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
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During those days in 2004, and the ones that followed in early 2005, my
character was challenged as never before. I was at a major crossroads, a time in
which my life and my career were largely in the hands of fate, despite all the
efforts I was ...
... because I was never supposed to make my living as a jock. If most adolescent
athletes have “sports parents,” then I had “school parents”—a mother and father
who revered education above everything else and treated it as a lifelong pursuit,
...
While my interracial heritage may seem to be a tailor-made story of adversity, the
adversity never really materialized in many ways because I never allowed it to
overtake my worldview. My parents' inclination toward truly loving life and ...
I'd once heard Jordan say that in his mind, he played for the one person in the
stands who had never seen him before, and how he wanted to make sure that
person saw something he or she would never forget (writer Bob Greene dubbed
this ...
I don't do a lot of “sharing” and never really have. But at the end of 2003 there
were two people that I sought out for advice about my situation. One was Brian,
who from the time we began working together had instilled in me a philosophy 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 |