INSIDE TENNIS: It’s been a rough couple of years for you, James.
JAMES BLAKE: It’s been pretty frustrating. It’s one thing after another. First it was my knee that was bothering me, then it was my shoulder. I had a cortisone shot in the off-season. I thought it was getting a lot better, but when I was practicing and training earlier this year, it just got worse. I maybe overdid it and tried to come back a little too quickly. I had a setback and kind of had to go back to square one. Now it’s feeling stronger. I had it tested with doctors, with my trainer as well. For a while there, it was dangerous because it was so weak. When it’s weak, that’s when the pain can be really bad. It can cause some serious damage. You can tear something. But now it’s a lot stronger. Even if I get a little bit of pain, it’s okay to play through it, which is kind of par for the course at 31 years old.
IT: When was the last time you felt totally healthy?
JB: It’s been a while, probably a year and a half, two years. Bur everyone at this age, when you’ve been on tour and kind of beating your body up for 10 straight years, you’re going to have aches and pains. It changes your training a little. You’ve got to prepare, to warm up a lot better, to cool down a lot better, stretch, ice bath, just to stay healthy. I used to just get on the court and work as hard as I could. At 31, I can’t do that.
IT: You’ve overcome so much in your career, but coming back from No. 170 in the world and getting back to where you used to be, it’s almost of Agassian proportions. How daunting a task is that? How hungry are you to face those challenges?
JB: Being healthy gives you a better perspective on how much you miss the competition. Once I’m out here playing again, I’ll let the ranking take care of itself. If I get back, I get back. If I don’t, I’m going to have a lot of fun trying. I’ve been practicing at Saddlebrook with some of the top players, so I know I can still play with the guys. It’s just a matter of getting out there and doing it again. If I stay healthy, it might take a little while. I don’t know if I’ll have quite the jump that Agassi did when he went back and was unseeded and won the U.S. Open, but I’ll give myself a shot. I like my chances to play against a lot of these guys. The hunger isn’t gone. I still want to keep playing. I want to win. If anything, it’s gotten stronger, the fact that I’ve been out of competition for a while. Day after day, doing drills, running, doing all that kind of stuff makes you realize why you do it all. It’s because you want to compete at the highest level.
IT: How much longer do you want to play at this level?
JB: It’s tough to stay. I’d love to keep playing as long as my body allows me to, or until the hunger’s gone. I still love playing. If I ever feel like I don’t love playing or I’m not getting exited for a tournament, then I’ll know something’s up. I’ve had that at times in my career, but all I ever had to do was take a week or two off and it was right back. If I ever get to a point where that lingers a lot longer, then I’ll know it’s time to stop. My body will tell me before that.
IT: Even if you don’t get back to that level, do you feel like you’ve gotten the most out of your career?
JB: That was my biggest goal when I started my career — when I finish, hang my rackets up and have no regrets. At this point, I can say that for sure. We’ll see how the next few years go. Right now, I’ve done everything I can to get back, to make the most of my potential. A lot of people point to matches here and there that I could have won, should have won, but I can think of 10 to 20 matches that I shouldn’t have won, but I did. So looking back isn’t going to do any good. It’s just a matter of being as well prepared as I possibly could be for each one. That’s what I’m proud of.
IT: In tennis, time and again we see athletes walk away from the game thinking they’re ready to give it all up, only to return. Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, etc. Somehow they get sucked back in. You seem like someone who, whenever that times comes, is pretty comfortable in his own skin and will be okay moving on to the next phase of your life.
JB: That’s definitely something I feel. I was unfortunate having been faced with the possibility of my career ending very early. I definitely had time when I was sick in 2004 to think about what I would do if my career was over. It made me think about whether or not I could be happy without tennis in my life. I was surrounded by so many friends and family. Without really telling me, I knew that if I never won a tennis match again, they’d still be my friends, still be there for me. I’ve got people around me who care about me. That’s what really makes me happy. I know I’ll miss the competition. I think every athlete does. But I’ve got other things to fall back on. I’d love to open a club someday and have some of the people who I’ve learned from help me out, and help teach kids. I see too many kids in this sport who aren’t reaching their potential or doing their best and aren’t enjoying it as much as they could be. I’d love to have some sort of influence in helping them. One day I’d like to have a family and settle down and coach baseball and take the kids to soccer practice and stuff like that. I’ll be happy once I’m done, but that doesn’t mean I won’t pick up a racket once in a while, once a week just to stay in shape. For me, it’s going to be the easiest way to stay in shape so I don’t get a beer belly.
IT: Do you think you’ll go back to Harvard?
JB: I’d like to go back to school. It’ll be interesting to see if I go back to Harvard or finish somewhere else. I just have to give them six months’ notice. After seeing this winter back in the Northeast, I don’t know if I want to go back there for two more years. But I would like to finish my education, and Harvard’s not a bad place to do it.
IT: When you’re healthy, you’re as strong, as athletic as anyone out there. But the game is getting more physical all the time. The guys are getting taller, the movement is always improving. Does that hang over you, that you have to go back out there against the big hitters like Cilic, Del Potro, etc.
