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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.
There was kind of a code that you had as an Australian that you never left the court losing unless you had blood all over you. That's the sort of toughness you need to compete on the world stage and I feel that our kids today just don't have it.
I am two different people. What you see on the court is just natural for me. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I have always said 'C'mon' purely to fire myself up. Off the court, I am a lot shyer. I stick to my team and my family and people I trust.
I tell you, if I was in the same position I was in 1975, trying to leave a communist country and trying to live a free life, America is not the country that I would think about going to considering how many rights the GOP is trying to take away.
It was a tough year for me, '89, losing two Slam finals and losing another five finals. It wasn't until I won the Masters, or what's now called the ATP Finals, that things changed again. Suddenly I won seven tournaments in 1990 and became No. 1.
Throughout my formal education I spent many, many hours in public and school libraries. Libraries became courts of last resort, as it were. The current definitive answer to almost any question can be found within the four walls of most libraries.
If they had rankings in baseball, maybe I would have been able to do the math and figure out my chances of being a professional baseball player versus a tennis player. But that was the decision-maker for me, I just thought I was better in tennis.
Obviously over the years, it's been America, it's been Europe. It's all been very kind of divided between those two continents. It's nice to kind of see that Asia is starting - and especially China - starting to get recognized in this sport, too.
When I'm playing well because of my serve and trying to keep points shorter, I don't need to worry about my opponent. All I need to do is focus on myself and have them adjust to me rather than me adjust to them. That's when I play my best tennis.
Yeah, um, I do twitter because I want people to, you know, get to know me, my fans, or my fans to get to know me, you know, just see what type of person I am. You know, hopefully be more on an intimate level with me as opposed to a distant level.
The thing that's most important in getting you in the best mindest is just being prepared - having a great practice, and knowing that no matter what knowing you're going to go in with confidence. You need to have that confidence to power through.
If you're a good experienced player, you wknow what it takes to do. If you're in trouble, you know how to change. One hundred percent of my game is instinct. I never stop and think I'm going to hit a ball crosscourt or down the line. I just do it.
Nadal is just more at home on clay. It looks like he feels safer on clay courts. He can get to a few more balls, he can play a bit further behind the baseline when he defends, and he's also able to get the ball to bounce higher. It's unbelievable.
I never expected i, in the first place, when I started playing tennis, that I would ever carry the flag into the Olympic Stadium for an Olympic Games... So for me that was a surprise and a huge honor in my life to be able to represent Switzerland.
It's me, and I love me. I learned to love me. I've been like this my whole life, and I embrace me. I love how I look. I love that I'm a full woman and I'm strong and I'm powerful and I'm beautiful at the same time. There's nothing wrong with that.
I've thought it would be cool to have a baby young. You know, be my road dog - like my dogs, they travel the world - but there's always something you have to give up for success. Everything comes at a cost. Just what are you willing to pay for it?
I enjoyed my time on the Biggest Loser ranch. Although I will not be returning as a full-time trainer on season 13, I will always be a part of 'The Biggest Loser' family and my commitment to bettering lives through health and fitness will continue.
It's really impossible for athletes to grow up. On the one hand, you're still a child, still playing a game. But on the other hand, you're a superhuman hero that everyone dreams of being. No wonder we have such a hard time understanding who we are.
The only thing we need to sustain is the freedom to act on our judgment-which includes the freedom to use our property as we see fit. As long as we are free, we can keep the lights on and continue figuring out how to make them cheaper and brighter.
But I still serve pretty big and that's one of my biggest weapons, so if my shoulder holds up and I can count on it, I can win a few matches and then you never know how the other guys are going to react to the fatigue and the length of the matches.
If you watch a guy go out on court and have a meltdown, you're not going to think, 'Oh my God, now I'm screwed.' Or you're not going to think, 'The umpire's going to give him calls because he's just told him he's an idiot or the pits of the world.'
I'm shocked every time that I've reached so many finals or won against so many players or whatever record it is. It strikes me and makes me obviously very happy and very proud that I've been able to do it for so many years at the highest of levels.
Tennis was always sort of a - a learning. It was a vehicle for me to discover a lot about myself. And the things that I sort of discovered at times I not only didn't want to see it for myself but I certainly didn't want millions of people to see it.
No matter how tough, no matter what kind of outside pressure, no matter how many bad breaks along the way, I must keep my sights on the final goal, to win, win, win-and with more love and passion than the world has ever witnessed in any performance.
The 1980 Wimbledon final with Borg - that's the one I was most proud of to be part of. It's talked about as one of the best matches people have seen so that certainly elevated me in a lot of different ways, even though I came out second in that one.
When you become a top player, you think that nothing else and nobody else matters. You can tell everybody on earth, 'Listen, I'm playing tennis, I don't have time for you. I'm in the semifinals of the U.S. Open, screw everybody and everything else.'
