Blake not doing Nike any favors

With his star power on the rise at this year’s U.S. Open, you’d think James Blake might refrain from making little backhanded jabs at his corporate sponsors. But that isn’t his way. He prefers to speak his mind. “I don’t want respect just because I’m in the Nike ad or just because I’ve got some sort of an endorsement deal or something,” he told the press on Monday. “I want people to look at me as a tennis player, as a legitimate player that’s won a lot of matches that they don’t want to see in the draw next to them.