Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I always ask for the exit row when flying. Airlines are pretty accommodating and most of the time I'll get it.
If someone had told me at fourteen that I'd be six-ten, I might have stuck with basketball, in all seriousness.
The hardest part about traveling for work is that I'm a big guy, so traveling is sometimes uncomfortable for me.
I was playing 60, 70 matches a year in college. In the pros, unless you're winning, you're not playing that many.
I didn't know I could even be a professional tennis player, honestly. All this is actually very, very unexpected.
I think the more matches that I play, the better shape I'm going to get in. That's the best type of fitness you can do.
Prior to our daughter being born, I think getting married is another big step. That definitely settles things down personally.
People think when you're struggling and not winning matches it's because you're not working hard. That's the biggest misnomer in tennis.
There is so much that goes in to being a good tennis player. It's not just what you can do well on the court, it's between the ears as well.
We never got much in the way of material things, but if you can be spoiled by good cooking, my mom spoiled me three times a day all my life.
People often come up and tell me how much money I make in a year, which is funny because I don't think it's something I've ever said to someone.
There's a lot of times I'll just play too passive and since I'm not going to play defense as well as most guys can, I can't get away with passive play.
Up until I was a junior at Georgia, I felt that when all was said and done, I'd at least have a college degree to fall back on when tennis was finished.
I try not to make a habit of spending the whole year losing in the first rounds of events, but tennis is one of those sports where nothing is guaranteed.
I was never pegged to be the next great American tennis player by any means. I wasn't a prodigy. I'm a late bloomer. Whatever happens, I'm proud of what I've done.
A lot of players have had it worse than me. Look at a guy like Andy Roddick, incredible Hall of Fame player, but he ran up against Roger so many times in big finals.
Everyone works so hard on their game and on their body. Most of the time, it comes down to who is more relaxed mentally; on the court while playing and off the court.
Sometimes I think the easiest way to introduce what goes into managing the expenses of a tennis career is to take a look at another pro sport and notice some of the differences.
I've sort of always pulled for the heels, like the bad guys. So I think if I were a pro wrestler, first I'd need to bulk up, and second I'll need to get sort of a bad-boy persona.
The way I see it, the prize money is a reflection of my on-court performance, but the sponsorships are something more personal, connected more to people and fans, and to my values.
I've done a good job putting some meat on my bones since my freshman year of college. It's taken a lot of work. I was just under 200 pounds my freshman year; I was 6'8' and 198 pounds.
Being able to travel with family and friends so they can cheer me on as I play is something it's hard to put a price on; my point is simply that for all of this, there is indeed a price.
When I left college, I just thought I could play tennis to delay getting a regular job and go there and try to make ends meet. But it's been a very different experience for me, fortunately.
I try not to eat too much, but I always get hungry before a match. I make sure I have enough fuel in my body. I'll eat pasta and a little bit of protein usually. I'm pretty much eating a full meal.
As a tennis player, or any professional athlete, our career has a shelf life. I don't want to waste any opportunities, I don't want to look back on it when I'm 45 and think I could have done a lot more.
My theory is that I'm just closer to the sun than everyone else. I weigh more than everyone else, I'm taller than everyone else. When it's really humid and hot outside it's going to take a bigger toll on me.
I love building a team around me, and being able to support a group of people is one of the best feelings I've come to know during my career; I imagine this is what a lot of business owners can relate to this.
To take pressure off myself, I realize how fortunate I am to be playing a sport for a living. If I take that mentality onto the court, there shouldn't be any pressure because I'm already fortunate to do what I do.
A lot of times when I'm confident and relaxed on the court, I'm going to be a pretty tough out. But when I'm not so confident and not so relaxed, I tense up and my balls fall short and everything. It just sort of unravels.
I have a coach and I have a chiropractor, who works to keep me healthy. I pay their salaries. I pay for their flights as we travel around the world on a weekly basis, and I pay for their hotels and meals while we're on tour.
In a tiebreaker, you generally have a lot of adrenaline running through. It's all about just holding your serve, trying to hold two serves at a time, trying to stay ahead in the tiebreaker, constantly put pressure on my opponent.
I know where I'm ranked, but I don't look at it that much, I don't study it that much. You really can't look at it that way, you've got to try to win as many matches as you can, and it's cliche, but you've got to take it one at a time.
Nothing against the Olympics. I played in 2012 and it was an incredible experience. It's different for tennis players than for swimmers and track and field athletes. That's the pinnacle of their sport and not so much the pinnacle of tennis.
Probably the most infamous story in our family: My oldest brother took a U-lock bike lock and locked my head to the bedpost. And he didn't just do this for a minute or two; he did this for a couple hours. I was maybe 8 or 9, and he was maybe 15.
I've learned how to sleep on airplanes. When I'm taking a trans-Atlantic flight or going to a different continent, I will always read because reading puts me to sleep. When you watch a movie, you have all that light coming to your eyes, but with reading, I can't get through 15 or 20 pages.
That's why I enjoy Davis Cup, and I really enjoyed college tennis. It's very special. You want to go out there and compete your hardest, because you don't want to let anyone down. You want to absolutely give it your all for your team. And that's sort of the mentality I've taken to pro tennis.
I felt a ton of pressure in '08. A lot of great things were expected of me right out of the gate, and I brought some of that on myself with those great early results. But I wasn't a good enough player to make a run every fourth or fifth tournament. I wasn't as good a player as my ranking indicated.
A tournament pays me to show up because the fans want to see me and I move the needle at the box office? That's amazing. It's good for tennis, good for me and good for the event. If a sponsor wants to pay to put their company name on my shirt because they think I'm a strong ambassador for their brand? Heck yes.
That would be a huge honor, if I ever were to become the No. 1 American. It's something that I've always wanted to, you know, achieve that. For me, if were to happen, it'd be great. I'd try to hold onto that spot as long as possible, but I know there'd be a lot of people nipping at my heels to try to get to that No. 1 spot.
As a kid, I was a little self-conscious because I was so much taller than everyone. A bad habit of mine used to be slouching. Eventually, I realized my height was something I couldn't control, so I might as well accept it. I've certainly turned it into a positive, because without my height I probably wouldn't be as good of a tennis player. It's a gift, and I've made something of it.