By Liza Horan

Sept. 3, New York—Less than a week ago, James Blake won his 10th ATP singles title. He did so on his home turf in New Haven, Conn., which lies about a 30-minute drive from his home in Fairfield. Surrounded by friends, family and fans—most notably the "J-Block"—Blake downed his closest tour friend, Mardy Fish, in straight sets. It was his second victory at the Pilot Pen Championships and solidified his place as the No. 6 player in the world.

He's trained like mad this summer and competed constantly. It's nine months into the year and he's won two tournaments and finished second at three. Another milestone came this week at the U.S. Open as he won his first five-setter.

Blake's star is rising, yet it's likely that his most impactful work is behind him. Not reaching the No. 1 collegiate ranking while playing for Harvard University. Not being named "Sexiest Male Athlete" by People magazine. Not representing the United States in Davis Cup play. Not reaching the Top 10. Not winning 10 singles championships. Not raking in more than $5 million in prize money.

No, Blake's biggest contribution may be putting thoughts to paper, telling his story to serve as inspiration to others. His book, "Breaking Back: How I Lost Everything and Won Back My Life," is bound to prove his most enduring legacy.

It's a story of what hopefully is the toughest set of challenges he'll ever have to face: How he fractured a vertebra by ramming head-first into a net post during a practice set, then seeing his father taken by cancer, and suffering shingles.

"It was the best thing that ever happened to me," Blake has said, with a smile, many times. To find out why, you'll have to read it.

It's not a 'tennis story,' but a human interest story of how a young guy got slammed with a few devastating life events simultaneously. It's an engrossing and excellent read, complete with family photos.

When this writer asked him the significance of this achievement, immediately after his fourth-round loss to No. 10 Tommy Haas, he answered as naturally and eloquently as he tells his story in "Breaking Back":

"It's another thing [that] when I was growing up, I never would have expected. I never would have believed at 27 years old I'd be telling an inspirational story. But I'm really proud of it. I'm exceptionally proud that people are able to relate to me more so than just on the tennis court.

"I really don't think many people in this [press interview] room or in any room can relate to playing in front of 20,000 people on national TV, hearing the crowd go crazy, but they can relate to family tragedy. They can relate to cancer. They can relate to injuries and illnesses, things that go on in life where everyone's life is a bit of a bumpy ride.

"I've never met one person yet that's had a smooth sailing from birth to old age. So it's a way of those people seeing that just because I'm living a charmed life for two or three hours a day on TV, it doesn't mean it's always that way.

"And to relate to someone as a human being more so than just a tennis player is something I've cherished in a lot of these book signings. A lot of people have written in to my website, written letters to me, told me it makes a difference. I've gotten a new fan out of them just from people that didn't know much about tennis. That's something I'm really proud of.

"I'm just happy I had the opportunity, [that] Harper Collins gave me that chance, [and] that people really do appreciate it. It's something that was a very therapeutic experience for me to write, to go over the ups and downs of my life at such a young age. It really was good for me to get it out and put it down on paper."

The book was co-authored by Andrew Friedman, a self-professed tennis fanatic whose prior work centered on cooking-themed books co-authored with top chefs. "Breaking Back" was, simply, "a dream come true," he says. "The publisher wanted the book out this summer so we wrote it in five months. The book was meant to end with the (2005 U.S. Open quarterfinal against Andre) Agassi match, and all of the sudden he had this unbelievable comeback," Friedman says. "As we were polishing up the manuscript he was climbing up to No. 4."

Blake has lived a lot in a few years. Sharing his story to this point marked a significant part of his journey. The rest is still unwritten.