(Photo of Jay Fielden, James Blake, and Marc Berger:  Joe Schildhorn/PatrickMcMullan.com)

Men's Vogue hosted a cocktail party on Thursday night for tennis player James Blake in honor of the recently established Thomas Blake Sr. Memorial Research Fund. James' father, after whom the fund is named, succumbed to cancer at an early age. Blake, dressed in Hugo Boss, expressed gratitude for Men's Vogue's help with setting up an online auction at charityfolks.com. Prizes include a chance to hang out with Blake at a 2009 tournament in Miami, a trip to the Evian Resort in France, a Maurice Lacroix watch, and a Niketown shopping experience. "All this support get me closer to my goal of raising $1 million by next year," Blake said.

The American No. 2 will go into this year's U.S. Open with some momentum on his side. Even though he lost the bronze medal match in Beijing Olympics last week to Serbian Novak Djokovic, James notched a huge win over Roger Federer. "Beating Federer in Beijing was enormous for his confidence," said his brother Thomas, Jr, a former tennis pro. And did he have any pearls of wisdom for his younger brother for next week's tournament? "He always gets fired up for the U.S. Open. There's not much you need to tell him."

Along with establishing this fund, based out of New York City's Sloan-Kettering Hospital, James recently put his name on a facial mister spray with Evian. Thomas Jr. flashed a mischievous smile when we told him that James helped design the bottle. "He's going to get a lot of flack for that." James is still paying for his Evian bathtub ad from 2006. "We still have those pictures of James in a bathtub tacked up around [the house]." I'm sure they're not the only ones. --ERWIN ONG

Related: Photos from the event

(Photo of Blake with childhood friend John Mayer: Joe Schildhorn/PatrickMcMullan.com)

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