For Immediate Release


June 29, 2004

James Blake Interview

James Blake will be playing next week in the Campbell's Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, scheduled for July 5-11 in Newport, RI. This will be James' sixth appearance in Newport. He previously has reached the Newport final (2002) and the semifinals (2001).

Q: How frustrating was it this spring to have the bad fortune that you had over in Europe and also how has your recovery been?
BLAKE: It was pretty unfortunate, but the way I look at it is kind of positive. I was lucky that it wasn't worse. From what the doctors said it could have been a whole lot worse. I'm glad that I am going to make a full recovery, and I am going to be back as soon as I can. It's tough to watch Grand Slams on TV when you know that you played in them before and you could be playing in them now if it wasn't for the injury. It's kind of frustrating, but I think that it happens to everyone at some point in their careers, where they have an injury that forces them to sit out a tournament that they want to be playing. I'm going to try to make the best of it, and come back as good, and hopefully even better.

Q: You said that it could have been a lot worse, and the fact that it wasn't, did that give you a better appreciation for the gifts that you have? Are you thinking I've really got to make the most of this now, I'm lucky I even have this chance?
BLAKE: Absolutely I'm definitely going to be. I try to play with enthusiasm on the court, but now I think it's going to be even more so when I'm back on the court because I know how quickly it can change. I mean it was an instant where my foot kind of stuck in the ground and I went head first, and if my head hadn't turned it could have been something that was for sure career ending, and possibly effecting me to not be able to walk again. So I know that things like that can change so quickly. I know that now, at 24 years old I think most kids think their invincible and I was no different. I hadn't had any serious injuries and I definitely felt like I was going to continue getting better and better and not have these kinds of hurdles. But know that I have had a hurdle I feel that I am going to appreciate being on the court a whole lot more. And probably not complain too much about little nagging injuries or it being too hot or anything else. I just want to get out there and play.

Q: Any side effects at all, are you completely healthy?
BLAKE: Yeah right now I feel great. The only thing that is taking the longest to come back is maybe my upper body strength a little bit, just because I had that six weeks of really not being able to do anything with my upper body. But its already back, and I'm practicing 100%. I've been warming up with Jeff Morrison and Mardy Fish and I feel great, my legs are definitely still there. It's just a matter of getting used to the heat down here in Tampa. But my legs are there, as I was doing a lot of biking and just kind of whatever they would let me do when I was hurt. So I was doing as much as I could do to make sure it was as quick of a recovery as possible.

Q: Welcome back in advance to Newport … For those of us who live on another planet while you were in Rome, can you explain exactly what happened?
BLAKE: I, um, was running for a drop shot and I, ah my foot just caught in the clay as I was attempting to slide and at that point my body just kept going forward at full speed and my neck and head went right into the net post, a net post of made of metal. I've been on an injury out, so I'm just coming back now.

Q: Any thoughts about returning to Newport? Where you've been sort of up and down?
BLAKE: Yeah, I love playing Newport - its one of the first tournaments that I was really given an opportunity in and Mark Stenning was kind enough to give me wild cards when I was young. I'm relatively local, I'm from CT so I get a lot of friends coming up and everything and when I got that chance, it seemed like such a fun tournament and I keep that same attitude going in now…now that I'm hopefully not needing wild cards for many more years anymore, its great to come back and play as a legitimate player. The last few years I've been seeded and I feel like one of the contenders for the title. It seems so far away, five or six years ago when I was just a wild card and it seemed like everyone there was such a top player I really didn't have much chance and now to be like one of the contenders it always does kind of give me a perspective on how far I have come and that makes me pretty appreciative to be back there and I just love being in any local tournaments. I love being at, because it gives my friends a chance to come up, a bunch of my friends are going to take off work Monday and Tuesday, I think, and come up and watch and it just a lot of fun being near the family.

Q: Do you feel more eager this year James, given the injury and the fact that you were not able to play the grass season in England?
BLAKE: I think I'm going to be a little more enthusiastic on the court, just glad to be back. To be back on the courts for me is going to be very exciting, just being out in practice is a lot of fun for me, I'm getting a kick out of just playing baseline games and stuff, and it gives me a new appreciation about when you are sitting around and watching the French Open and Wimbledon on TV when you know you can play it at that level, so getting out there now I'm definitely going to be excited to be in Newport and be playing a match that counts for something and get those feelings of pressure, those feelings of a big match or just all the competitive juices you really want to get flowing and you really miss that, it's something that I don't think will go away from me for a long time. I love being out there competing and it's the sport I have chosen and the sport I feel I'm the best at and I love getting out there and competing.