Tennis can be a grind and there's always the danger of going stale if you think about it too much. You can get embittered if you train too hard and have nothing else on your mind. You have to be able to relax between matches and between tournaments.
A major final to a tennis player is sacred ground. Short of any type of serious injury - soft-tissue tears, serious orthopedic injuries or a major illness like throwing up, dehydration or cramping - you keep going, especially in the final of a Slam.
It's not easy to retire at 31. In one respect I was glad I was done. But after a few years of having fun, I got a little restless. When you're 33, 34, and you don't have a focus, you can get kind of lost. As a man, you feel a little bit unfulfilled.
I always like to do the things that I think are right. I am not trying to be a model, I am trying to be myself and do the right things. If what I am doing is a model, or is an example, is the right example, I am very happy, but I don't pretend that.
I don't want to be like some of those celebrities walking around, just so full of themselves. I always want to be down-to-earth, want to be a person like when you meet them, they're the same person that you think of them in the article or something.
Ever since I was a kid, I've always thought it very important to be happy inside. There's a lot of bad things happening in the world, but it's important to try to stay happy and appreciate what you've got, and don't look externally for the happiness.
It's very important to take care of yourself. Everyone's lives are so busy. Take at least an hour a day to recharge and do whatever makes you better. For grown-ups, whether it's a spa, sitting in a park with a book, or coffee, take time for yourself.
My father actually moved out from Chicago just so he could play tennis 365 days a year, so it was - it was a place we played every day. We played before school. We played after school. We woke up. We played tennis. We brushed our teeth in that order.
I knew I was the second-best tennis player in the state of Florida and No. 8 in the United States of America when I was 12 years old and I couldn't tell you what I was in baseball, but I liked my chances in tennis of getting a scholarship to college.
I know that I'm going to have to work hard, keep working hard, and not because of this victory think, 'I'm back.' I don't think like that. I'll definitely work hard. Things are not going to be easy. I might lose first round next week. You never know.
My success has a lot to do with my private life. I've matured a lot by first becoming a husband and now a father. My life is in the right direction. And that helps a player to thrive. One thing is linked with the other. My private life has helped me.
Andre Agassi was my rival in the '90s, and I think as we got older we sort of transcended the game. He was probably the best player I ever played over my career. There's a list of players that were tough, but Andre, certainly, he was the most unique.
Clay is so challenging as a surface because you want to be playing aggressively but the margins are so small and it's easy to get the balance wrong and start making errors. Getting your movement right and preparing correctly to hit your shots is key.
Miloslav Mecir - best anticipation of any player in our generation for sure. The most flexible... and then crazy good hands. He is the best player in the world to not have won a slam, for sure. No question in my mind. He should have won three or four.
I remember when I first started playing tennis, it was always my sister dressing me. She wanted me to look good. And then it really became a routine for me. It doesn't consume too much of my day, but it's something I always pay conscious attention to.
We were pretty darn good - fit and ready to play - but today's level is different. Those ground strokes are ever so much faster, coming back at you at a pretty good speed. Footwork-wise, you've got to be ready to hit that next shot. It's a tough time.
I love anything that involves the ocean. Swimming, snorkelling or surfing are all fun, which distracts from your mind that you are actually doing a workout. Being outdoors in the sun and the salt water is great for freeing your mind and feeling alive.
Everything in moderation. I keep a healthy body, a healthy look. It's important not to be obsessive about anything - fitness, training, eating - because then you end up focusing on only that. And you can't obsess about anything when you're on the road.
Because in order to beat Jimmy, I had to get around the ball a little bit quicker so I wasn't always on defensive and catching the ball on last stride, that I had little more time. Once I was able to get little bit quicker, then it has helped me a lot.
I just wanted to play tennis. I started because I wanted to pick up another sport and then as I was slowly getting better I wanted to see how far I can go but I always wanted to be myself. I wanted to be original. I didn't want to copy anybody's style.
"I know that I'm going to have to work hard, keep working hard, and not because of this victory think, "I'm back." I don't think like that. I'll definitely work hard. Things are not going to be easy. I might lose first round next week. You never know."
It's a completely different situation right now because last year it was the time that nobody expected anything from me anything -- I had nothing to lose, basically I was starting from zero. And now I'm back in Top 5. And for me it's a different stage.
You can have a coach for five or six years, and eventually, that coach has so little new to say. So get somebody else to give a different point of view. Somebody will see something I don't see and vice versa. You evolve with your game and your coaches.
I love my life. I commentate for Eurosport, so you could say I've reached the final of every grand slam since 2002 when I started that. I love what I do, and I love playing tennis with amateurs, regular guys, helping to teach them to enjoy tennis more.