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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... observers, this was evidence that I had a tendency to give up on a match that wasn't going my way, an appraisal that annoyed me because, if anything, I wanted to win too much. I always had a feeling, deep down, 20 BREAKING BACK.
... wanted to enjoy the time as normally as possible, though in the back of our collective mind we knew it could be our last holiday together, before the unit would become forever incomplete. Being in my father's presence had always made me ...
... wanted to be known for how I played, not just how I presented myself. Growing up, I was a huge fan of basketball deity Michael Jordan, whose eye-popping, gravity-defying, championshiphoarding exploits made him, in my book, the greatest ...
... wanted to be known for my tennis. And I thought shaving my head would be a real way of telling myself to put up or shut up. When I got to Fairfield for Christmas, I couldn't lose that idea that something needed to change, but my hair ...
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 |