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Inspiring memories in
a forgettable year for James Blake
"The best thing that could have happened to me was breaking my neck," Blake said in West Palm Beach a few days ago, where he was playing in the annual Swingtime charity tennis event. "I came home from Europe, and that was the last six weeks of my dad's life. "I'm so thankful, in all seriousness. I'm thankful I got hurt." And then Blake recounted, with the sort of deep affection one reserves for a parent, a spouse or other close relative, that day in June when he, his brother, Thomas, and his dad went golfing together one final time in their hometown of Fairfield, Conn. "He was pretty weakened," Blake said. "We're three of the most competitive people you'll ever meet, but we didn't care about scores. We were just walking. Mulligans? He could have as many as he wanted. It's such a cliché, that you would give up anything for one more day like that. But maybe, if it's a cliché, it's for a good reason." A few weeks later, on July 3, Tom Blake died after struggling against cancer for nearly a year, and suddenly James Blake's fractured neck seemed a lot less significant. It has been eight months since Blake cracked a vertebra in a tumble against a metal net post at the Italian Open, coming perilously close, said doctors, to something a great deal more serious. It also has been five months since his father's death, and, as often happens with time and space, Blake is slowly snapping back emotionally and physically. "There isn't a day goes by I don't think about my father," Blake said. "I'm trying not to get too down. He taught me to work hard and always look at the positive, and that's what I'm trying to do." Two days after his father's death, Blake tried to immerse himself once again in tennis, perhaps as therapy, but he wasn't ready mentally or physically, and there was a new problem: Medication he was taking for a viral infection was causing him to have blurred vision. He played five matches after returning to the ATP Tour in July, losing three and playing nowhere near the level that in 2003 took him to No. 22 in the world. After losing in the second round at Delray Beach in September, he got off the tour and went home to fully recover. There's no certainty that he'll be ready to start the next season when the bell rings in January. "I'm almost 100 percent. I feel very close," he said. "But my eyes sometimes have a bit of trouble focusing because of the virus. But it's a whole lot better than six months ago, and it's getting better every day." He's OK to play golf or do anything else, but you don't want 98 percent eyesight when someone is firing 130 mph serves at you. Blake, who turns 25 on Dec. 28, left Harvard University, where he was an All-American, to pursue professional tennis. After fighting through a series of Challenger tournament victories in 2000, he rose steadily from No. 212 to 74 to 28 at the end of 2002 before a slight decline in 2003. Curvature of the spine as a teenager left him with less flexibility than many players, but he developed one of the hardest forehands in tennis to go with his great speed. He has one title (Washington, D.C.) and three finals on his resume, and he seemed on his way to the top until his lack of a decisive volley and top-quality second serve stalled him. He changed his service motion and was progressing in 2003 when he rolled into Rome. It was there when, racing in for a drop shot, his foot caught in the damp red clay and sent him sprawling. "Luckily, very luckily, my head turned at the last moment. I fractured a bone, and the doctors told me if my head hadn't turned, I could have been a paraplegic." The eye problem has lingered. "At one point I couldn't stand up without being dizzy. A few weeks later I tried to hit, and it was comical. I couldn't see." Doctors told him it could clear up in six weeks, eight months or a year. "I really do think I'll be ready to start 2005," he predicted. If he can, he'll play Hopman Cup (Jan. 10-16), a mixed-doubles event in Perth, Australia, with Lindsay Davenport, then the Australian Open. His ranking has dropped to
No. 97, but that's of little concern. He has his health back and the
words of his father indelibly implanted in his memory. "He's a
man who taught me to be a man. He gave me a reason to believe, and I'm
going to continue his legacy just by being who he taught me to be,"
Blake said.
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