Product Description

James Blake's life was getting better every day. A rising tennis star and People magazine's Sexiest Male Athlete of 2002, he was leading a charmed life and loving every minute of it. But all that ended in May 2004, when Blake fractured his neck in an on-court freak accident. As he recovered, his father—who had been the inspiration for his tennis career—lost his battle with stomach cancer. Shortly after his father's death, Blake was dealt a third blow when he contracted zoster, a rare virus that paralyzed half of his face and threatened to end his already jeopardized career.

In Breaking Back, Blake provides a remarkable account of how he came back from this terrible heartbreak and self-doubt to become one of the top tennis players in the world. A story of strength, passion, courage, and the unbreakable bonds between a father and son, Breaking Back is a celebration of one extraordinary athlete's indomitable spirit and his inspiring ability to find hope in the bleakest of times.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #207440 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-01
• Released on: 2008-05-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061560606
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Tennis champion Blake, who has appeared on Oprah and The Tonight Show, shares his string of hard-won successes both on the court and in his personal health. A child of a black father and white British mother in Fairfield, Conn., Blake hooked into serious tennis playing by age 11, when he was paired with coach Brian Barker, who remained his gentle mentor for the duration of his career. Having turned professional by his sophomore year of college at Harvard in 1991, Blake had mixed success on the pro circuit for the first few years. Sustaining confidence seemed to be Blake's biggest challenge, as he struggled to follow the advice of his father, Tom, who was fighting a losing battle with stomach cancer: You can't control your level of talent, but you can control your level of effort. At age 23, he decided to shave his trademark dreadlocks. Soon after, he ran into a steel net post during a practice game in Rome, fracturing his neck vertebrae. Blake was later diagnosed with paralyzing zoster, or shingles. His memoir is an inspirational account of overcoming the odds to return to competitive playing by 2004. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The Washington Post
Reviewed by Bruce Schoenfeld

The zone of unreality that often separates important politicians from the real world is nothing compared to the cocoons that surround top professional tennis players. As teenagers, they're already getting handed off from tournament director to tournament director, lodged in luxurious hotels and catered to by sponsors, agents and tour officials while the endorsement checks accumulate. Any interaction with normal people in the cities they pass through is fleeting.

James Blake has always been different -- but not that different. Raised by an African-American father and white mother in an academic-minded household in Fairfield, Conn. (his middle-class parents awarded him $25 for every 100 books he read), he wasn't shipped off to a tennis academy at the first sign of precocious talent; he actually played on his high school team. For two years, Blake attended Harvard and became the best collegiate player in America. But after a flurry of interest from some of the world's biggest management groups, which saw in him the sketchy outline of a Tiger Woods of tennis, he turned professional in 1999.

Before long, he was tucked into the same cocoon as the tennis lifers, partying with Giorgio Armani, meeting the pope, accepting as his due the perks of his profession. "Life out on the tour," he admits early in Breaking Back, his chronicle of a 2004 season filled with distress, injury, illness and -- ultimately -- insight, "is often one long dream." Four years into his professional career, he'd won only a single ATP Tour event. He routinely stayed up all night after each loss, distracting himself with hours of video poker. Yet as he shamefully realized, as of December 2003, his biggest decision was whether to shave off the dreadlocks that had become his signature look and risk losing endorsement dollars in the process.

During the annus horribilis that followed, Blake came to understand the shallowness of such an existence. First his father, an ex-soldier called "iron man" by his wife, fell ill with stomach cancer. He was already deteriorating when Blake suffered a freak accident on a practice court in Italy that fractured a vertebra. Then he contracted zoster, or shingles, which rendered half his face immobile, forced him to shuffle down hallways like an invalid and threatened to end his career.

The fracture had a silver lining: It enabled Blake to spend his father's last weeks with him. And in the midst of his own recovery, Blake experienced an epiphany: "[I] thought about how many matches I had squandered or let go out of impatience or frustration . . . how little I had bothered to learn about all the cities I'd visited. I thought about how truly unique my position was, and yet it was not until then that I'd ever recognized it as such."

As his run of misfortune continued, so did his philosophical journey. When he attempted to push through a comeback session against his doctor's recommendations, he found he could hardly hit the ball. "That was the first time when I really came to recognize the limits of willpower and resolve," he writes, words of true wisdom that I've been waiting years for any athlete to utter. (Next on my list: "God had no interest in the outcome of this game.") Ultimately, it became clear to Blake that his former concerns were hardly concerns at all. "When you play tennis for a living," he writes, "the world is pretty simple; it's the rest of the world and the rest of life that's much more complicated."

Not since Courting Danger, Alice Marble's 1991 tale that revealed (or perhaps invented) her undercover work as a World War II spy, has a tennis autobiography offered its readers so little tennis. By the time Blake offers detailed play-by-play of a match 186 pages in, we're ready for it -- and firmly on his side. Befitting the heightened state of Blake's enlightenment, the book's climax is a defeat: to Andre Agassi, in a U.S. Open semifinal.

Yet in true Zen fashion, by relaxing his grip, Blake began to succeed as never before, winning two more tournaments and earning a ranking in the world's Top 25. Taking stock of his success in December 2005, he asked Brian Barker, his longtime coach, if he was truly "bound for bigger and better things than either of us really thought were possible." Barker's response serves as a fitting coda for this admirably unusual sports memoir: "He looked at me incredulously. 'I have no idea,' he said."

