COVER STORY: SEPTEMBER 2007

By Bill Simons   Upon publication of his book Breaking Back James Blake spoke to the media and Inside Tennis.   Your book reminds me of some incredible teen phenom who’s just emerged at Wimbledon.  It’s surged to the top out of nowhere. What would be more meaningful to you James, being no. 1 on the ATP Tour or no. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list? Tough question, they both would be pretty meaningful.  Being no. 1 on the tour would be a culmination of a ton of hard work, a whole lot of effort, sweat and sacrifice made on my part, my coach’s part and my family’s part to reach a goal I’ve been searching for my whole life.  The book would be more a validation of my comeback and the fact that people are interested in it, that people respect my story, the fact that I came back from some pretty tough times and I have a better perspective and I’ve learned. Hopefully, people can be inspired by that.  So in terms of inspiring others, the book would be more impressive or meaningful. But in terms of reaching a goal that I’ve sacrificed my entire life for — the ATP Tour No. 1 — that would be most meaningful.  But they are both a ways away, so I have to work on it.   Your mom is a good writer.  What was her reaction to the book?  She was emotional and happy.  I had to make sure she was okay with the grammar and spelling. She definitely was the one who had the red ink out to correct my high school papers.  The best thing was that the book sparked dialogue with how I remembered this scene or how she remembered that scene.  Some memories stuck out in her mind that hadn’t stuck out in my mind, or things that stuck out in mine. So it let us keep talking about meaningful times, which, for her, was great. You started your book with the quote: “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”  Being on the right track and also working is what got me here, and that’s a credit to my father who always preached hard work.  He thought as long as you’re working, it doesn’t matter what track you’re on, whether it be at school, tennis or anything, as long as you’re working. There has to be a bit of a balance between the two—being on the right track and working hard.  You also used the famous John Lennon quote that life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans…

Wow, you’re putting me on the spot with all these quotes. It’s a pet peeve of mine when people, especially younger people, think it’s all going to be perfect once I get a job, once I get this promotion, once I’m in a relationship, once this happens or that happens.  But once they get something else, they want more, they get greedy. When I was younger and probably even today, I’m sure, I could get into that trap: well I’m in the top 10, but now I wish I were No. 5.  Now I wish I was in the top four. But you just have to step back and realize that right now, there’s nothing wrong with the way things are going.

People tend to think that things are going to be perfect when some other thing happens, as opposed to just enjoying the fact that most things are going great right now, especially with me being in the L.A. final tomorrow. I’m just going to appreciate that and not think, “Oh, this week would be great if I get a win tomorrow,” or “If I can carry this on through to Indy.” I want to just appreciate that I played great today, to be happy for that and enjoy a nice day of relaxation before the finals tomorrow.

 

So what’s the difference between the ATP Tour and the book tour?

The ATP Tour is more physical, more demanding. But you actually have to get up earlier for the book tour. They make you do these interviews at ridiculous times, like nine in the morning. It’s unheard of.  You get a lot more of a personal feel on the book tour. You get to meet people, sometimes it’s only a quick interaction, but at least they’re telling you that they read my book and are excited about it, or they’ve heard my story. But on court, I don’t hear much. I don’t exactly notice if someone’s trying to hold a conversation with me while I’m playing, so it’s a little less personal.

 

There have been some extraordinary comments about your book.

Darren Rouvell said it was the best athlete’s book he’d ever read, which is amazing considering Lance Armstrong’s Not about the Bike was exceptional.  He actually cried, and I think he noted the pages where he was crying, and counted 60 pages in a row where tennis wasn’t even mentioned and that was good because I didn’t necessarily want this to be just a tennis book, I wanted it to be about my story, about my family. 

 

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Have you read Arthur Ashe’s Days of Grace?

It’s probably my favorite athlete’s book of all time.  But it too isn’t necessarily an athlete’s book. It’s about Arthur, and there are 60 pages in there where tennis isn’t even mentioned, because he did so much more off the court than he did on the court.  What he did on the court gave him the voice to do so much off the court.  

 

You’re a pretty idealistic guy.  Outside your family, who are your three favorite heroes?

Arthur Ashe and Martin Luther King Jr. I want to say Michael Jordan, but I don’t want to say another sports person.   I’d probably have to go with Bill Clinton.

 

King because…

Because of how much a difference he’s made in the world, making it possible for people like Arthur Ashe to get a fair shake, even though during his time, he really didn’t. King managed to fight so much racism, so much hatred.  It was amazing.  To have someone like Martin — who stood up for what he believed and did it in a non-violent way — that was impressive, really impressive.

