James Blake Serve Quotations

He didn't get many free points on his serve and I was getting some on mine,

His serve is a joke. Sometimes it doesn't matter how you return. He can ace you out of a game. If he's hitting his spots, serving at 140 mph from that angle, there's not much you can do except say 'good serve' and move on and not get frustrated. I have to focus on holding serve like I did today.

His serve obviously gives him a lot of confidence. I think I had about five chances to break in the match and didn't get near any of them. It's frustrating to deal with because it makes you feel under pressure when you serve.

My serve was the biggest difference today, ... It's good to be playing so well at this time of the year.

To win on Tommy's serve was great. It was welcome. I had no regrets going after his second serve on match point. Six months ago I wouldn't have had the confidence to do it. Early in the year, the break points were the ones I was missing. I need to keep those points going my way.

Tommy just steamrolled me (in 19 minutes) in that first set, ... He returns your serve so well, it seems like you have to win every point three times.

On clay, his serve still isn't a weapon, but he can back it up really well. Here, he wasn't able to do that. I was able to hit a couple of clean winners off of first serves, and that can rattle you early.

I never faced Pete (Sampras) in a match. I think from watching, his is the best serve ever. And he is the only guy that I would probably not take the bet that he would so often offer in practice -- he's down love-40, says '10 bucks, I still hold serve.' I probably wouldn't even take that against him. So many times he would come back and win. He would just put it on the dime. I also wouldn't take the bets when we were just practicing our serves, he put just a tennis ball can on the other side, and says, 'A hundred bucks for who hits more.' That's not a safe bet with him.

I need to return really well. His serve is a joke. He can ace you right out of a match.

I definitely feel like I'm a better player than when I was 22, ... There are certain things that have improved: My defense has improved a lot, my serve has improved a lot. I feel like mentally I'm just a little stronger. I don't think there is any way I would be able to do what I'm doing right now two or three years ago.