Working his way back into rankings relevance, 31-year-old James Blake insists the fire still burns. Following his second-round exit at the U.S. Open, the former No. 4 spoke with a small group of reporters about unfinished business.
QUESTION: You’ve had so many great moments in New York. Talk about what the U.S. Open has meant to you over the years.
JAMES BLAKE: It’s been my favorite tournament — by far. It’s the one tournament I came to watch as a kid, the one that meant the most to me. To be a player here was always something that was a pipedream…I’ve been to the quarters a few times, a couple of points from the semis. I’ve played some matches that people still remember, so I’m proud of that. I wish I had more memories from this year, but there’s always next year and there’s always next week in this sport.
Q: Looking ahead, is it in the back of your mind that you can get that ranking up so you don’t have to run into the No. 5-ranked player in the world in the second round?
JB: I hope that happens. But I never put any pressure on that. I never really set that as a goal. I just try to do everything I can right and let that take care of itself. Throughout most of my career it has. Right now, I’m going in the right direction, but it’s a little more of a process than when I was 24, 25 and kind of shot up pretty quickly. But I’m putting myself in a position to do that. I feel like I’m playing well enough to get a breakthrough. I was hoping it would be in New York. Maybe it’ll be Stockholm. I’ve had some success there. I know there are going to be more opportunities. My ranking is up to the point where I can get into the main draws of a lot of tournaments…I think it’s still there. It’s just a matter of going out and doing it.
Q: Do you take losses as hard as ever?
JB: If you ask anyone close to me, the people who know me the best know that there’s at least a grace period after a match, no matter who I’ve played, that I’m probably not going to be the most fun guy in the world. I appreciate all of them for putting up with that time period and I do my best to be as friendly and amenable after that as I can to make up for some times when I’m not the happiest. But I’m not one for those huge moral victories of playing a pretty good match against a very good player. I want to win those. I’m competitive. I don’t go into any tournament, really, looking for a moral victory. I look to win matches, to win points and gain confidence that way. If I stop feeling that way, I’ll start worrying about my psyche. I’ll start worrying that I’ve changed, because this is the way I’ve been since I was 19 year old…That’s the way I am. From 19 to 31, that’s the way I’ve felt after just about every single match. If that changes, I’ll be very worried.
Q: The retirement talk is nothing new for you, but the way you’re talking now, you don’t sound like a guy who’s planning on walking away from the game anytime soon.
JB: The reason I think the retirement talk came up a lot last year was because my results weren’t as good. Also, the way I was feeling — my knee and my shoulder were not good. I’ve always said, I’m going to keep playing until it either stops being fun, my body won’t let me play anymore or I just can’t compete out here. Now I feel like I can compete. My mind is good enough to still want to compete. My body right now is feeling good…I don’t know if my first step or everything is exactly the same as it was when I was 25 years old, but I still feel pretty darn good out there. So I don’t think there’s any reason why I should think about retirement right now. I’m thinking about improving my ranking, getting better, managing my schedule as well as I can. That’s something that’s important as I get older. I can’t do it like I did when I was 22, going out and trying to play every single tournament and get as many points as I can…I know I’ve got to limit my schedule a little more. I think I’ve been on tour long enough to learn how to do that. I’m excited about still playing a full schedule for a 31-year-old as soon as I can and getting back, hopefully, to where my ranking should be.
Q: How close has it come to not being fun?
JB: Not close at all. The only time it’s been close is when my body was giving out. That makes it not fun because then I can’t train the way I want to train, I can’t push off the way it was with my knee. It was hurting at times during matches. It was hurting just getting up in the morning. Now it’s fun. I love competing. As much as I hate the feeling of losing, I love the feeling of competing hard and coming back and winning a match, the excitement you get from the crowd. As much as I feed off the crowd, I feel that same way in practice. That’s not even close to not being fun. I’ll continue doing that. I hope that continues being fun long into the senior tour, into playing baseline games with my kids. Whatever happens, I want to continue being competitive. That’s something about me I don’t think will ever change. I’ll be the one sweating out a putt for five dollars on the 18th hole with a buddy. That’s just the way I am. I’ll remain competitive. I just happen to be doing it in this arena. This is what I’ve chosen since I was a kid. This is what I think I’m best at.
