Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My LifeHarper Collins, 2009 M03 17 - 288 pages 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. |
From inside the book
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... feel the anticipation building in the air from the corridor that leads to center court, and when we walked out into the arena, and the announcer called out his name—“Ladies and gentlemen, Andre Agassi”—drawing it out like Ed McMahon ...
... feel like I deserved to win. But when you get that close to taking a set from a top player, then lose, your belief in yourself often disappears with the set, and that's what happened that day. A few weeks later, I made it to the second ...
... feeling was that I didn't want to win badly enough. People opined that when the chips stacked against me, I'd just start flailing rather than patiently solving whatever problem was in front of me on a given day. What made matters worse ...
... feeling, deep down, that I was capable of playing great tennis, and when I didn't, I was almost mystified by it. I'd try to do something spectacular to turn things around, and almost inevitably ended up making things worse. But despite ...
... feel—there's a train station and a main street (the Boston Post Road), and in the spring and summer, there are signs and banners hanging across intersections or on lampposts announcing music and arts festivals and other events. During ...
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 |