The American tennis player James Blake (photo ©José Goulão) announced that the U.S. Open would be his last tournament and a few hours ago he ended his career in professional tennis after losing in the first round of that tournament.

James Riley Blake was born on December 28, 1979 in Yonkers, New York, to an American father and a British mother. His elder brother Thomas was himself a professional tennis player, although not at the highest levels.

James Blake started playing tennis as a child with his brother Thomas but when he was 13 he was diagnosed with a severe scoliosis which forced him to wear a back brace for five years. However, he managed to continue his sport activity and decided to become a professional tennis player after listening to a speech by Arthur Ashe.

In 2002, James Blake started obtaining the first results at a high level, reaching the final of the Memphis and Newport tournaments and then wining the Washington tournament.

The year 2003 started well for James Blake with a victory at the Hopman Cup along with Serena Williams but in singles tournament he reached the final only in Long Island.

In 2004, after having started the year winning the Hopman Cup again, this time along with Lindsay Davenport, James Blake had a serious neck injury during a training session when he slipped and slammed against one of the net poles. In the same year, his father died and Blake also suffered a serious form of shingles that left him with a temporary paresis at half his face and even sight problems.

In 2005, James Blake was able to return to play slowly obtaining good results again. In the summer of that year he reached the final in Washington and won the tournaments in New Haven and Stockholm. At the U.S. Open he defeated Rafael Nadal before losing in the quarter-finals to Andre Agassi.

In 2006, James Blake had his best performance peaks winning tournaments in Sydney and Las Vegas, reaching the final at Indian Wells and at the Queen’s, winning the tournaments in Indianapolis, Bangkok and Stockholm and reaching the final of the Masters Cup. With those performances, in November of that year he reached no. 4 in the ATP ranking, his best ranking.

In 2007, James Blake won the tournament in Sydney again, reached the final in Delray Beach, Los Angeles and Cincinnati and won the New Haven tournament again.

In subsequent years, James Blake’s performance started deteriorating, partly because of various physical problems. In 2008 he reached the final in Delray Beach and Houston, and in 2009 his last finals in Estoril and at the Queen’s. His activity got thinner and thinner but 2012 was at least good in his private life since his first daughter Riley Elizabeth was born and he married his girlfriend Emily.

James Blake is still in the doubles tournament event of the U.S. Open but of course his career in the singular is the one that matters most. He realized that his body didn’t respond like it used to and his style as an offensive baseliner was punishing for his body. Now, he’ll be able to devote himself to his family.

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