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I always give Lindsay so much credit for her tennis game, for her attitude, for her person, and because of how she deals with all the things. I don't think people give her enough credit for how well she's doing.
In a perfect world, my tennis game gets better. I have kids and a beautiful wife and live on some hill somewhere that's not in Los Angeles. And the script that Tom Hanks just barely turned down gets in my hands.
I feel as though I stand at the foot of an infinitely high staircase, down which some exuberant spirit is flinging tennis ball after tennis ball, eternally, and the one thing I want in the world is a tennis ball.
I'm a tennis fan, so I like Roger Federer. He's always two or three steps ahead, so he's hitting a shot, but he's also thinking about the next two shots. So I try to be in that frame of mind - to always be ahead.
Tennis players are very fortunate that unlike some disciplines of sport, in mega-sporting events like the Grand Slams, they have a huge platform to showcase their talents on the world stage once every few months.
I found out how I missed tennis through the period I didn't play. It was a difficult time to watch girls playing on the TV, me sitting on the sofa with the hand in a splint. I find out then how I love this sport.
It is very important and my success very much depends on the harmony that I feel in my private life. It is essential for me to be happy in my private life. And if it continues, I am able to continue playing tennis.
My mom told me to cover up my arms ever since I was little because I was muscular. She wanted me to be feminine, which did not come easy to me. My body was what it was, and I worked it to be a better tennis player.
When we introduced 10-and-under tennis - when we shortened the courts and had smaller rackets and low-compression balls for trying to introduce the sport to youth - a lot of people said we weren't going to succeed.
I don't make a habit of watching tennis matches, but I try to watch all the major finals. I try to make time for that. So unless I have something going with the kids where I can't, I try to watch, and I enjoy that.
Tennis taught me so many lessons in life. One of the things it taught me is that every ball that comes to me, I have to make a decision. I have to accept responsibility for the consequences every time I hit a ball.
You have to be realistic. I'd love to be more famous, have lots of people supporting me, people knowing my name, but I need a tennis racket or a golf club or to play football. Being a female, I don't stand a chance.
I'm a terrible musician. While the band members are great, I'm tolerated and affectionately regarded because I do movies, but if I had to make my living as a musician I would starve. I'm like a Sunday tennis player.
When you play sports like tennis, you're alone, and that's a good school for life, but it's also a good school for life to bring your best and make those around you better, too - helping others in difficult moments.
I wear tennis shoes over and over again, and my black jacket. I always try to be comfortable. It's very important to me to wear comfortable shoes, which are hard to find - beautiful and comfortable at the same time.
I got picked on a lot. I was a complete geek in school. I had braces. I didn't have the hot girlfriend. I wasn't ever sought after. I was a stocky, awkward kid who got laughed off the tennis court when I tried that.
Since a month, two months ago, you know, I've started hitting the ball well. I'm playing some really good tennis. That really helps. I sort of have to motivate myself to get pumped up. It really helps my game a lot.
I was being groomed to be a tennis player for sure. My grandparents and parents realised I had a natural athletic ability and if I was forced to do it, I could probably do well. But all I wanted was to play pretend.
After being on the court for six hours, being on TV is very glamorous and fun for me. But tennis is always going to be my priority. It's not going to be this thing when all of a sudden TV will get in the way of that.
I was teaching history and coaching both tennis and track along with football. I felt like I had the best of both worlds. I was pretty comfortable. I thought I would be doing what I was doing for the rest of my life.
My parents did everything possible. My dad has worked from eight in the morning until nine in the evening to make it possible so I can play tennis. We had to cancel tournaments because we couldn't afford to go there.
My dad said if you become a tennis professional just make sure you get into the top hundred, because you have to make a little bit of money. You make a living so you can pay your coaching and, you know, your travels.
I am happy with being a tennis player and the choice I took when I was 12. But clearly, if I wouldn't have been a tennis player, I would have loved to be a soccer player. But again, I am happy with the choice I made.
It's important to understand that you have to dedicate time to your sponsors, to have relationships with the people and the media, but it is also hard when you are first coming up and your primary focus is on tennis.
I used to, like, hit for a half hour and then go eat Cheetos the rest of the day, come out and drill forehands. Now I'm really trying to make it happen, being professional, really going for it, and I miss my Cheetos.
