Just before he was tackled by New York policemen, James Blake spoke with Lucia Hoffman of Inside Tennis. In their interview, the former No. 4 player in the world and the most successful African-American men’s player since Arthur Ashe, spoke of his fundraising work with the USTA foundation which he heads.
He also said Serena and Venus playing each other was “an unbelievable story. He contended, “Serena has made her case. In my opinion, she is the best of all time.” Similarly, he said Federer was “the best of all time…I played against him in his time, so he won a lot of matches against me. But he’s a true gentleman. He couldn’t be a nicer guy … I hope he gets one more.”
Blake also reflected on a new generation of young Americans who he said are “really talented. I’m really excited to see what will happen in the next 5 years and how they will progress.” He mentioned how much fun it was to occasionally play senior tennis “and go back in the locker room setting, and see the guys I used to play against.”
As usual, Blake was impeccably dressed. But that hardly mattered. Roughly two minutes later he was roughed up by New York police. An investigation is pending.