 

Clinton…

Clinton because he was also extremely passionate about helping African-Americans. He was passionate about helping those who possibly couldn’t help themselves, and I felt the White House was one of the best of the last 50 to 60 years.  Unfortunately, people, of course, like to talk about his moral indiscretions, but that’s a personal thing.  I would think that would be horrible if that was inside my family, but I think it’s unfair to criticize that when it didn’t have an effect on the country.

 

You’ve had a good run this week reaching the final here in L.A.

Hopefully, it is the start of good things for this summer. Last year, I made the finals in Indy, but then didn’t have such a great summer. But I was still able to do well in the U.S. Open. This year, I’ve got a chance of doing better. I’m excited.

 

Your run here seems like great timing, right as your book is coming out.

Yeah, it’s all promotional, just to promote the book. I don’t really want to win this tournament.

 

You talk about how, when you were off the tour with injuries, you were able to get to know far more about your friends, their work and what makes them tick.

I got to be a part of their daily lives. They’d go away to work and then come home every night and make dinner or go get dinner. You get to learn so much more about a person if you see them day in and day out. You learn about their co-workers and what they do.  I actually found out the differences between marketing and investment bankers and analysts and all those things, but it seems that it’s not a lot of fun. Today they were all here. It’s a perfect way to have a vacation.  They got to watch tennis, scream and go crazy for me, and now they are celebrating with a couple of beers. I’m really happy they’re here.

 

If you just had to choose one — to win the U.S. Open, Wimbledon, Davis Cup or become No. 1, which…

The Davis Cup just because of the team aspect, because it’s something you accomplish together, and I’ve never had that feeling. In college, we never won a national championship.  In high school, we never won anything. We never even won states [in Connecticut].  So it would be a great accomplishment to win something as a team, especially when I really care about these guys—Andy [Roddick] and the Bryans. If it weren’t such a close-knit team and if the guys didn’t have such a desire to win, I would probably say the U.S. Open.  But with these guys, it’s the Davis Cup.

 

Your Davis Cup team has been together for a good while.  You’ve made runs that have fallen short. Now you next go to Sweden in September. In your gut, do you think you can now go all the way?

I’ve thought for a couple years now we’ve had a run in us to win it.  But whether it’s this year, or next, I don’t know.  This year feels great since we’re already in the semis and in the eyes of the fans, we’re the favorite.  It’s never easy to predict, but I feel really great about our chances.

 

No offense, but you could have a lot worse in a Davis Cup semi than going up against Robin Soderling and Jonas Bjorkman.

Those guys are playing great. Soderling is playing real well. It’s amazing how Bjorkman, who’s in his mid-30s, is playing. It’s going to be tough with how much he’s going to be attacking.

Last year was your best ever.  Do you pressure yourself to match that or do you just view it as a platform to build on?

It was a great year, one where things seemed to fall into place almost every time. When you get a couple break points, you take advantage, or you win a match that maybe you shouldn’t have won and then you go deep into a tournament. Then there are times when things don’t go your way. But I felt I was getting better. That might have been my best year ever, but I feel I’m getting better and could eclipse last year. But if I don’t, I can still be happy and look back on a year where I finished No. 4 and was the No. 1 American.  Not too many people can do that.

 

You’ve said the only way you were going to go deep into a tournament is to play high-risk tennis.

There is no way I am going to be able to win tournaments and have runs in Grand Slams just by playing defense all the time.  There aren’t that many guys that can do that, and the ones that can have been doing it since they were kids.  That was never my game style. That was never my plan. 

 

Are you satisfied with your Slam results [losses in the fourth, first and third rounds] this year?

I would always like them to be better. I played well in the Australian Open, but I came up a little short against Fernando Gonzalez when he was playing great.  At the French Open, I could have played great and still lost that match to Ivo Karlovic. 

 

That day in Paris against Karlovic, a 6-foot-10 powermeister, was it just a matter of the Krajicek syndrome, when a red-hot Richard Krajicek served Pete (the King of Wimbledon) Sampras off the court?

Yeah.  You never know what’s going to happen because he could just serve you off the court like he did that day.  But at Wimbledon… I could’ve played a little better against Juan Carlos Ferrero in that tiebreaker.  What I’ve been most disappointed in is that fourth-set tiebreaker.  Otherwise, I feel I played okay.

 

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