2009 Sportsman of the Year

In what has already been a great year for New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, it got better still as he was named Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year award. He was chosen as the magazine's 56th honoree as the December 7 issue will hit newsstands on Wednesday. Jeter also is the first Yankee to be named SI's Sportsman.

Jeter's selection caps another outstanding season for the 35-year-old team captain and future Hall of Famer. In 2009 he batted .334 while leading the Yankees to their fifth World Series title in his 14 full seasons, and their record 27th in franchise history. On September 11 he passed Lou Gehrig's franchise mark for base hits, which now stands at 2,747. Derek Jeter led the American League by reaching base 289 times, finished second in the league in hits (212), third in batting average and on-base percentage (.406), fourth in runs (107) and eighth in stolen bases (30). He was named an All-Star for the 10th time, including the sixth time as a starter. He won his fourth American League Silver Slugger as the best hitting shortstop in the league and his fourth Gold Glove as the league's top defensive shortstop.

He lived up to his reputation as a clutch player, batting .344 with a .432 on-base percentage, three home runs and six RBIs. He batted .407 in the World Series to lead the Yankees to a six-game victory over the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies. During the Series, Jeter was named the American League recipient of the Hank Aaron Award, given to the best hitter in each league, and the winner of the Roberto Clemente Award, given to the player who best displays skill on the field while giving back to the community off it.

It was that combination of on and off-field achievement that helped make Jeter this year's winner. Derek Jeter has always presented himself with class. His Turn 2 Foundation is one of the most efficient, effective foundations of its kind; and he's extremely generous with not just his money but with his time.

Jeter is the first baseball player to win the award solo since Cal Ripken Jr. in 1995. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were co-winners in 1998, as were Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in 2001. The Boston Red Sox won as a team in 2004. The Sportsman of the Year award has been given annually since Sport's Illustrated began publishing in 1954. The first winner was track star Roger Bannister, and subsequent honorees include Arnold Palmer (1960), Muhammad Ali (1974), Wayne Gretzky (1982), Michael Jordan (1991), Tiger Woods (1996 and 2000, the only two-time recipient), Lance Armstrong (2002) and Tom Brady (2005). Last year's winner was record-setting Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.

James Blake Stuns Roger Federer in Beijing

In an amazing upset at the Beijing Olympics, U.S. tennis player James Blake defeated the Olympics top-seeded and the world’s No. 1 men’s player Roger Federer. Blake, the eighth seed, beat Federer, 6-4, 7-6 (7-2), after losing all seven of their previous meetings. James Blake represented the United States as one of its three men's singles tennis players in the Beijing Olympics. In the quarterfinals, he gained perhaps the biggest win of his career with his first ever win over Roger Federer. However in the semifinals Blake lost to Fernando Gonzalez 4-6, 7-5, 11-9.

James Riley Blake was born December 28, 1979 in Yonkers, New York to Thomas, Sr. and British mother Betty Blake. Blake started playing tennis, along with his younger brother, Thomas, Jr., at the age of 5 years old. Thomas, Jr. is also a professional tennis player. He has three older half-brothers, Jason, Christopher, and Howard, and a half-sister, Michelle.

At the age of thirteen, he was diagnosed with scoliosis and was forced to wear a back brace for eighteen hours daily although not during tennis. Blake was inspired to pursue tennis after hearing his role model, Arthur Ashe, speak to the Harlem Junior Tennis Program. James, eager to turn pro, left Harvard University after his sophomore year, as the top collegiate player in the country. He is the only player in the top 50 who even went to college. He intends to return to Harvard, once his time on tour is up—and to change his major from economics to sociology or African-American studies.

James Blake was named rookie of the year for 2000 for the World team tennis season. He gained the eyes of the tennis world by taking eventual champion Lleyton Hewitt to five sets in the U.S. Open in 2001. In 2004 Blake experienced dreadful events starting with him breaking his neck by running into a net post during practice, his father past in July due to stomach cancer, and Blake developed shingles that temporarily paralyzed part of his face and weakened his vision.

Blake is currently the 7th ranked player in the world as of August 13, 2008. He is the top-ranked American player. James Blake is known for his speed and powerful forehands. On July 3, 2007, Blake's book, Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life, discussing his comeback after his unlucky 2004 season, was released and debuted at #22 on the New York Times Best Seller list.

In 2005 Blake recovered from his injuries and received a wildcard to the U.S. Open, where he beat Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo, but lost in a five set match to Andre Agassi. He has remained a top tennis player since.

At the age 21, Blake saw his first Davis Cup action in 2001 against India and became the third person Black American to play for the Davis Cup for the United States (after Arthur Ashe and MaliVai Washington).

Career Highlights
• August 5, 2002: Wins his first ATP title - the doubles title at AMS Cincinnati with Todd Martin
• March 19, 2006: Reaches his first ATP Masters Series singles final, losing to Roger Federer in the final of AMS Indian Wells
• 2005 2005 U.S. Open: beat Rafael Nadal on September 3, 2005, which was his first win over a Top 10 player in a Grand Slam event.
• March 20, 2006: Breaks into the world top ten for the first time—ranked No. 9, moving up from No. 14
• August 21, 2006: Achieves a ranking of No. 5
• November 4, 2006: Secures a spot in the Tennis Masters Cup for the first time in his career
• November 19, 2006: Achieves a career-high No. 4 ranking, becoming the top-ranked American.

Away from tennis, Blake also enjoys golf and basketball. He is a big fan of the New York Mets. Blake appeared in People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive issue. He is also good friends with singer/songwriter John Mayer, who also attended the same High School.

James Blake now lives in Tampa, Florida with his brother Thomas, in a gated community populated almost exclusively by professional athletes. Mardy Fish, his closest friend on tour, lives down the street, as do several Yankees, including Derek Jeter and, soon, Mariano Rivera. Blake owes his tennis existence to his father, a salesman at 3M who learned the game in the Air Force, met his mother on the public courts in Yonkers. Thomas Sr., volunteered at a tennis clinic in an old armory in Harlem when the boys were young, and that is where he took them every weekend, and where, in the years to come, the media would tend to imagine them being from. When he was six, the Blakes moved from Yonkers to Fairfield, Connecticut, a well-to-do commuter town, where the family lived modestly, by Fairfield standards, in a house with one bathroom. At the public high school, the boys were tennis stars and straight-A students. Blake gets annoyed when people say he's from Harlem. “I can still be Black and be from Fairfield," said Blake.