Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My LifeHarperCollins, 2007 M07 5 - 275 pages In 2004, James Blake's life was getting more perfect by the day. A rising tennis star, with each passing year his game seemed to improve. In 2002, he was named Sexiest Male Athlete by People, and along the way he continued to gain in the rankings and earn respect on the court. Each day seemed to offer a new milestone, a new achievement; he was leading a charmed life and loving every minute of the ride. But that life came to an abrupt halt in May 2004 when Blake broke his back in a freak accident on the court. A few months later, as Blake was recovering from his injury, he suffered another tremendous setback when his father–the man who had raised him and provided the inspiration for his tennis career–lost his battle with stomach cancer. Shortly after his father's death, Blake's situation was further complicated when he contracted Zoster, a rare virus that paralyzed half of his face and threatened to end his already jeopardized tennis career. Breaking Back tells the story of the tumultous year that followed these three devastating events, detailing how Blake persevered through hardship to become one of the best tennis players in the world. Here Blake explains how the wisdom and words that his father imparted to him over the years gave him the ability to succeed in the face of these seemingly insurmountable odds. Though these trials proved the most difficult of his life, ultimately this trifecta of tragedy became the culmination of all his father's lessons, showing Blake that even in death, his father was still teaching him how to be a man. In the spirit of Lance Armstrong's It's Not About the Bike and Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking comes this remarkable tale of strength and determination from one of tennis's biggest stars. A story of passion, willpower, and the unbreakable bonds between a father and a son, Breaking Back is one athlete's account of finding hope in the bleakest of times. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 73
... going to Australia and showing the tennis world that from here on out , I was going to be a different kind of player . Because my father was sick , it was more difficult than usual to leave Fairfield , but he wouldn't have had it any ...
... going on : I felt like a bit of a pretender . Somehow despite all my rehab and all my practice , there was a of me that didn't feel like I deserved to be out there with all part these guys . My eight months off had changed everything ...
... going . He reined in his game , and began going for more on his shots , and next thing I knew , he came back and won the third set . If that had happened back in 2003 , I'll tell you right now that I would've lost that match 6-1 in the ...
Contents
It Could Be Worse | 35 |
Requiem for a Superman | 63 |
Five Minutes of Hitting | 115 |
Copyright | |
4 other sections not shown