes with James Blake" ESPN (accessed May 2, 2006)
  19. ↑ Pratt, Jane (2005). "Tennis Great James Blake, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield and the Virginia Historical Society Announce an Acquisition of Arthur Ashe's Personal Items" Anthem.com (accessed May 2, 2006)

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