Right, clockwise: Blake lost
a heartbreaker quarterfinals
match to Andre Agassi in an
epic, five-set battle at the 2005
U.S. Open; Blake defeated
Roger Federer at the 2008
Summer Olympics in Beijing;
Arthur Ashe won Wimbledon
in 1975 and became one of the
young Blake’s role models.
“People draw links between [Ashe]
and me because we’re both
African-American and play tennis.
But if, in the end, they also do so
because of any similarities I share
with him as a human being, that
would be the real honor.”