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You can't underestimate rest. Sometimes in tennis we don't realize that to rest your body is as important as it is to practice. We are traveling so much, all year, in different conditions, different courts, different surfaces, different balls - so we always have to adapt.
When you have tough times, and when you learn you can't be perfect in every situation, it's hard to accept, you know, because I still do expect that. But you just have to, because, you know, it's not about the situation. It's how you deal with it. You always have a choice.
I'm just glad to see that Pete (Sampras) shut everyone up last year. That was satisfying. You can't bag on guys like Pete or Tiger (Woods) or Michael Jordan. They can play as long as they want, they can do whatever they want. Nobody should be able to tell them differently.
I love the Olympics. I love the idea of something happening every four years. I've always had love for Bulgaria, and I've always been a Bulgarian. That's also really part of why I want to play it. I know it's tough for the calendar, but at the same time, it's the Olympics.
Football is definitely present in the tennis world. Given the mix of nationalities that exists in the changing rooms, there's inevitably a bit of a rivalry between the players, especially in terms of the UEFA Champions League or competitions in which national teams compete.
Let me say that the path I did take for a brief period of my life was not of reckless drug use, hurting others, but it was a path of quiet rebellion, of a little experimentation of a darker side of my confusion in a confusing world, lost in the midst of finding my identity.
I am just sorry my own mother had to live under that regime for most of her life. I was lucky. I got out and, 14 years later, Czechoslovakia became a free country. So I feel anger, even fury, at this bloody system that ruined so many people's lives for no reason whatsoever.
Russia is now very far from being a communist country, but when I walked around Moscow, I kept glimpsing these haunting images. There were statues of Lenin and some neon signs of the hammer and sickle. I remembered myself then as a little girl, living under that oppression.
After I went through two years of not winning an event, what kept me going was winning one more major. Once I won that last U.S. Open, I spent the next six months trying to figure out what was next. Slowly my passion for the sport just vanished. I had nothing left to prove.
I think the U.S. Open just doesn't suit my personality. I'm more of a calm person. There, it's noisy all day, cars are everywhere, and it takes so long to get to the site. I know that those things shouldn't matter when you're playing, but I just find they drain your energy.
I get my drive and determination from just winning and playing tennis. I know if I don't work, I won't get rewarded. It was a life long dream to win a Grand Slam so when I was able to do that it felt so good and I wanted to do it again. It's not that hard to stay motivated.
Everyone has to try to give back as much as possible because I think in all sports it helps kids to have role models or people to look up to. Someone like Jess Ennis, I know a lot of young girls have started to get into athletics stuff because of her, because of her success.
When you have the ball above the net height on grass, it's easier to play, and when the ball comes at you more slowly, it's easier to play. But when a guy hits hard and deep, I think you have to have been out there playing to understand, but it's hard to really hit the ball.
Our job is quite strange in that we hire a coach, and therefore, we're the boss. But coaches tell us what to do, and I think some coaches might struggle with the idea of a girl being the boss and telling them, 'I don't want to see you now. I want to have some time to myself.'
I was playing in the juniors at Wimbledon I forgot to turn my mobile phone off. It was lying there in my bag and it rang in the middle of a match, and it was one of my friends from school saying, 'Murray, you're on the telly!' I learnt from that. I now put my phone on silent.
Honestly, I don't really read about myself. I look at the pictures sometimes. Sometimes I'm looking at them, and I'm thinking, 'They could choose some better ones.' But I don't spend time reading about myself because I know what I'm up to. I prefer to read about other people.
I'm not suggesting that the entire nation can't be successful, but there's something to it when you have 150 cable channels and the Internet at your fingertips and video games and all kinds of ADD-addled devices like my iPhone and your BlackBerry and things that keep us busy.
Mangling my racket and an odd swearword on the court is not something I am proud of and it shouldn't happen, but even my coaches have told me that it's sometimes better to let it all out, the anger inside you, because keeping it bottled would just eat you up in the long term.
I was passionate about soccer. I still am. Odd, though - playing soccer always made me much more anxious than playing tennis. On soccer days, I'd be out of bed by 6 in the morning, all nervous. But I was always calm when it was time for a tennis match. I still don't know why.
When they [court announcers] say, 'This is the world No. 2,' it just doesn't sound right to me because either I'm No. 1 or I'm a grand slam champion. I'm not world No. 2. I just don't like the ring of it when I'm introduced on court because I've been up there for so, so long.
This year I guess I decided in the bigger matches to take it more to my opponent instead of waiting a bit more for the mistakes. Yeah, this is I guess how you want to win Wimbledon, is by going after your shots, believing you can do it, and that's what I was able to do today.
When you win a big title like the French Open, it's tough. The emotion in doing this is really up and down. Afterwards, you feel a little bit lonely, a bit of depression mentally. Because it's so much stress and emotion, so many people around - and then it's completely empty.
I was worried a bit at the beginning because I didn't know how the situation was. Once the ATP wanted to do the tournament, I realised there was no risk at all. I'm very sorry about what happened. It's not easy to be here knowing so many people were killed very near from here.
I definitely think the way the game is transforming, becoming more and more athletic, guys are great athletes out here and relying on the physical skills more than their tennis skills, almost, sometimes. So for that reason, matching up with some of these guys, I can't keep up.
I'm happy I was able to stick through it and was being very disciplined with what I had to do, because I know eventually hard work will pay off. It's only a matter of now just trying to make sure I get matches under my belt and I feel more and more comfortable playing matches.