Q: Was your ego bruised at all playing on the Grandstand Court at the U.S. Open after so many matches in Ashe Stadium?
JB: It was a great atmosphere out there. When I got to the court, my brother said, “If your friends are still texting you for tickets, it’s completely sold out. They have no tickets left.” That’s good to hear. That’s going to help your ego. I started my career, I think, on Court 7 playing Chris Woodruff. I won my first match against David Sanchez on the outer courts. I remember thinking it was so cool when I was in the juniors to hit on the courts way out there — P15. You’re at the U.S. Open, so my ego isn’t bruised at all…I’m not that greedy. I’m doing my best out here and I appreciate everything I’ve been given and every opportunity that’s come my way. For me to start thinking I deserve more, I wouldn’t think I was a very good person. I wouldn’t be able to look at myself in the mirror.
Q: Donald Young has had some success at the Open. What’s your take on his career, turning pro at 15 and carrying quite a bit of pressure?
JB: He’s a good kid. I played him twice this year. He beat me once, I beat him once. From early on, I made the offer to him to come down to Tampa and train, because one of the biggest things in his development is playing top players, guys who can beat him everyday. That’s what helped me so much. That’s what helped make so many decisions in my career, from wanting to turn pro and leaving college because I wasn’t getting pushed everyday. Moving down to Saddlebrook was so I could get pushed every day by the Mardy Fishs, the John Isners, just getting into that routine of getting pushed in practice makes a huge difference. I would still extend that offer to him. He’s doing great right now. I think he can possibly be doing even better. He’s a funny kid. I like him a lot…I’m really proud of him. My door is always open. My phone is always on anytime he wants to call. I love helping the young guys. I was fortunate enough to be helped by the Pete Samprases, Andre Agassis, Todd Martins, Mal Washingtons of the world. You do your part for American tennis.
Q: There’s been talk that, at 22, he was washed up. But you didn’t even leave Harvard and launch your pro career until you were in your 20s.
JB: I think it’s ridiculous. I think Andy Roddick said it best that a tennis analyst might be the easiest job in the world. You just say that they’re doing something wrong. They’re already criticizing Donald for being too old and not doing what he needs to do. Well, he’s 22. He can have a pretty darn good career from 23 to 30. If he puts his mind to it, has a little bit of luck, avoids injuries and does everything the right way, he can have a great career. Then they’ll turn around and say he’s doing things right. I know air-time needs to be filled, but to write someone off who’s that young is a little silly. He’s got a great future, I hope. We do all need to step back and remember he’s 22. He turned pro very young. There’s a lot of differences between that and what I did. It does hurt your confidence to lose, no matter what level you’re on. If you’re 17, 18 years old — I remember when he loss to [Carlos] Berlocq 6-0, 6-0 in Miami. That’s going to hurt your confidence no matter who you are. No matter how confident you are it hurts a little. I was playing against college players and winning matches handily in the Ivy Leagues at times. That helps your confidence. Now he’s gaining confidence and beating tour-level players, getting deeper at Grand Slams, getting to semis at tour events. His confidence is going to continue to grow. But it’s a snowball effect. If he keeps getting that going, it’s going to keep rising, his ranking will keep getting better. He’s got a live arm, he’s fast as anything, moves great, moves forward when he needs to, plays defense when he needs to. I like his game and I’d like to see him keep improving.
Q: All that being said, if you could go back and give him advice when he was 15, would you have recommended the college route?
JB: Hindsight is easy, too. I don’t know what I would have done if I was 15 years old, as good as he was, got dollar signs in front of me and really had that confidence from winning junior Grand Slams, thinking I could compete with the tour-level players. At 15 years old, he probably had agents telling him that he’s the greatest thing; he probably had coaches telling him he’s the greatest thing. It seems a long time ago for me to be 15, but I don’t remember if I had the wherewithal to turn down that kind of thing. I made some mistakes, too. It seems like everything’s worked out well. I’m proud I went to college, but I made some mistakes in college. I got there and I didn’t train the right way when I started. I had to learn the hard way. Guys on the team beat up on me in practice. I learned and I got better. It took some time. But that wasn’t in any newspapers, on any front pages like Donald’s were. We all make mistakes. We all learn at that age. He just did it on the public scale. I would say yeah, maybe he should have done something different, but who knows — maybe he would have gone to college, fallen in love with that first pretty girl he saw at school and not cared about tennis anymore. You can’t say that. All these things happen for a reason. He’s gone through his journey and he’s doing great right now. At this point, I’d say just be happy for him for what he’s doing right now.
