James Blake
James Blake was born on this date in 1979. He is a former Black professional tennis player and cancer research advocate.
James Riley Blake is from Yonkers, New York; his father, Thomas Blake, Sr., is Black, and his mother, Betty, is white-British. His brother, Thomas Jr., is also a professional tennis player, and he has two older half-brothers, Christopher and Howard.
Blake graduated from Fairfield High School in Fairfield, CT, in 1997. He attended Harvard University and left after his sophomore year to pursue a tennis career.
Blake was inspired to pursue tennis after hearing his role model, Arthur Ashe, speak to the Harlem Junior Tennis Program members. Brian Barker was his first (and current) coach. Afflicted with scoliosis for five years as a teenager, he had to wear a full-length back brace for 18 hours a day, though not while playing tennis. Blake was named Rookie of the Year for the 2000 World Team Tennis season. Away from tennis, Blake also enjoys golf, basketball, and baseball.
Blake first gained the attention of tennis fans worldwide after nearly beating Lleyton Hewitt at the 2001 U.S. Open. That same year, he saw his first Davis Cup action against India and became the third Black man to play the Davis Cup for the United States. Blake won the 2002 USTA Waikola Challenger in Hawaii. He has also won the Hopman Cup twice (with Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport).
He and singer/songwriter John Mayer, also from Fairfield, are good friends. When Anthem Insurance invited Blake to do a cancer charity game honoring his late father, he invited Mayer (along with Andy Roddick and Gavin DeGraw) to perform. Blake enjoys golf and basketball and is a New York Mets fan. On November 9, 2012, Blake married Emily Snider, a publicist, in a beach ceremony in California. They have a daughter, Riley Elizabeth, born in June 2012.
On September 9, 2015, Blake was thrown to the ground, handcuffed, and arrested by a plainclothes New York City Police Department officer. This happened before the Grand Hyatt New York after being mistaken for a suspect of interest. The officers relied on a witness and photo of a suspect who looked similar to Blake: they mistook him for a credit-card fraud suspect staying in the same hotel.
The NYPD Commissioner apologized for the mistake and stated the "arrest raised serious questions about [the officer's] actions" but denied allegations of racism. Blake sued but withdrew his claim, saying he wasn't looking for financial compensation "on the condition that the city establish a legal fellowship to investigate police misconduct and advocate for victims of brutality."
