Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I don't want to talk about apartheid... I'm going to South Africa to play tennis and to see the country. That's as far as it goes.
Every time I hit the ball on the wall I uses to pretend I was there (Wimbledon). When I went to sleep I used to pretend I was there.
Some players feel that winning is everything and that losing is a disaster. Not me. I want the spectators to take home a good memory.
When you have a dream you have to work hard to achieve that dream. Your dreams when you are young can be the force that keeps you going.
I remember I hadn't bought anything for my Mum for Christmas and I actually won an iron, so I was excited that I could take that home for her.
When I went through some racism through my early days and I went back and told Mum... she said, 'Don't worry about that, they're just ignorant.'
The white explorers had been my heroes. The Aborigines, I thought they were real savages. That was what I'd been taught and that's what I believed.
When I walk out on to the court and everyone is staring, sometimes I wonder how my legs will carry me out there. That's forgotten as soon as I start playing.
When Kelly was born, I thought seriously about retirement. But I wanted to see if it was possible to mix being a mother with tennis and the two combined very well.
I guess I had that insecurity of missing out on the normal things that everybody else does. With all the traveling I was doing I felt I was leaving something behind.
If you didn't have power, you had to have touch and serve and volley, which I found very exciting and that's why I love watching Federer play, because of those skills.
I went to Willoughby Girls High, I finished my high school certificate and then I did shorthand and typing the next year. Then started travelling and never used it since.
What happened to equal opportunity? Not just in tennis, but everything. It's something that Billie Jean King fought for and she played Bobby Riggs for that, and beat him.
Every time I hit the ball I would pretend I was on that magical court at Wimbledon. And then every time I went to sleep at night I would dream about playing at Wimbledon one day.
There is no higher honour in sport than being selected to represent your country and I have certainly taken great pride in always giving my best in my position as Fed Cup captain.
Well, Margaret Court was the first one, first professional woman - or maybe man - to actually take it into the gyms. She worked out on her body, she was very strong, very fast on the court.
Mum and Dad have come to Sydney to see me off on the two trips to Wimbledon. Each time I thought I mustn't cry 'cos that'll start Mum off. Each time I really bawled, and then she started up.
I'd much rather people knew me as a good tennis player than as an aboriginal who happens to play good tennis. Of course I'm proud of my race, but I don't want to be thinking about it all the time.
Neither winning nor losing means as much to me as knowing the crowd has enjoyed my match. Some players feel that winning is everything and that losing is a disaster. Not me. I want the spectators to take home a good memory.
About three months after I had Kelly, I went and played in Canada. I felt great, I was ready to go and I was very energetic. But as soon as I started playing, I thought 'no, too soon.' I went back home and slept for two days.
It's something I've always wanted - to be known as an Australian. When I was younger I was always referred to as an Aboriginal tennis player. Now I think the award means that I have been recognised as an entertainer and that makes me happy... It's given me probably as big a kick as winning Wimbledon.
I'm sure many people who discover they are destined to be athletes before they know what kind, go through a period of revelation... when they realise instinctively that this is their game... I think I realised that those first couple of summers in Barellan when the War Memorial Tennis Club became my playground.