Resilience stories are not strange in tennis. Who could forget Monica Seles’ epic return after her stabbing or even Thomas Muster’s now epic story of rehabilitation after a car accident? However, American former player James Blake, who also completed one of the greatest comebacks in tennis history after he broke his neck in 2004.
Born on December 28, 1979, in Yonkers, New York, he began playing tennis at the age of five. He later attended Harvard University, where he excelled both academically and athletically. In 1999, inspired by Arthur Ashe, he decided to turn professional, quickly making a name for himself with his aggressive baseline play and powerful forehand.
During his first years, Blake was known for pushing big stars such as Patrick Rafter, Lleyton Hewit or Tommy Haas, whom he earned his first Top 10 win, in big tournaments. In 2002, he won the Cincinnati Open in doubles, which was his first career title and his first Masters 1000, becoming the first African-American to reach a final in Cincinnati since Ashe.
That same year, he won his first singles title in Washington, defeating Andre Agassi in the final. However, while he was progressing quickly, his career and his life took an unpredictable turn when he suffered a horrific injury while practicing in Rome in 2004.
James Blake in 2002 (Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
James Blake on his broken neck: ‘It was the best thing that ever happened to me’
He fractured his neck in an accident during practice, slipping on a clay court and colliding with the net post. “As soon as I kind of felt myself airborne, I turned my head a little to the side and hit my neck instead of hitting straight on my head,” Blaje told CBS news in 2005. “And I was unbelievably lucky because the doctor said with as hard as I hit it, if it had hit the top of my head, I probably would never be walking again.”
The fracture was even more concerning to Blake, who also suffered from scoliosis when he was a teenager. While the doctors also believed he might have broken his back, he didn’t. He flew home against the advice of his doctors and got to spent time with his dad, who was battling stomach cancer.
“It was definitely the best thing that happened to me. It ended up being the last six weeks of my father’s life, so I got to be here to spend a lot of time with him,” he told CBS. However, despite being able to say goodbye to his dad, then, Blake suffered from.
James Blake broke his neck in 2004 ( Al Bello/Getty Images)
Around the same time, his father passed away from stomach cancer, and he was diagnosed with shingles, which temporarily paralyzed half of his face, blurred his vision and also made him lose his balance.
“So, I was pretty much struggling and didn’t know if I would ever play tennis again, and the doctors weren’t sure if I would ever play, so that’s where setting goals day by day was so important to me,” he told Think Big. “Because if I thought about any sort of playing in the US Open or getting back and being top ten in the world, top 20 in the world, anything like that, it would’ve seemed so far away. And I think I would’ve gotten a little depressed. I would’ve been upset about the fact that I was so far away from that.”
Blake’s approach turned out to be the right one. While playing at the US Open seemed far away, he was able to not only return to Flushing Meadows, he also reached the quarter-finals of the tournament, losing to his idol Andre Agassi. But that was only the beginning of his best career years.
Blake and Agassi during the 2005 US Open (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Reaching World No. 4, Davis Cup champion
After winning the ATP Comeback of the Year in 2005, he reached the World No. 4 in November 2006. He also repeated the quarter-finals at the 2006 US Open and ended up as runner-up to Roger Federer at the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup, the ATP year-end event.
He also represented the United States in the Davis Cup and was part of the winning team in 2007, alongside other great players such as Andy Roddick. In total, during his career, he won 10 ATP singles titles and seven doubles titles.
Roger Federer and James Blake during the 2006 ATP Finals trophy ceremony (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
He also beat some of the greatest players of his generation, including Roger Federer (1-10), Rafael Nadal (3-4) and Lleyton Hewitt (1-8), whom he didn’t have the best relationship with. Especially after Hewitt once complained that the linesman was helping Blake with the calls because he was also Black.
After his impressive career, Blake retired from professional tennis in 2013 after the US Open. Since then, he has worked as a tennis commentator and remains involved in the sport. He also founded the James Blake Foundation, which supports cancer research in honor of his father, and wrote his autobiography, “Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life.”
