James Blake is one of Tampa’s own, you know. . . did know. . . or, now know. 

Blake is all over the international sports news these days because he thumped Switzerland’s world-wide star, Roger Federer 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the Olympics at Beijing. He hadn’t before beaten Federer in several tries. But, he did this time with strength, backcourt shots and speed.

James Blake is a rising star who lives in Avila Country Club in Tampa, and works and trains in the flourishing Saddlebrook tennis and golf enclave Tom Dempsey began there years ago.

James Blake, a Harvard man, is in the Dempsey Saddlebrook tennis stable with the best in doubles, the Bryan Brothers, with Jennifer Capriatti. Pete Sampras and Jim Courier perfected their wonderful careers here.

Dempsey glows in the great tennis success he has achieved. He loves his Saddlebrook. He loves those who worked with him along the way, through his timely purchase and continued growth. He owns every foot of the resort himself, after buying the course from Dean Refram, a golf designer and developer; the land around it he bought from the banks.

“Now, some of the work we do with players, like James Blake, has changed a bit.  Oh, we work with tennis, on court techniques, but now we have much more attention devoted to fitness, to body strength and endurance. Look at James, at his upper body,’’ said Dempsey. “Compare him to Federer, now.  You saw his great backcourt work, his great longshot plays. And so we work on that more. The power, the endurance.  Now, we have baseball players working with our people.  Derek Jeter of the Yankees does. Blake is a fitness man. It is showing.”

And, so, how did Blake get down to Saddlebrook from Yonkers, N.Y.?

“Well, Arthur Ashe got him into tennis.  He went to Harvard for two years and Mr. Dempsey had me on the lookout all the time for prospects.  I knew about James, who tried to play in a minor league tour for a while,’’ said Kevin O’Connor who runs the Tennis Academy. “He came down, got an apartment and signed up. He surely seems on his way. I was so impressed with his manners, on the court, and, he is always a total gentleman.’’

Right. Always.

In Tampa, he moved from a small apartment on Bruce B. Downs in Tampa, to a classy home in Avila.

Jennifer Capriatti, an Olympic Gold Medal winner, moved to South Florida, Jim Courier to New York City, Sampras to California, but the Saddlebrook Tennis Academy that Dempsey made successful, still has an enrollment of the American Olympic team members who have a shot at the gold and more hopeful big timers in tennis.

Now if some have their way, a tennis stadium of size and style, one to suit the longtime dream of Tom Dempsey and his associates at Saddlebrook, will rise north of us here in Tampa for fans to see world class tournaments.

How confident has Tom Dempsey always been about the future of his tennis investment? The place wasn’t bought at first, with Tommy Cosmos the resident golf professional in a little clubhouse where the big one is now located, and resident, Jim Colbert, their name pro. Dempsey, from Cleveland, was the president but the resort was owned by a big Midwestern publishing company (trade magazines) of which he was the boss.

The company told him to sell the resort. 

He loved the place. He said, no, he wouldn’t sell it. 

“I’ll buy it,” he said

He hocked what he had, and more.

Sure he wondered it was the right move.

No, more.