Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
While most students were trying to draw one beautiful finished piece, I would be in the background drawing dozens of studies at different angles to use later.
Suddenly in the end when it's over, you feel a big weight on your shoulders. That's the role of the captain. Unfortunately, it's sometimes like that in sport.
One day when a linesman starts to laugh I swear I will hit the guy over the head with my racket. I think it will be the end of my career, but I will be happy.
I had an instinct before and maybe now I don't have that instinct as much as knowing what to do, what shots to hit, where to place the ball, things like that.
Things slow down, the ball seems a lot bigger and you feel like you have more time. Everything computes - you have options, but you always take the right one.
Maybe something is wrong with me but I just think I'm normal. I'm not super-skinny but I'm not super-fat. But I don't really care about what other people say.
The first time at age 5 and a half, when I took a racket in my hands and my father fed me some balls, I made 50 backhands in a row - didn't miss a single one.
I always try to show my human side to my colleagues and to the whole circuit. More than anything because we are all on the same train, it is part of our work.
My mother is a special story. She went through so much to bring us up, four men at home, especially when our country was going through really difficult times.
People know me. I'm not going to produce any cartwheels out there. I'm not going to belong on Comedy Central. I'll always be a tennis player, not a celebrity.
I love to get home and hang out with my family. My brothers and I love spending time at the beach. I enjoy doing all kinds of surf sports and keeping healthy.
Id rather be able to play great tennis at a slam than make eight finals of little tournaments and then lose first round of a slam. That doesnt sound too good.
Unfortunately, some younger player doesn't understand that if you want to get through, you have to sacrifice, you have to work hard, and there is no easy way.
I've worked hard ever since I was that 18-year-old kid who travelled to South America and India to play small tournaments in the hope of cracking the top 200.
The pressure I did feel before matches was self-inflicted. I didn't go out on court there thinking about what was being said in the papers and on TV about me.
My motto has always been that you can't say, 'Oh, it won't happen to me.' You have to say, 'That can happen to me.' So always be aware that things can happen.
Tennis has been around for so long - women have been playing the majors since the 1800s. Other sports have not had professional leagues for women for as long.
I think you always have, you know, new players. Every year you see new faces, juniors coming into the seniors. I was one of them at the time long time ago now.
People who are interested with me have for sure gotten older over the years, for example, grandparents are coming up to me telling me they grew up watching me.
This is the shape I'm in for the tournament. I feel or I felt extremely good before the match, and I did train very, very hard to get ready for the tournament.
I have always tried to be true to myself, to pick those battles I felt were important. My ultimate responsibility is to myself. I could never be anything else.
You've got to make a lot of sacrifices and spend a lot of time if you really want to achieve with this sport, or in any sport, or in anything truly worthwhile.
Ever since that day when I was 11 years old, and I wasn't allowed in a photo because I wasn't wearing a tennis skirt, I knew that I wanted to change the sport.
The old boy network is still very strong and very true. Just look at the stock exchange and how many men and women are there. It is still very much run by men.
Even when my opponent hits a very good shot, I don't just want to get it back. I want to get it back so they have difficulty. And then I can control the point.
Now that I'm losing some, I can see how tough I was -- the killer instinct, the single-mindedness, playing like a machine. Boy, that's what made me a champion.
At some point in your life, you need to sit down and say, 'What do I want to do? How do I want to be remembered? What's my legacy? And what's important to me?'
I retired because I had a knee injury, my cartilage was wearing out, it was painful and I couldn't put in the four hours of practice each day that I needed to.
I'm not begging to be remembered or whatever. I did my thing, and if you remember, that's even better. But if you don't, there's so many other things going on.
I was a Yankee fan until 1981. That was the year the Yankees were two up on the Dodgers and lost four straight. And George Steinbrenner apologized to the city.
When I'm down or maybe when it's close in the match, I feel like I'm still in it. I don't feel like I'm letting down. Mentally, I'm still really, really tough.
I love getting consumer reports. I think it's one of my favourite things, studying what people have to say about the product and then trying to make it better.
Maybe something is wrong with me, but I just think I'm normal. I'm not super-skinny but I'm not super-fat. But I don't really care about what other people say.
I'm not saying I'm something special. I might play a little better tennis than other people, but it is because I was given the chance, and not many people are.
I never contemplated retiring but when I was a teenager I never thought I'd play past 30 years old. I thought I'd win a few tournaments and then have a family.
I don't like to compare years, honestly. I think every year is a different experience, a different challenge. You grow. You evolve as a person and as a player.
Every year I go to Broadway to see a musical - I like the music. I saw 'Mamma Mia;' I saw 'Les Miserables;' I saw 'Phantom of the Opera' like six, seven times.
My body is for my tennis - it's for my sport. I'm not a model at all. I don't work out to go to the beach: I work out to play well and to do well on the court.
I had one good racket, a Wilson Javelin. It was my favorite racket, and I made the mistake of putting it next to the heater. It just got so hot that it melted.
My style is kind of eclectic and I don't like to do the same thing over and over again. I like to have fun and explore myself so you won't see the same design.
Yes, I have had difficult times on court and at certain tournaments but you need to forget about it and go forward because that's the way it works in our world.
I've been cheered by thousands, booed by thousands, but nothing feels as bad as the booing inside your own head during those ten minutes before you fall asleep.
When I was 7 years old I saw Jimmy Connors make someone carry his bag, as though he were Julius Caesar. I vowed then and there that I would always carry my own.
I had my moments for sure but I wasn't confrontational. And sometimes you get on the court and you'd find yourself very confrontational. It was all a discovery.
The best poker game is seven-card stud, high-low splits. I mean, it's the best if you don't have to declare high or low, and can win it all with a low straight.
The difference is almost all mental. The top players just hate to lose. I think that's the difference. A champion hates to lose even more than she loves to win.
As I got older and started moving up the ranking, the matches got more important, and my emotions ratcheted up. I guess I hid my real feelings behind the anger.
If I didn't have [a] wife, maybe I can say, 'Yeah, I'm disappointed I'm not maybe good looking.' ... I don't know about China, but in Russia, I still look good.
I'm not that good a player, and I'll be the first to admit that. I might be a three or four grand-slam winner; I might be a two grand-slam winner, I don't know.
In tennis, you can make a couple of mistakes and still win. Not in golf. I played three rounds in that Tahoe event, and I was drained. Mentally, not physically.