HELPING OTHERS: Yonkers Tennis Great Talks About Mental Health

YONKERS: When James Blake unofficially retired from professional tennis in August 2013, he was a household name.

Over the course of a roughly 14-year career, the 38-year-old American from Yonkers, N.Y., worked his way to becoming the fourth-ranked singles player in the world, with 10 wins on the ATP World Tour and countless trips to grand slams.

Roland Garros, Wimbledon, Flushing Meadows — you name it, he’s probably been there. And deep in the draw.

But Blake by no means coasted through his career. In May 2004, during the Italian Open, he was practicing with fellow American Robby Ginepri on a drizzly day in Rome. Both lost in the first round, and they found a clay court to, naturally, play a match.

Blake slipped, and his body surged forward, hitting the net post while running down a drop shot. He fractured seven vertebrae — all just before the French Open.

That same year, his father, Thomas, died of stomach cancer. Blake also developed shingles on his face, known as zoster, which attacked nerves and led to temporary paralysis in half his face.

Going from highs to lows in such a short span of time caused him to search his soul.

“The doctors told me it was something where they wouldn’t even be able to tell if it will ever get better, or they’d have to do an experimental procedure to put a nerve from my leg into my face,” said Blake.

“Even then, they said it’d take a month to determine whether I was going to heal at all."

“So, for that month, not knowing if I was ever going to play tennis again — or if I would ever look normal again, be able to smile or close my eye in a normal way — that made me think about what else I could do.”..... 

http://roundupnewswires.com/city/yonkers-ny/index.php/2018/08/26/helping-others-yonkers-tennis-great-talks-about-mental-health/

Roundup Newswires