JB: I think about all the players who drop in the rankings. Andy was No. 1 in the world and dropped. Lleyton was No. 1 and dropped. I played with them all that time and they didn’t get any worse. It’s the game getting better. It’s why it’s silly to compare to Federers to the Samprases, the Samprases to the Lavers. The game keeps improving. You can really only compare them against their contemporaries. I know the game’s gotten better. That’s one of the pitfalls of taking time off. You’re not improving. Even if you stay the same, other people are passing you by. The game’s getting bigger, faster, stronger. All those years in Davis Cup it was funny to me that, at 6-foot-1, I was the shortest guy on the team between the Bryans, Andy, Mardy. I was the smallest guy. It’s tougher and tougher. I practice with Isner all the time and I say how unfair it is when he aces me off the court. But it’s part of the game. It’s new challenges. It’s something that’s fun for me. If I do get back to wherever I was, top 50, top 20, I’ll know I’ve done it against the greatest competition that’s ever been in this sport. I don’t think I’ll be one of these guys who, when I retire, says, “These guys are soft now. I can beat these guys.” They’re going to get better. The guys who are 17, 18 and coming up right now, they’re going to be better than I was when I was 25. If you ever hear me saying that, then you can call me a bitter old man.
IT: Did you see Sampras’ comments that his game would hold up in any generation, that while he respects all their achievements, Federer and Nadal haven’t necessarily faced the competition he did?
JB: I didn’t see that, but I’m sure Pete could hold his own in any generation. He was one of the greatest of all time and I have a ton of respect for him. He’s a great champion and someone who’s a role model for kids. But to say that Roger and Rafa haven’t faced great competition is a little offensive to me — I played both those guys a whole bunch. They’ve faced such tough competition. As physical as it is, even if it seems easy for them to get through to the finals — Roger reached the semis so many years in a row — that’s incredible. That’s something that shouldn’t be belittled in any way. That should just be held up as a monumental accomplishment. Falla had him two sets to love at Wimbledon; Haase took him to five sets; Berdych took him to five sets. These guys are not slouches. Just because they haven’t won Grand Slams and don’t have those titles — that’s because of the impressive efforts of Rafa and Roger, how dominant they’ve been. I don’t think it’s fair to say they haven’t face competition. The depth in men’s tennis now is so much stronger than ever. Guys who are ranked No. 100 in the world can beat anyone. But that doesn’t take away my respect for Pete. He’s entitled to his opinions. He’s allowed to say whatever he wants.
IT: Fourteen Slam titles give you that right, huh?
JB: He can say absolutely whatever he wants, [Laughs.] He’d be able to hold his own. He’d be a different type of player now because the serve and volley game has gone away now in a large part due to the strings, with Luxilon, those poly mono strings make it so much easier to return. That makes it really tough to serve and volley. It would be interesting to see a true serve and volleyer, like Pete, in today’s game.
IT: With Roger and Rafa bowing out in Australia a little earlier than some expected, do you see a little bit of an opening in the field?
JB: Roger and Rafa have been so consistent for the last three, four, five years. They haven’t given anyone a window. Even when Novak won the Australian a couple of years ago [‘08], it didn’t seem like he could sustain that. Now it looks like there’s a chance he could. It will be interesting as we move into the summer — the French, Wimbledon — if he can compete at this level on the clay and grass. If he can, instead of a two-horse race, it’ll be a three-horse race.
IT: You said earlier that you don’t have any regrets. Do you look back at the special moments in your career — the ’05 U.S. Open quarterfinal against Agassi, the Davis Cup triumph in Portland — and think, “No one can ever take those moments away from me?”
JB: I wish I could have won that match against Andre, but it was a part of tennis history. I’m really proud of that. Andre said it best when he said tennis was the winner that night. I still get people talking to me about that match. That’s something that doesn’t happen to a lot of people in their careers, that 10 years later people will be talking about a match. Aaron Krickstein should send me a thank-you card every Christmas because we took him off the classic-moment reruns during rain delays at the U.S. Open. [Laughs.] I’ll be the goat from now on who loses the match during rain delays. It’s something that I will think about for the rest of my life. My career is something that won’t go down in the Sampras and Agassi levels. I probably won’t end up in Newport, but I’ve got plenty of moments that I’ll never forget. Most people don’t get a chance to say that. Portland, for me, is tops. To be part of a winning Davis Cup team and do it with guys who you really care about, respect and have a lot of fun with, is special. I have so many Davis Cup memories — not just in Portland — but of us just sitting around playing cards, shooting the breeze, cracking jokes at the official dinners, just being goofballs. It’s something I’ll always cherish. It’s so great to see such a good group of guys follow us in Isner, Querrey, Fish. It’s something that now may stick as a generational thing, that the Americans are going to get along, they’re going to have a lot of fun together. They’re going to be cheering each other on. Isner and Querrey — I’m so proud of those guys. They’re best friends. They talk all the time. They’re going to be buddies throughout their whole careers. It’s doesn’t matter if they’re competing against each other for Grand Slam titles. That’s the way Andy and I were. That’s the way Mardy and I were. With the start of Patrick’s tenure, we all felt that way. From what I heard, with the generations in the past, it wasn’t always like that. I never understood that, because we’re all having fun. There’s got to be a winner and loser in every match. That doesn’t mean you can’t go out for a beer afterward.
IT: Was it just planets aligning when your group came together, or is that a testament to Patrick’s vision to stop chasing after Agassi and Sampras and look to the future?
JB: Patrick looked to the future. I remember the first time I played [in 2001 against India] he put me in over Todd Martin, when Todd might have still been a more accomplished player and a better option to win. He put me in and I won and we had a ton of fun. Also, the first time Andy and I played together and lost — it hurt both of us. I think Patrick saw that and how much we cared. That just snowballed. We cared about each other and we cared about the team. We wanted to win it.
