James Blake Quotes (137 Quotes)

I know if I were in the stands, I'd be cheering for him, too, ... Because he's a great champion in every sense of the word.

I'm happy for them that they're comfortable, and I think we're pretty comfortable as well on the grass. Especially, Andy, he's always very comfortable when he's playing on grass.

It's been a great week. This stings right now. I think as long as I'm a competitor, as long as I'm on tour, it's always going to sting after a loss. But I'll just reflect on the fact that it's a good week, I moved up in the rankings played some great tennis, had some fun out here.

It's a lot of fun, ... Just being home, staying in my own bed, being around so many friends, people that go way back ... it's something that's very rare on tour. To be back so close to my hometown is a great feeling.

There are definitely times since I've been back that I just kind of look up and take five extra seconds before I serve. This is what I was dreaming of just a couple of years ago, to come back and feel this feeling again.

If I couldn't play tennis again, am I still going to be happy going back to school, maybe going to business school, doing whatever else I could do ... Would I be able to be happy if my eye never came back to normal and I couldn't really be athletic at all the rest of my life Could I find a way to still be happy All those I tried to answer yes.

I want everybody to tune in, ... people who are tennis fans and people who aren't tennis fans, and we'll give them a good show and do it the right way.

Andre's really a true gentleman, one of the friendliest guys in the locker room, ... (He's) got everything you can dream of, but he still knows how to treat people. And that's something I really admire. He's someone you can tell your kids to look up to an

It's interesting, I hadn't thought about that. I guess I'll have to spell Andy this one time, since he's been doing it for years. I'll take the burden this time and I'm sure he'll take it back soon. He's one of the best players in the world and I'm sure he'll prove it for the rest of this year. For this one, it's good to see we have some depth in American tennis.

It was tough to watch. I kept thinking, 'I wonder how I'd be doing if I was there.' Now this year to go out there, it's just a great feeling.

Maybe I'm a slow learner. But he doesn't make it easy. I'm starting to feel like one of those basketball players in the early '90s. You feel like you make Michael Jordan play well, but then every time he comes up and beats you and makes you realize why he's the best.

It is barely more than a year since Blake broke his neck on a net post during training, lost his father to stomach cancer and was struck with stress-triggered shingles, which paralyzed half his face and jeopardized his career. But those life lessons, ... find a way to be happy with it.

I'm definitely flattered and humbled any time I can put my name in the same sentence with Arthur Ashe. That's something that is always an accomplishment to me. He's a role model for more than just tennis players, I think.

That first set, he steamrolled me, ... He was hitting the lines. He wasn't missing anything. But I tried not to get too down. I just looked for a little chink in the armor. In the second set, I tried to execute a little better, take it too him because defense was not doing it.

I know I'm not in a Hollywood script, otherwise I probably would have won a lot more this year, ... I just think this is all the hard work I've been putting in, all the time I've spent on the court, in the gym.

I guess I feel as good as I can feel, I fought my heart out. I had the crowd on my side for the first four matches unbelievably strong. To see how they reacted to him and see how much they wanted a champion like him to advance, it was great.

My serve was the biggest difference today, ... It's good to be playing so well at this time of the year.

Any time getting on a grass court is going to be pretty fast, especially a lot faster than the hard courts we've been hitting on. It's just going to be a matter of time getting used to it. I feel comfortable on it. It's not a huge adjustment from the hard courts. It's still quicker. You have to change your game a little more, the movement's different.

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Man, it had to be fifth or sixth grade. I was probably 10 or 11 years old. He was probably in his early 20s by then, taking the world by storm already.

I've come over a few times and not had much success, which is frustrating. I like playing indoors. I feel really good here even though it's not the same kind of crowds as I have on my side in the United States.

I generally try to worry about my side of the court, the things I can control. I feel like I've done a much better job of that now, having kind of different perspective on the game.

He helped me make just minor adjustments. He said, 'Look, you've been broken one time. He had one break point and got it, and you had two and didn't get them. It could easily be the other way. There's no reason to change anything major.' And I didn't.

