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
Results 1-5 of 8
... thoughts into the carefree air of the night, so I steadied myself on the table and walked to the kitchen as quickly as I could, before anybody noticed that I was fighting just to stay on my feet. That unsteadiness wasn't just normal for ...
... thought often of the one tournament I had won at that point, the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, DC, just over a year earlier, in August 2002, but I didn't focus on the final. Instead, I thought about my semifinal match, in ...
... thought about at night just as much as I lingered on those positive memories from '01 and '02. I saw myself, for example, on the court at Indian Wells, California, in March 2003, losing the final set 0–6 to Gustavo “Guga” Kuerten in the ...
... thought I had talent, but the prevailing 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 ...
... thought or felt. My situation was what it was. I was at the end of 2003 without a second title, a ranking that was moving in the wrong direction, and enough regrets to last a lifetime. That year, as I flew home for Christmas, was the ...
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 |