Blake was born in Yonkers, played throughout high school in Fairfield and now lives with his family in Westport.
His career as a singles player ended last year in a five-set, first-round loss at the U.S. Open. Blake was also inducted into the Fairfield County Sports Hall of Fame
HARTFORD COURANT: Connecticut’s James Blake, former tennis star, still shaken by encounter with cop in 2015
Nearly five years later, former tennis star James Blake says he never suspected the large man running toward him was a plainclothes New York City policeman.
Blake was in town that day for the U.S. Open and standing outside a Manhattan hotel.
“I thought someone was running at me that was a fan, someone that was going to say, `Hey I saw you play so and so, I was at this match, my kid plays tennis,“’ Blake recalled. “I’m smiling with my hands down.”
But Blake, who is black, had been mistakenly identified as a suspect in a credit card fraud scheme. Video showed the undercover officer grabbing him by the arm, throwing him to the sidewalk face down and handcuffing him.
“I went to bed very sad and very deflated, seeing this over and over again,” Blake said Tuesday from his home in San Diego.
“I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn’t stop my mind from racing, thinking about the events that took place there, the events that took place with me in 2015.
“It saddens me to see that kind of policing is still going on, that kind of brutality, particularly how often it is aimed at the black and brown community.”
Blake, a Harvard alum who reached a career-high ranking of No. 4….
FLASHBACK: Video Shows NYPD Cop Tackle Former Tennis Star James Blake
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/video-shows-nypd-cop-tackle-former-tennis-star-james-blake-n426031