Tennis news - James Blake: 2015 police attack will be with me 'for the rest of my life'

Blake was attacked by a plain-clothed police officer after being mistakenly identified as a suspect in a credit card fraud scheme.

The former world number four was in the city for the 2015 US Open when he was confronted.

''I thought someone was running at me that was a fan, someone that was going to say, 'Hey I saw you play so and so, I was at this match, my kid plays tennis,''' Blake said, speaking to the Associated Press.

The American tennis player was then thrown to the ground and arrested.

''I would love to change this, but for the rest of my life, I'm probably going to be more nervous about any encounter I have with a police officer,'' Blake said, adding that he was glad that his daughters weren't there to see how he was treated.

''I haven't shown them the video of me getting taken down, because I don't know if they would understand it quite yet,'' Blake said. ''With what has been on the news the past week, my wife and I have started thinking about when we're going to start talking with them about a lot of these issues - police brutality and racism and what goes on in this country."

Blake recalled how he felt after hearing the news of Floyd's death.

"I went to bed very sad and very deflated, seeing this over and over again,'' Blake explained. ''I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't stop my mind from racing, thinking about the events that took place there, the events that took place with me in 2015. '

'It saddens me to see that kind of policing is still going on, that kind of brutality, particularly how often it is aimed at the black and brown community.

''I would love to change this, but for the rest of my life, I'm probably going to be more nervous about any encounter I have with a police officer."