What Is James Blake's Net Worth?
James Blake is an American retired professional tennis player, media analyst, and author who has a net worth of $8 million. James Blake won 10 titles while competing on the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Tour, and at one point, his singles ranking was #4 in the world. Blake made it to the finals of the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup and the semifinals at the Beijing Olympics. He made it to the quarterfinals of the US Open in 2005 and 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008.
James was named Comeback Player of the Year in 2005 after recovering from a fractured vertebra, and he was honored with the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year award in 2008. Since retiring from professional tennis in 2013, Blake has served as a media analyst for networks such as ESPN, the Tennis Channel, and CNN. He has published the books "Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life" (2007) and "Ways of Grace: Stories of Activism, Adversity, and How Sports Can Bring Us Together" (2017), and "Breaking Back" was a "New York Times" Best Seller. During his time as a professional tennis player, James signed endorsement deals with Fila and Evian, and he created a new racket with Prince using their O3 technology. In 2009, he launched the Thomas Reynolds Collection clothing line, which was named after his late father.
Early Life
James Blake was born James Riley Blake on December 28, 1979, in Yonkers, New York. He is the son of a British mother (Betty) and an African-American father (Thomas), and he has an older brother named Thomas, who has also played tennis professionally. James also has a half-sister and three half-brothers.
He began playing tennis when he was five years old, and he was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of 13 and had to spend 18 hours a day wearing a back brace (though he didn't have to wear it when he was playing tennis).
James' father sold surgical supplies for a living, and the family relocated to Fairfield, Connecticut, because of his job. Blake studied at Fairfield High School, where one of his classmates and friends, John Mayer, was a future Grammy-winning musician. James was a member of the Harlem Junior Tennis Program, and after Arthur Ashe, his role model, spoke to the young players, Blake was inspired to pursue a career as a tennis player. After high school, James attended Harvard University, but he left after two years to focus on his tennis career. Blake was inducted into the ITA Collegiate Hall of Fame in 2018.
Career
In 2001, Blake played in the Davis Cup for the first time at the age of 21, and he competed in the Cincinnati Masters and the US Open. The following year, he won the USTA Waikoloa Challenger, an ATP Tour title, and an ATP Masters Series title. He made it to the ATP Masters Series event quarterfinals in Rome and the final in Newport. When he won the ATP titles in Cincinnati, James became the first African-American male to win a title there. He also reached round three at the 2002 US Open.
In 2003, Blake reached the semifinals at San Jose and the final at Long Island, and Roger Federer eliminated him in the third round of the US Open. In May 2004, James slipped and broke his neck while practicing for a Masters event, fracturing his seventh vertebra. He lost his father to stomach cancer in July 2004, and he developed shingles around this time, which caused blurred vision and temporary paralysis of half his face.
In 2005, Blake made it to the final at the ATP International Series event, where he lost to Andy Roddick, and he won another ATP Tour title at the Stockholm Open. He won his fourth ATP title at the 2006 Sydney International, then he won another one at the Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas later that year. He reached the ATP Masters Series singles final and was defeated by Federer, and he won the singles title at the ATP International Series and the Thailand Open. James won the ATP Tour title at the 2006 Stockholm Open, and at the end of the year, he was ranked #1 in the U.S. and #4 in the world.
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In 2007, Blake won the Sydney International, then he was runner-up in the ATP Masters Series final and winner of the Penn Pilot singles title. He finished fourth in men's singles at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, and in 2009, he reached the final of the Aegon Championships, losing to Andy Murray. James injured his knee in 2010, and after losing in the first round at Wimbledon, he made it to the third round of the US Open and reached the semifinals at the 2011 Stockholm Open. At the 2013 US Open, he announced that he was retiring. Blake returned to professional tennis in May 2023 to compete in the ITF World Tennis Tour, entering the doubles event using a wildcard. He said of his decision, "It's going to be fun. I haven't played a tournament in 10 years since I announced my retirement. I don't have any expectations. The competitive juices are still there, and I'll go out there, and I'm still going to want to win."
Personal Life
James married publicist Emily Snider in 2012, and they have welcomed two daughters together. Blake enjoys playing basketball and golf, and he was runner-up on the second edition of Bravo's "Celebrity Poker Showdown." In 2008, he founded the charity The James Blake Foundation, which is "dedicated to cancer research and finding a cure." According to Blake's official website, the foundation "invests vital seed money at the leading edge of science: speeding the most promising work, and shortening the time it takes to turn lab discoveries into better treatments for patients." In 2005, he began hosting a charity tennis exhibition/music event called "Anthem Live!" to raise funds for cancer research. A few years later, he established a fund in honor of his father, the Thomas Blake, Sr. Memorial Research Fund, in support of cancer research at Manhattan's Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
In September 2015, a plainclothes NYPD officer threw James on the sidewalk, handcuffed him, and arrested him after mistaking him for a man who was suspected of credit card fraud. Commissioner William Bratton apologized to Blake and said that the "arrest raised serious questions about [the officer's] actions" while denying allegations of racism. James filed a lawsuit against the city of New York, but he later withdrew it "on the condition that the city establish a legal fellowship to investigate police misconduct and advocate for victims of brutality." Blake wrote about the incident in the 2017 book "Ways of Grace: Stories of Activism, Adversity, and How Sports Can Bring Us Together," and the officer who arrested him sued him for defamation. A judge dismissed the lawsuit in September 2018.
Real Estate
in 2005, Blake paid $1.5 million for a 5,856-square-foot, five-bedroom mansion in Tampa, Florida. He moved out around 2013 and began renting the home out. In May 2014, the home went up in flames, and authorities discovered that "a family of four had been shot in their bedrooms, doused in fire accelerant and surrounded by commercial-grade fireworks." The victims were identified as Darrin and Kim Campbell and their 16-year-old daughter Megan and 19-year-old son Colin. Police later concluded that Darrin "shot his wife and two teenage children in the head, then scattered gasoline and fireworks around the mansion they rented before setting the home ablaze and killing himself."