I'm just excited to be on the court. It was a rough patch for me for a while. I would have given anything last year just to be playing. It's not easy to take that long of a time off with so many things on your mind. So I'm happy to be playing. I know I'm going to get better.

Every different scenario was going through my head,

The only thing I don't like about this job is the travelling but here I don't have to. I sleep in my own bed, I have dinner with my mum or my friends and I feel at home on the court too.

He's a good friend, and those are always interesting matches. We're friends, but tomorrow we're going to want to go out and beat each other's brains in. On the court, we're both professionals and want to win the title.

It was one of those days where everything seemed to be going in, ... Thats a good feeling once you get a little bit of confidence in the beginning and then just keep rolling.

Once I got that first break (in the third set), having the sense it was almost over was great. Having that crowd to front run is great.

Miami is great. I'm trying to do my best to avoid distractions and get ready for tomorrow.

I hope that's kind of the reason they put me on this team, was that I hope the rest of the teammates have the confidence in me to deal with the pressure of playing a fifth match. I'm feeling pretty good about the way I'm playing. Hopefully, I'll do the same on Sunday.

All I think about is the fact that I need to do everything I can to win each game, because it's not, you know, a social game. It's not a country-club game where we're going to go have tea and cookies afterwards. We're doing this for a living, trying to win. That's my goal. It's not to embarrass anyone, it's to go out and win.

It was tough conditions, I wanted to get ahead early but I couldn't quite do that. But I came through at the end of each set.

Brian was uncomfortable to start and that gave me an opportunity to attack on him. I executed from the start and was placing my shots on both sides.

It's going to take time because no matter how good you are or how hard you've worked, there's no substitute for playing matches. I think he needs to get a few matches in, and then once he gets a little bit of confidence in match play, I think he's going to get that ranking right back up there.

That's legitimate. That's a reason for people not to do it. Morally, people should have a reason not to do it to begin with and physically, the harm you're doing to your body in the long-term. Two years is pretty reasonable to make people think twice about it. It's not a chance worth taking.

I never feel great after a loss, but I guess it's about as good as I can feel. I fought my heart out. I did everything I could, ... He just played too good for me at the end.

I thought in the past maybe I've had girlfriends that complained a lot, but he took that to a whole new level complaining when they get called.

I've been playing pretty solid all week. I was happy to get through the way I did. I'm just happy to get back to the final, and there's no pressure on me tomorrow against Andy. He's one of the top players in the world, and I'm just going to go out and play and have fun.

You're so scared of losing, you don't think about, You know what, I'm going to go out and take the win.' That's what I did today.

To be in the quarterfinals is pretty unexpected for most people, ... But I didn't feel like it was that absurd to think that I could be here, and hopefully even further.

He's a great player. We've had some really good matches. He hits the ball so clean, we're going to have a lot of points. There's some good shot-making and we both have pretty big serves to get free points.

He has a good serve. It will be tough to break him, especially in these conditions. Hopefully I can have more control over the match than he does and play as a good as I did today.

I didn't want to just rest and try to win just on my name, or just because I thought I had done well last week. Obviously the score line shows that I kept my focus the whole time.

I feel that I'm playing just about as well as when I was 20-something in the world. I think I'm a more mature player, a more in-control player. I think I'm playing as well right now as I was when I was 20-something in the world. I'm happy I'm back, happy that I'm playing well again.

I heard the Blake chant and I decided mentally I'd start the match over. I would try to dictate more points because playing defense clearly wasn't working.

Just to keep me calm, ... I might have been a little too hyper if I was going out there in front of those crowds this week ...

The courts were great, the balls were great, and the fans were great. No excuses. (Roddick) had to make the same adjustment. Antony served very well. These guys are all so good you have to be on top of your game every night.

He taught me about hard work, the joy of hard work for just improving yourself.

Andre has gotten the better of (Robby). But Robby is a much smarter player now. I would like to think I might have taken something out of Andre's legs (Wednesday night).