As you may or may not know, earlier this year James Blake joined forces with Athlete Ally, an organization that is striving to end homophobia in sports.
Well, when Blake gave a press conferences just moments after his loss to Marinko Matosevic at the Citi Open today, I took the opportunity to ask him about this decision.
Photo by Romana Cvitkovic of Tennis Grandstand, 2012 Citi Open.
His answer was so thoughtful and wonderful that I just thought I’d post the whole thing for you guys to read:
Mardy [Fish] introduced me to the person that was in charge of [Athlete Ally], and they wanted to get more athletes to participate. I couldn’t be happier to be a part of it. It’s something I really feel strongly about. I think it’s something that a lot of people should feel strongly about in the position that I’m in.
We’re fighting for equality, you know. We’re all human, we all want the same rights. It’s unfair when someone by the way they’re born is denied rights. That’s the way I feel about it. I’m really happy to be a part of it. As soon as he sent me that e-mail, I sent it back saying, “I will do absolutely anything you guys want me to do and I want to be a part of this.”
Honestly, I don’t have regrets in my career. But one regret I do have is that I wish I had more of a voice. I wish I had the titles of Andy [Roddick] or the fame and notoriety of someone more out there in the scene so I could have more of a voice. You know, I can’t worry too much about that. All I can do is use the voice that I have gotten with the wins I’ve gotten and with the position that I’m at in life.
It’s something that I feel really strongly about and I’m happy to be a part of it.
Thanks for being awesome, James. I only hope that more tennis players will continue to be vocal about this issue!
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