James Riley Blake was born on December 28th 1979 in Yonkers, New York. He began playing at the age of five with his older brother, Thomas. He learned tennis at the Harlem Junior Tennis League. He then joined the junior tennis league, and was #1 in 1997. He turned Pro in 1999, and has considerably improved his game since then. Lately, he has won his first ATP title, Paradorn Srichaphan to win the Legg Mason Classic (Washington).