Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My LifeJames 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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 3
Come January, those of us who aren't nursing injuries will flock to Australia, or
one of a handful of other destinations, for the first tournaments of the New Year.
From there, we will continue to travel and play on and off for the better part of the
...
One occurred when I played Australian Pat Rafter in a Masters Series event in
Cincinnati during August of that year. I played Rafter close in the first set, losing it
7–9 in the tie break, only to have him run away with the second set, 6–2. As
match ...
A few weeks later, I made it to the second round of the US Open and took
Australian Lleyton Hewitt, the number three player in the world at that time, to five
sets, before the heat and my work-in-progress conditioning failed me and I ran
out of ...
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User Review - sugarhill203 - Overstock.comI found the book interesting and easy to read due to the content and good writting. Being a tennis fan I found the book to show the reasons the commentators use very positive words describing James Blake. James his mother and brother are always shown respect when referring to them. Read full review
Contents
| 1 | |
| 7 | |
It Could Be Worse | 35 |
Requiem for a Superman | 63 |
Five Minutes of Hitting | 115 |
Plan B | 147 |
If You Can Win One Set | 175 |
You Can Win Two 175 7 Fire It Up One Time Bam 203 8 Getting Better 241 Epilogue 257 Glossary | 265 |
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life |
| Author | James Blake |
| Publisher | Harper Collins, 2009 |
| ISBN | 0061739650, 9780061739651 |
| Length | 288 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |