James Riley Blake (born December 28, 1979) is an American former professional tennis player. He won 10 titles on the ATP Tour (out of 24 finals contested), reaching a career-high singles ranking of world No. 4. His career highlights included reaching the final of the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup, the semifinals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics (beating world No. 1 Roger Federer en route), the quarterfinals of the 2008 Australian Open and 2005 and 2006 US Opens, two titles at the Hopman Cup (in 2003 and 2004) and being the American No. 1 in men's singles. Blake was also a key performer for the victorious United States 2007 Davis Cup team, winning both his matches in the championship tie against Russia.
In 2004, Blake fractured a vertebra in an accident while training. He made a full recovery, and in 2005 he was presented with the Comeback Player of the Year award for his return to the tour. Later, in 2008, Blake was named the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year. Blake's autobiography, Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life, co-written with Andrew Friedman, discussed his comeback after his 2004 season. It was released on July 3. 2007, and debuted at No. 22 on the New York Times Best Seller list.
Blake retired from professional tennis at the 2013 US Open, being defeated in five sets against Ivo Karlovic and in three sets in
He's been the tour director of the Miami Open since 2018. He is also a commentator for ESPN.
Blake was born in Yonkers, New York, to an African American father, Thomas Reynolds Blake, and a British mother, Betty. He has a brother Thomas, who has also been a professional tennis player, and three older half-brothers: Jason, Christopher, and Howard, and a half-sister Michelle.
Blake started playing tennis at the age of five alongside his older 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.
The Blake family moved to Fairfield, Connecticut when Blake's father's job selling surgical supplies took him from New York to Hartford, Connecticut. Blake attended Fairfield High School, 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 longtime) coach. Blake attended Harvard University, where he was a member of the A.D. Club. He left after his sophomore year to pursue a career in professional tennis.
In 2018, he was elected into the ITA Collegiate Hall of Fame.
At the age of 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 Cincinnati Masters. 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?" Blake's name became more recognizable worldwide after he pushed the eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt to five sets at the US Open.
In January 2002, Blake won the 2002 USTA Waikoloa Challenger in Hawaii. A month later in Memphis he posted his first win over a top-10 ranked opponent, Tommy Haas, who was then ranked no. 5, and reached the final, losing to Andy Roddick. He reached the quarterfinals at the ATP Masters Series (AMS) event in Rome in May and the final 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, making 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, beating Andre Agassi in the semifinals and Paradorn Srichaphan in the final. At the US Open, he reached the third round, where he again faced the top-ranked and world number one Lleyton Hewitt for the rematch of the previous year. In an entertaining match Blake was again defeated in five sets.
In 2003, his best results were a quarterfinals appearance at Indian Wells; a round of 16 finish at the Australian Open, Cincinnati, and Miami; a semifinal appearance at San Jose, and a finals appearance at Long Island, where he lost to Srichaphan. Blake was eliminated from the US Open in the 3rd round by Roger Federer.
2004 was a difficult year for Blake. In May, while practicing with Robby Ginepri for the Masters event in Rome, he broke his neck when he slipped on the clay and collided with the net post. Blake fractured his seventh vertebra, but did not sustain any nerve damage and was ultimately able to make a full recovery from the injury. In July, his father died of stomach cancer. At the same time, Blake developed shingles, which temporarily paralyzed half his face and blurred his vision.
Blake's injuries and personal issues caused him to post relatively poor results for the first half of 2005. By April his ranking was 210. He decided to play the Challenger circuit, the "minor leagues" of tennis, in order to regain confidence and get more matches. In May he entered events in Tunica, Mississippi and Forest Hills, New York, and won both. He rejoined the ATP circuit and by August reached the final at the International Series event in Washington, D.C., where he fell to Roddick. He was given a wild card into AMS Cincinnati, drawing Federer in the first round. He then won the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven, Connecticut, defeating Feliciano López in the final. After New Haven he was ranked 49.
Blake accepted a wildcard into the US Open. After defeating No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the round of 32, Blake beat Tommy Robredo in four sets to reach the quarterfinals where he faced Andre Agassi. The late-evening match is considered one of the greatest classics in the tournament's history. Blake was up two sets and a break in the third when Agassi made a comeback to eventually win in a fifth-set tiebreak. After the match Agassi said, "I wasn't the winner, tennis was". Later in October at the Stockholm Open, Blake won his third ATP tour title, defeating Srichaphan in the final. Blake finished 2005 ranked 22 in the world.
At the beginning of 2006, Blake won the title at Sydney, taking his fourth ATP tour title defeating Russian Igor Andreev in the final. At the Australian Open he was seeded 20th, and despite losing in the third round to Spaniard Tommy Robredo he broke 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, reaching his first career ATP Masters Series singles final, losing in the final to Federer. By reaching the final, Blake became the first African-American man since Arthur Ashe to reach the world's top 10.
At the French Open he defeated Spaniard Nicolás Almagro in four sets in the second round, to become the last remaining American, and then was beaten by Frenchman Gaël Monfils in five sets. Beginning the grass court season at the Stella Artois Championships, he defeated Andy Roddick in the semifinals, losing to Lleyton Hewitt in the final. Ranked No. 5, Blake took part in the International Series at Indianapolis. He won the singles title, defeating Roddick (for the second time in 2006). At the US Open he reached the quarterfinals, losing to top seed and defending champion Roger Federer. In that match Blake won his first ever set against Federer, winning the third set in a tiebreaker 11–9.