I recently bought Breaking Back, James Blake's autobiography to get free shipping from Amazon.com on Topspin 4 for PS3. I knew it was a book I wanted to read because Blake, similar to myself, lost a parent to cancer. I thought my interest in tennis, and primitive knowledge of James Blake would be a perfect match. The first thing you will notice is James Blake is extremely well read and versed. He is after all a Harvard student of four semesters. He's one of the smartest athletes you will ever meet. His lifelong love of education passed to him by both of his parents. He's a very interesting person, he just doesn't really dig deep enough in this for my liking. He does talk about the different things that happen to him: Reaching top 25 ranking, fracturing a vertebrae, losing his dad to cancer, having a zoster that paralyzed half his face and cost him most of his athletic abilities for a few months. It's all spoken in mainly generalities and he really doesn't let you into his most intimate thoughts and feeling is what I thought. It's well-written and a good memoir for his personal records, but I didn't really feel like it was personal enough. You learned some of his fears, but you could've guessed them yourself. It was nice shout-out to his friends and family as well, but once again it just scratched the surface I felt. You don't get to KNOW any of his friends or family, they are just mentioned along with a few attributes/characteristics. It's interesting and you learn a lot about James Blake, but his failure to capitalize with a major, or be a major player on the international stage also hurts the feel-good aspect of the story. It is almost a miracle he is on the professional tour and he has accomplished and overcome a great deal, so KUDOS and hats off to James Blake. You end up having to cheer for him, but he's already old for the pro tour and in the twilight of his career, but perhaps he's got another run at the U.S. Open in him to remind us of the brilliant and athletic brand of tennis he is capable of. Anyone who was a witness of the U.S. Open match in the Quarterfinals against Agassi in I think 2006 knows exactly what I'm talking about.
Bottom Line: Read if you are interested in James Blake, or an athletes point of view on career, family, loss, life, and friendship. I'm not giving it a point ranking, that wouldn't make me feel good as a human being.
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