James Blake announces at the tournament in San Jose that he is no longer traveling with a full-time coach. Blake, who was coached by Kelly Jones last year and Brian Barker for many years before that, is traveling with a full time physio, Rory Cordial, but doesn’t feel at the age of 31 that he needs someone to help figure out strategy on a full time basis.
“I really don’t need someone to put me through the same drills that I already know and to tell me things that I’ve already seen and heard,” said No. 170 Blake, who played and won his first match since October with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Jesse Levine. “I may have Kelly, Brian or my brother [Thomas] come around here and there because someone on the outside can always pick up things that you can’t, but I knew that by this age I would know the game well enough to coach myself."—Matthew Cronin