James Blake is not only known as one of the greatest players in Tennis, he is also known as a crowd-favorite with his talents and his looks. He turned pro in the year 1999 and is now currently ranked number 8 in the Singles circuit and number 125 in the Doubles circuit. He holds an impressive 10 Singles titles and 5 Doubles titles to date.

Blake started playing tennis at the age of five together with his older brother and father. Before he turned professional in June of 1999, Blake played two seasons of Tennis at Harvard in the year 1998-1999. He even finished as the number 1 collegiate player in the country after playing his sophomore season.

Starting out young at the age of 21, Blake gained confidence in playing Tennis professionally. His career rose from the years 2000 to 2003. However, the succeeding year 2004 proved to be quite a challenge for Blake. He broke his neck while practicing with Robby Ginepri. In the same year, his father died and he, himself, developed shingles which paralyzed half of his face and blurred his vision temporarily. These events seriously put Blake’s Tennis future in jeopardy.

He was able to make a comeback but his ranking unfortunately fell to 210. He entered the Challenger circuits to gain his confidence back until he was able to enter the ATP top 50 with a ranking of 49. He was named ATP’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2005. The years 2006 and 2007 started and ended beautifully for Blake. Now, in the year 2008, James Blake is making headlines again in the ARAG World Team Cup of 2008 representing the United States of America.