Q: What did you do with your off time? Not just with the rehabbing and stuff, but did you watch a lot of TV? What do you do with that much time when you are used to competing?
BLAKE: Yeah, watching plenty of TV, and I actually was playing a lot of poker. I played a lot of online poker. It's something I was asked to do through Celebrity Poker Showdown and I started playing online poker just to try to learn that a little bit better so I didn't make a fool of myself on TV and then after I did play that I kind of enjoyed it a lot and wanted to get better then I had a ton of time so I started playing a little more and it's something when you have the time you can do it. But now I've cut back so much now, I barely play maybe a few times a week. So I enjoyed playing that and watching a bunch of tv and just hanging out with my friends. I live with actually a few girls in Connecticut and they were keeping me pretty busy. So just being around my friends and my family, I've spent a lot of time with them.

Q: So that's your back up plan then if the tennis thing doesn't go very well, the Poker thing?
BLAKE: I would like to think so, but I'm not quite that good yet.

Q: I wonder, where given the nature of this injury I it kind of took you back to when you were in high school and you had the back problems before?
BLAKE: It definitely entered into my mind when they started taking x-rays and MRIs and stuff and they noticed the obviously serious curve in my back and they actually made them a little more nervous with the ligaments and thing around that they could have been more affected, but luckily it was OK, and being in a neck brace was definitely wasn't fun but, I had been prepared partly having been in a back brace for four years. So I guess I kind of knew what to expect, it was very uncomfortable but yeah I guess I was kind of more prepared than others to be that uncomfortable.

Q: The Newport tournament, you're such a fan favorite there, what would it mean to you to go in there and win it this year?
BLAKE: I really, it would be a time for me. I have a whole lot of emotion there. I came close a couple years ago losing to Taylor Dent in the finals, and to win it that close to home and being my first tournament back it would be a real thrill to me. And like I said, I feel like I've come so far since the days of getting wild cards into the tournament, just because I was local and feeling like Mark [Stenning] was doing me a favor, now ah to come back and feel like one of the contenders and actually win it would prove to me that I've come a long way and have worked hard the past few years to get where I am and to do that possible in front of my family and friends would be a real thrill and would definitely be a moment I'd treasure for hopefully my whole life.

Q: Does it take any pressure off being the No. 2 seed this year? Or doesn't it matter that much?
BLAKE: I don't really think about that as much. I have a feeling, since I'm somewhat of a fan favorite because I'm close to there, there's still going to be that kind of attention and expectation. I learned from last year when it was my first year defending a bunch of points and being one of the guys that everyone was gunning for, I feel like I've learned how to deal with that a lot better and I think the best way is to not really think about it. To think that you have to go out after the other guys even if they are ranked lower than you , you have to feel like you're attacking them and you have something to prove every time you step on a court. So I'm going to have that attitude when I go in there and maybe this injury will help that attitude even more because I want to prove to people that I'm back to being 100 percent healthy and not affected and hopefully even better than when I got injured. I have something to prove and hopefully I can start it there in Newport.

