James Blake was awarded the 19th ARAG Fair Play Trophy at the traditional "Night of the Champions" at the Staendehaus in Duesseldorf on Monday night.

A jury made up of international tennis media experts and the team captains of the eight participating nations expressed the appreciation for Blake’s exemplary conduct on and off the tennis court in their reasoning.  His fairness, also in defeats, was particularly emphasised.

Blake received the trophy, worth approximately €25,000 from Dr Paul-Otto Fassbender, the chairman of the ARAG title-sponsor Board, Claudia Hornemann and tournament director Dietloff von Arnim.

The 26-year-old American, ranked No. 7 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings, joins Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Michael Stich and Patrick Rafter as winners of the ARAG Fair Play Trophy, which was first awarded during the World Team Championship in 1988.

 “I feel more at home with the tennis racquet than with a microphone“, Blake admitted in his speech. “I am honored and appreciate the award. I would like to thank everybody.”

Besides the players of all eight team, the consul general of the United States of America, Georg W. Knowles and Dr. Ingo Wolf, Minister of the Interior of Northrhine-Westphalia watched the award of the US Davis Cup player making his third appearance at the ARAG ATP World Team Championships.

Among the guests were ATP CEO Europe, Dr. Horst Klosterkemper, Alexander Prince of Schaumburg Lippe, ARD sports commentator Heribert Fassbender, and entrepreneur Heiner Kamps.