James Blake - Australian Open Men's Tennis Players
If American James Blake can exhibit half the fighting spirit he showed in his 'annus horribilis' then the other contenders to the 2009 Australian Open men's singles throne best beware. The young African-American showed incredible strength and dedication to come back from an appalling neck injury, the death of his father and a related nervous condition, to be currently ranked no.11 in the world! Blake was also featured in People's Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive edition!
Blake started his career with a bang. He was named "Rookie of the Year" in 2000, challenged eventual US Open champion, Lleyton Hewitt to a five set marathon, and beat the legendary Andre Agassi in 2002.
In 2004 his life and career came to a crashing halt. While training with his coach in Rome, he broke his neck running into a net post. If that was not bad enough for any aspiring athlete, he lost his father in the same year to stomach cancer. He then developed a nervous condition known as 'shingles', which left half of his face paralysed and his vision impaired.
By some miracle and an enormous amount of work on the part of the young man, he fought his way back onto the tennis courts and remarkably beat world no.2 Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo to reach the quarterfinals of the 2005 US Open. He had entered the tournament on a wildcard. He failed to subdue the rampant Agassi, but gave him a bit of a shock after taking the first two sets.
In 2006 James Blake, Australian Open men's tennis player of the future, was seeded twentieth, but lost in the third round to Spaniard, Robredo. On the way to becoming the second African-American tennis player since Arthur Ashe to reach the Top 10, Blake had to subdue the big boys of tennis, which he did in style. He defeated Robredo, Nadal and Hewitt, but fell prey to the world no.1 Roger Federer .
He went through to the third round at the French Open and Wimbledon and reached the quarterfinals at the US Open, but was again a victim of the "Swiss machine" and number one seed, Federer. Blake ended 2006 on a high note - he was ranked no.4 in the world!
Although he has yet to win a Grand Slam title and did not have a remarkable year in 2007, this young man is the one to watch. He has the skill and fighting spirit to make it to the top.
In 2008 he finally managed to defeated Roger Federer at the quarterfinals of the Beijing Olympics match 6-4, 7-6(2). The odds are that he could, indeed, cause an upset at the 2009 Australian Open.
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