Q: Hey James, I was wondering if you could take us back to the time when the injury happened and what was going through your mind?
BLAKE: A plot of panic, I feel like I am generally a pretty calm laid back person, but at that time I was very, very scared. The way I hit that pole, the first thing my coach said he was thinking the way I hit it for sure it I'd be in a wheelchair the rest of my life and was just hoping I was going to be able to walk someday, so he was just as scared as I was apparently. And I just didn't move, I was on the ground waiting for the ambulance to get there and just couldn't move at all. Once they put me in the neck brace and they had the stretcher out and got me going out to the hospital. At the hospital there was one guy speaking English and helping me out but most of the people didn't speak English and I really didn't know what they were saying or what was going on so I was just sitting there and every thought was going through my mind. I had a feeling I was going to be OK, and not paralyzed with the fact that I had movement in my fingers and feet, so I wasn't scared about that. But I was definitely having thoughts like that I could have broken my neck and been out and never be able to play again to hopefully this is just a bone bruise or something and hopefully I'll be OK in a couple of weeks to play the French Open - every thought was going through my mind from hopeful to very, very panicked. And sitting in that hospital for four hours without getting a definitive answer was pretty scary. And the first time they did try to move me, to get me to sit up and I couldn't do it because there was way too much pain, at that point I was even more scared. Then it was X-ray after X-ray after X-ray which was pretty uncomfortable and then all I could think of for the next day or so was I still couldn't really move at all I couldn't really shower I had clay all over me an I was thinking that I read Dennis Bird's Book not too long ago Rise and Walk about how he was in his uniform for about 2 days before they finally cut it off him and let him take a bath or something. It helped me to not feel sorry for myself because I kne w it could have been a lot worse. We tried to kind of laugh about it a little bit, me and my coach, where he stayed with me the whole time just thinking we better laugh about this because if we're not laughing we're going to be crying and thinking this is a lot worse than it is. That got us through it and it was a rough few days in the hospital, no English tv at all, and not the most advanced technological hospital, so it wasn't a ton of fun but if I run into a pole and this is all that comes out of it and I can be back in6-8 weeks my coach I both said we'll take this any day as to how bad it could have been, so I'm just feeling lucky.

Q: What ended up being the diagnosis?
BLAKE: It was a fractured vertebra in my neck, C7, I believe, which was fractured.

Q: Do you think this had an impact on you possible making the Olympic team?
BLAKE: Yeah, they already announced the Olympic team and it went strictly by rankings so I was out of it by this. I f I had done well for me to qualify for the Olympics I would have had to done well in Hamburg and/or the French Open and I was out of those because of this injury, so I'm just an alternate on the team. So I'll probably be playing the Washington DC Legg-Mason tournament instead of the Olympics.

Q: Having a coach that you've known for so long, and so comfortable with, did this help you get through that time in Rome in the hospital, especially where thing were so shaky at that time?
BLAKE: It definitely helped. For one, it was someone who legitimately cared. He saw me hit the post and thought I might not walk, it wasn't that he cared that he might be out of a job, he cared that I wasn't going to be OK and that my life was going to be altered. This was actually something that I though of while I was in the hospital, wondering what would have happened if I was one of those guys that has different coaches all the time and this was someone that I barely new and they were staying with me for 2 days in the hospital -- would they care enough to stay and do that or would they hop on a flight and get out of there. He was someone, we could talk, and as I said, no American tv so we were there pretty much just hanging out and he was someone who could just keep things in perspective it made it a whole lot easier. He was taking care of all the little thing I wasn't able to do and he was just real helpful and definitely made it a lot easier, I am definitely very luck. And I'm really lucky to have found him in terms of my tennis he's helped me more than anyone and one of the only guys to get me where I am today , and I'm lucky he's such a great guy and a great friend.

Q: With the hard court season coming up, did you give any thought to not playing Newport or was this just a chance to get some competition under your belt?
BLAKE: Chance for competition, but as I said before I 'm so competitive I just want to get out there and play as soon as possible. I was given the OK to start practicing the Friday before Wimbledon and I tried to hit that afternoon, and I was contemplating hopping on a flight and going over to Wimbledon, and my coach and I thought a little bit more rationally and decided against that because there is no way. I mean by Monday when I would have had to play I was still just hitting for about an hour at a time and getting pretty sore, so there's no way I would have been able to do that. I mean that's just kind of my attitude is I want to get back there as soon as I possibly can, and kind of proves that I'm ok, so Newport was the next option once Wimbledon was out. Newport's the next option and I list that earlier that I love playing there. It's going to give my friends a chance to watch and my family will hopefully be able to come up and it does a lot for me. I grew up playing tennis in New England and it seems like that tournament attracts a ton of the New England tennis players so they're all coming out and watching. It's like a little reunion of all the kids I used to play New England tournaments with, some older than me, some of the coaches that my coach knew and I always want to be part of the Newport tournament. I'm excited about that and a chance to get back and be competitive and get back before that hard court season where I am really getting geared up for the US Open.

[End]