Q: As long as you brought up Andy’s comments, do you think he was in the right for what he said?
JB: Yeah. It’s comical at times.
Q: Where does that come from?
JB: We hear it. We’re not sitting there watching our matches, but we’ve got friends who are watching us. We know what people say. With me, it’s I’m too aggressive, I’m going for too much, I need to be safer. With Andy, he’s too safe. He needs to go for more, he needs to go for broke, he needs to come in. Meanwhile, throughout most of his career, when he was doing that and being effective, everyone said, “He’s playing so smart, he’s playing so solid.” When my shots are going in and I’m beating top guys who I would never beat by playing safe, they say, “Now he’s playing safe.” “Controlled aggression” was a great term I loved, because when my shots go in, it’s controlled aggression. When they miss, it’s always, “He’s going for too much.” Any commentator who’s never been on a practice court with me more than a couple of days at a time, who’s never been at Saddlebrook with me training, who’s never seen what me and Brian Barker did for many, many years, trying to play it safe and trying to do the things they say to do and realizing that it’s ineffective, that I don’t have the skill-set to do that. I’ve practiced with Andy numerous times. I’ve seen his skill-set, I’ve seen what he does, how he plays, how he thinks and what he does. He does the best he can to win. We all do. To criticize someone like Andy, who’s been No. 1 in the world, won a Grand Slam, I think 30 titles, I mean, we’re doing our best. To expect more is just greedy. For people to say we should be doing this, we should be doing that — man, it’s easy in the booth. Man, it’s easy when I watch matches that I should have done this, I should have done that. But when you’re facing David Ferrer and he’s running down every ball you hit, you’re going to go for a little more. When Andy’s playing guys like Michael Russell, who he thinks he can outlast and grind down, he’s going to do that. He’s going to do everything he can to win. He doesn’t care if it’s ugly. I don’t care if I win ugly. We’re trying to win. Between us, we’ve got a few wins – probably 600, 700 wins between us. We’re doing our best. I never thought I’d have people criticizing me for not being good enough when I’ve gotten to No. 4 in the world. I laugh at it. With Andy, the guy’s been No. 1 in the world and he’s still being criticized for not knowing how to play the game. The guy knows how to play the game. He knows what to do best…I appreciate some of the commentators who are positive, because there are so many positive things about our sport. But there are so many things that people don’t understand. In every sport, the people who are involved in it know what’s right and what’s wrong. They can see it. But casual fans who are watching — they take everything that’s said on the air as gospel. Sometimes it’s just so negative. That disappoints me so much about commentators…If we all listen to one or two matches, we know which commentators are negative and which are going to be a little more positive. It’s just frustrating to hear [someone] beating down players who are the best in the world.
Q: Does it matter if that criticism is coming from someone like John McEnroe, who’s played the game at a very high level?
JB: The only thing that may matter is if it’s someone who’s coached a top player. That’s the biggest indicator of what they know about the game. I know a lot of commentators used to rip Brian Barker and I don’t remember any of them coming and asking him questions, asking him how he turned an 11-year-old brat who was five-foot-nothing, 80 pounds, [who] had no chance of making it, no backhand, no temperament, nothing really going for him, a crooked back, bad knees, and turned him into the No. 4 player in the world. And they’re still going to criticize him as a bad coach and say I’m doing things wrong? They’ve never coached anyone from a junior to a professional. There are some commentators out there who have coached who can say that. Most of them are actually a little more positive. They know how hard it is…It’s speaking on something you haven’t seen and don’t know much about. Like I said, I know they’ve got to fill airtime. I know it’s their job. They’re just doing their best, too. But the way they criticize us, they should be allowed to be on the other end of it, too.