Copyright 2007, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

Review
"Blake is a champion—in every sense of the word." -- Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue

"I’ve known James since early childhood...James’s rise to international success is as stunning as it was predictable." -- John Mayer

"The grace and dignity that James has shown during some very difficult times has been a source of great inspiration." -- Andre Agassi

"Through Blake’s commitment and passion, he tells the story of the life lessons he learned while facing difficult personal challenges." -- —Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, wife of the late Arthur Ashe

"[James Blake] has inspired young people everywhere with his story of courage and determination." -- —former president George H.W. Bush

Customer Reviews

A heart-wrenching...and heart-warming story
Although I don't know James Blake, I met him very briefly in New York City years ago at the Harlem Tennis Center. I also met his father Thomas at that time who impressed me with his warmth and generosity of spirit. When I heard the news that Thomas Blake had died in 2004, I knew from meeting him that it would be a devastating loss for all who knew this wonderful man. And because my wife was battling cancer at that time and, like Thomas Blake, also being treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, I could relate to what Thomas Blake, his family and friends experienced.

So often in life, good things bloom from the seeds of hardship. Breaking Back by James Blake is a heart-wrenching and heart-warming story about how life's trials shaped the character of a remarkable young man. The wisdom of Thomas Blake and his son James' self-reflection reminded me of the relationship the great UCLA basketball coach John Wooden had with his father Joshua. The wisdom and friendship of Blake's philosopher-coach Brian Barker reminded me of the relationship John Wooden had with his players. The dedicated, supporting and steady presence of James' mother Betty Blake is a subtle theme throughout the book. I also loved Blake's affection for his friends and how they rallied around him in his time of need. When my wife had cancer, we experienced first hand how much the support of family and friends can help you make it through difficult seasons in life. I attribute my wife's recovery in part to the support we received just as James credits his friends and family for helping him through the difficult times he has faced.

Another Amazon reviewer of Breaking Back argues that Blake's philosophy of focusing on continuous improvement and achieving his personal best will prevent him from being a great tennis player. I disagree with that view. Blake's philosophy is the same as John Wooden's whose basketball hall of fame biography states that with ten national championships and four perfect seasons Wooden "achieved a record that no coach in any sport may ever surpass." Wooden achieved that record with a relentless pursuit of becoming his personal best while being a good human being. Wooden told his players that in his eyes a winner is someone who achieves the satisfaction of knowing they always gave their personal best effort. As Wooden said "you can win and not be a winner and you can be a winner and not win." In the eyes of those who value the content of character above fame a fortune, James Blake is a winner in every sense of the word. He's a role model whose story more young people need to hear.

I'll be reading this book to my two teenage daughters and giving copies to some of their friends. It will sit in my library alongside the inspiring stories about people who developed strength of character such as Mornings on Horseback about Teddy Roosevelt, Lincoln's Virtues about Abraham Lincoln, and My Personal Best about John Wooden. For those who are interested in stories about people like James Blake with strength of character and how they inspire the people around them, you might enjoy our just-released book Fired Up or Burned Out: How to Reignite Your Team's Passion, Creativity, and Productivity

The comeback kid from Connecticut
Maybe it's because I grew up in a Connecticut town just a few miles away from James Blake's hometown of Fairfield or that James is one of the most exciting tennis players to watch play a match....whatever the case, James has written a compelling memoir about the trials and travails of his recent life only to see him experience a renaissance in personal growth both on and off the court. "Breaking Back" is the story of James Blake's triumphs over adversity and it is one fine read.

As James says, a tennis match is not unlike life, itself. It's packed with victories and losses and all the drama that accompanies it. For James, a serious neck injury, the death of his father and being diagnosed with zoster (or "shingles") all in one year would drive anyone underground for a time. On top of all of that, James reveals he was born with scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and had to wear a back brace for years. James is lucky, though, to come from a close, loving family, have a coach, Brian Barker, (who is as much a mentor as anything else) and have dozens of friends who support him in his darkest hours. They form the basis of J-Block, the chief rooting section for James. Shining above anything or anyone else, though, is his dad. Thomas's fatherly advice is well-taken by the young tennis pro and it serves him well as he struggles with his own illnesses and some of the psychological barriers that hold him back on the court. He refers to his Dad as "Superman" and the elder Blake's death from cancer is the harshest blow for James.

This book plumbs the depths of an inner life filled with joy and sorrow but the great news is the rebirth of James Blake. And the ways he comes roaring back onto the court and takes control again over his own life make this book a fascinating look at one of the outstanding tennis players of our day and one of an inspirational young man who happens to play it. James's creed is "get better" and he does step by step and day by day. He is truly the comeback kid. I highly recommend "Breaking Back" for its honesty and courage.

More then I expected
Let me preface my comments by saying that Blake is one of my favorite tennis players. After having watched (and enjoyed) him in so many matches I was very interested in what he might reveal about himself in this book. While Blake certainly hasn't missed his calling by not being a professional writer, he nonetheless has crafted a readable and entertaining first effort with "Breaking Back." I was immediately engaged as I began reading this book because of Blake's relentless honesty - with regard to himself, the game, and the important people in his life. No pretense here. Blake isn't trying to impress, he's trying to convey a message about love, loss, and redemption; and in his own way he accomplishes his goal in an effective and emotionally touching way. To state the obvious, all of us either have or will face various adversities in life of one kind or another. But few of us will lose as much as James did, and even fewer will become stronger and better people for having undergone the experience. To summarize: A sudden convergence of events in Blake's life mounted a remorseless attack on everything that held meaning for him. Lesser men would have fallen, but Blake dug deep and he fought back. He overcame. And we're all better for it because he chose to share the experience with us. When I turned the last page of this book I was thankful to have spent some time with this gifted and special young man. As he relates, he has a number of close friends. I'd like to be one of them. Whatever his faults, this man has qualities that made his parents proud, as they should have been. And you'll be a better person for having invited James Blake into your life through a reading of this moving memoir.