Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My LifeHarper Collins, 2007 M07 5 - 288 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 1-5 of 11
... wasn't the beer . I hadn't even had a beer . It was the zoster , a virus that grabbed me back in July and hadn't let go . A vicious illness , zoster had paralyzed the left side of my face , distorted my sense of taste and hearing , and ...
... wasn't always easy . One night , early in their court- ship , they were dining at a restaurant and my father caught an- other man staring at them . “ I have nice teeth , too , ” my father said , grinning broadly at the guy . It was a ...
... wasn't the ATP that Thomas dreamed of; it was Harvard University, a goal he attained and which subsequently influenced me. In 1997, when I headed to Cambridge, I had every inten- tion of returning for the next three Septembers and ...
... wasn't the only thing that was haunting me . Constantly , I found myself revisiting two encour- aging losses going all the way back to 2001. One occurred when I played Australian Pat Rafter in a Masters Series event in Cin- cinnati ...
... wasn't even ad- mitting to myself : I didn't really believe that I belonged out there with the best players in the world . I didn't feel like I deserved to win . But when you get that close to taking a set from a top player , then lose ...
Contents
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 |
Fire It Up One Time Bam | 203 |
Getting Better | 241 |