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 Inspirational Jul 28, 2008
I learned about James Blake last year when I started watching tennis matches on the Tennis Channel. The book is easy to read. I highly recommend it.
0 of 3 found the following review helpful:
 Broring and obvious May 27, 2008
The most boring tennis book I ever read.I bought almost every single tennis book Amazon has to offer, and this one is by far the dullest one.This book is not aimed at the serious tennis player.You'll learn nothing new from it.It's just a personal journal where he keeps trying to take the focus away from tennis. The only conclusion I arrived to is that Blake's life without tennis is boring as hell.
Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life Mar 07, 2008
Interesting, inspiring, uplifting story. Reminds us that there are still a lot of GOOD people in this world.
A good and enjoyable lesson for people of all ages, athletes and couch potatoes alike. After reading, you will be a James Blake fan, even if you have never seen a tennis match.
James Blake- Breaking Back Jan 31, 2008
This is by far a must read for any person. Realizing the hardships and injuries for Mr. Blake to overcome is incredible. The best part about reading his book is the way you view life and to understand everything happens for the best.
Towards the end of the book there is a chapter on his friends who he calls the J-BLOCK. People would kill to have something like that Today, and the best part about it is he is so great full to be where he is today.
 Through to the light on the other side... Jan 21, 2008
This is a refreshing and inspirational story, one that leaves your mouth open as you witness and experience the challenges that Blake went through, as well as leave you with a smile and a pump of the fist as he slowly and steadily built himself back up. Most people would not overcome such devastating life experiences in such quick succession, at least not as well as he did. But this was what Blake did when, after he broke his neck, lost his father to cancer and came down with zoster, he was able to climb back in the rankings and do better than he had ever done before, winning two titles (he had only won one previous tournament in his career) and getting to the quarterfinals of the US Open, catapulting himself to a ranking of 23 from a low of 210 in 2005, then to 4th by the end of 2006 (with an additional 5 tournaments).
This is an up front and honest account of Blake's personal life, bringing the reader into a world that is hard to understand. We get to see some of the inner workings of the tour, as well as some of what tennis pros go through in their day to day life, but not too much.
This is, of course, not meant to be a day to day memoir of his experiences on the tennis court. Some may pick this up thinking they will get to read about tennis a lot more than is present, but this was never Blake's intention. After all, the subtitle of his book is "How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life". So instead of a book crammed full with tennis thoughts on matches and other players, we get to witness through Blake's words what he went through, starting with where he came from and going through where he eventually got to at the end of 2006. It is clear that it was his father who played such a huge role in his life and this biography is an homage to him. Additionally, Blake reiterates how much of an impact his coach had on him through his philosophic style of coaching.
I think this is definitely the way to go, besides not straying from what he intended to write upon, and has helped paint a picture of himself that is sure to gain him many fans and inspire many more. His writing is easy and enjoyable and flows from beginning to end. I've always been a fan of Blake, even before I knew what had happened to him in 2004, and after reading Breaking Back I am an even bigger fan. I definitely recommend this book to any interested.
4 stars.
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