Confidence is the most important thing in this sport, and the confidence from winning Wimbledon would make it easier to win the Olympics, too. Either would be very difficult, both even more-but the player who wins Wimbledon will be the favorite for the Olympics. It can happen.
I don't play tennis to prove a point to anyone. I play for my country and myself. It's not changing what people say or think. It's about what I can do. If I feel I have the ability to achieve something and haven't used my potential to that end, I'll keep trying till I succeed.
The big push for me is the Olympics this year. If I'm healthy, I'm not worried about my ranking. I think I can hit the ball. It's just about my body cooperating. It's about being able to play matches in a row. Right now, I'm not sure how much I can do with that, but we'll see.
I feel like I'm more a fan of tennis rather than it being men's or women's. I enjoy watching doubles as well when it's on. I think that there are certain players that I enjoy watching on the men's and women's side. There's some players that I don't enjoy watching on both sides.
I definitely think the European weather has more of a factor than the European clay. I think the European weather changes from week to week, I mean, last year it was sunny and hot and this week it's kind of playing tricks on us a little bit. I definitely think that is a factor.
He [Vince Spadea] was about as down and out as you could see from a Top 20 player. Then to claw his way back through the minor leagues and do it the hard way where he wasn't young, wasn't getting wildcards, wasn't getting any help. I guess he decided he was just going to do it.
At her birthday, my seven-year-old daughter will say that she wants these big cakes and certain expensive toys as presents, and I can't say no to her. It would just break my heart. But when I was little, for birthdays we just played outside and we were happy if we got any cake.
Sure, it comes with a lot of bonus rewards, whatever it may be, some of it may be financial. And it is great to have been No 1 in the world, when you get a bit older you can reflect on it. But I was No 1 in the world before I actually was No 1 in the world, in my mind at least.
It's always difficult, especially the U.S. Open, the last of the Grand Slams. It's always tough because you know, the season is very long. I really played a lot this year. Sometimes it's really hard to stay focused all the time because you're really tired after the whole season.
Even if I play backgammon with my coach, I hate to lose. I won't talk to him for, like, an hour. So imagine how it feels when you lose at tennis. That makes me determined not to lose because I hate it so much. Even at a set down and match point, I always believe I can come back.
Since there are a wide range of entrepreneurs fundraising at any given time, I looked at each opportunity as it has arisen and on its own merits. Then I've sat down with my financial advisers, we've looked at the numbers and gone for the businesses I believe have real potential.
It's about learning your craft. That's a wonderful thing--especially with today's consumerism and instant gratification. You can'tbuy that. It's about making decisions, corrections, choices. I don't think it's so much about becoming a tennis player. It's about becoming a person.
I did not have a normal life. I'd be training when my sister would be at birthday parties and sleepovers. I finished high school by correspondence, basically working two full-time jobs. The last years were very, very tough. But I was willing to do that. It's all about sacrifice.
If it doesn't mean more to a normal human being like Dan Evans, who could change his life and career by winning not a gold but a bronze medal for Great Britain, if he doesn't want to take that chance, I would say something is wrong with the Olympics in what it's worth in tennis.
I took more anti-inflammatories probably than anybody in my 20 years of playing and I know what that terrible stomach pain can be. I also know what terrible menstruation cramps can be, as most women tennis players have, to the point where you feel nauseous, but you just play on.
Flexibility is crucial to my fitness. Incorporating a good warm-up and cool-down into every sessiondecreases my chances of injury. I use both dynamic and static stretching in my training. I've starting doing a few yoga sessions which incorporates muscle strength and flexibility.
I've learned that it's not a straight road to the top, and there are going to be setbacks along the way. You have to be patient, and you have to keep believing in what you're doing. And keep believing in yourself, no matter what is happening. And then eventually you'll get there.
The best thing I ever did was when I was offered a million dollars to go play in South Africa and didn't take it. I was 21 years old, and part of it was like, 'Well, if they're offering me this obscene amount of money just to play one match, there must be something really wrong.'
But when I'm losing a few matches, suddenly 'It's his fault', 'He doesn't want to practice', 'He doesn't need it', 'He doesn't care'. And when everything goes well, there are people coming behind the stone, saying, 'Oh, my God, he's back finally, and I was there to help him out'.
I always thought that I was going to be up there, whether it's was in the top 20, top 10, and I wasn't training hard, but I thought, you know... my strength, my presence, my talent would just keep me up there, without really training hard and really committing myself to the game.
Flexibility is crucial to my fitness. Incorporating a good warm-up and cool-down into every session decreases my chances of injury. I use both dynamic and static stretching in my training. I've starting doing a few yoga sessions which incorporates muscle strength and flexibility.
It's always fun catching up with the other players because so many of them were really good mates when I was playing on the main tour. The thing you miss when you give up is that camaraderie that you experienced because, for 35 weeks of the year, it really is a travelling circus.
There are so many steps you have to go through to reach a high level, so youre kind of building your own, I would say, mountain. You have to go piece by piece by piece. When youre young and really ambitious, you want to jump right up. It kind of teaches you a lesson, I would say.
I think I play tennis for, to against a big legend, big court, short time. That's what I train for. That's why every day I wake up and I wish I could play those matches, you know. It's like, for me it's the best thing can happen is to play against that guy on that stage, you know.
On how he met Wayne Gretzky: I was in L.A. preparing for Indian Wells, and a mutual friend asked if I'd like to have dinner with him. I think one of his daughters plays tennis so he knew about me. It was obviously something I was excited to do, and I left the dinner pretty amazed.