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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As usual, we went around and around swapping unwanted cards for new ones,
while seeing and upping each other's bets until there was an Everest of chips in
the center of the table. Eventually, when the mountain of chips looked ready to ...
DECEMBER 2003 Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you
just sit there. —WILL ROGERS For professional tennis players, December is an
annual abyss. The year's competition is done, and everyone on the Association
of ...
You keep playing matches like that and you're going to win. A lot.” All that
promise. All that encouragement. All those believers. And yet, as I took stock of
2003, there was no escaping the fact that I hadn't passed many road signs to
success in ...
... 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 the ...
holidays, there's a real sense of conviviality in the air. It's not the smallest of small
towns—local shops like Fairfield Clothiers exist right alongside outposts of
national chains like Banana Republic—but it has its charms: such as the ...
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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 |