I used to play rugby, polo, tennis, and cricket in school. It was only in the 1990s, when I used to live just opposite Harrods in London, that I started putting on weight. I used to have my breakfast there every day.
I cycle, I take an hour's strenuous walk in the evening, I play tennis twice a week with a trainer, and I sail. I used to ride horses professionally - I'd ride seven or eight horses a day, so I had to be fit for that.
If you're playing someone you care about, it's tough, and I don't want to be in that situation. We are playing big matches for big points and prize money, and I take it very seriously. I relax when I'm outside tennis.
My father had never watched tennis, never liked tennis too much. He said, 'OK, we buy a racket, we watch together,' because we didn't know anything. It was a process of learning together that made it more interesting.
One day my dad would say, 'OK, if you want to play tennis I can help you out.' And that's how it started. And I had a goal. I wanted to beat my mom first. And my parents and my brother. And that was the ultimate goal.
We have a lot of great lesbian role models in tennis. I mean, Martina Navratilova in her heyday was probably the greatest female athlete on the planet. Martina just kept breaking every rule. That's a great role model.
The tennis calendar is incredibly long, so it's normal to go through ups and downs, and you want to keep the ups as long as possible and the downs as short as possible. You have to be realistic with what you're doing.
If I didn't love tennis, I wouldn't be playing. That's also why I don't know how long I will be playing because if I start feeling like this is not what I want to do anymore, that there's not really any reason anymore.
Team sports aren't my thing. I find it easier to pick something up if I can do it at my own speed. And you don't need a partner to go running, you don't need a particular place, like in tennis, just a pair of trainers.
If I make a change to a young kid to play any sport, not only tennis, instead of spending time in front of the TV or computer, that is good. I want to give them a good example: 'Hey, go out and play and see the world.'
We all know how to play tennis. We all know how to hit the ball. It's more just about those details - managing all those early rounds and just managing yourself to make sure you're ready for whatever is coming up next.
I had an American boyfriend, went to football games, tennis tournaments, and to my prom. I was so serious about my American boyfriend that I brought him back to Germany with me to visit my parents. They were horrified.
But, I would say when I was four years old and I was at the Alan King Tennis Tournament and I was hitting with all the pros that would come to town. They would get me on the court or take notice and that stayed with me.
My dad taught me how to play tennis, and I owe that to him. But the better you get, the higher you climb, and the more lonely you get. I've had to sacrifice a lot of personal relationships, but that's the choice I made.
As a tennis player, you have to get used to losing every week. Unless you win the tournament, you always go home as a loser. But you have to take the positive out of a defeat and go back to work. Improve to fail better.
There were so many people who were instrumental in helping me get better. They say it takes a village, and the tennis community has been my village. That's why I've always felt that I have a responsibility to give back.
By the time I was a young man, I lived with two deep struggles: I longed to become a cricketer, and I performed miserably in school. Cricket and tennis were all that I lived for. In India, this was a formula for failure.
Try throwing a ball just once for a dog. It would be like eating only one peanut or potato chip. Try to ignore the importuning of a Golden Retriever who has brought you his tennis ball, the greatest treasure he possesses!
Conversation is much like a tennis game except that in tennis you try to put the ball in the most difficult position for the one who must hit it - while in conversation you must try to put it where it will be easy to hit.
My kids know the importance of being active - and that's why teaming up with the USTA was such an organic fit for me. They are making strives to get families outside - and using tennis as a way to get kids to stay active.
I'm not to eager to play tennis in my spare time. I'm more interested in doing gym work and stuff like that. We have a lot of schools and courts around where I live, so if I really want to play I don't need to go too far.
When I started to play, all the coaches said it didn't make sense for me to try to play tennis because I was too small. They said I would never make it. But this was something that motivated me. I really wanted to make it.
I'm not to eager to play tennis in my spare time. I'm more interested in doing gym work and stuff like that. We have a lot of schools and courts around where I live, so if I really want to play, I don't need to go too far.
Whether it's learning to hit a backhand in tennis, learning high school chemistry, or getting better at ski racing, I really believe with hard work and analytic preparation, you can skip a few steps and find the faster way.
I used to play a lot of tennis and then, next thing you know, same thing with tennis. That banging on the knees, the jarring, twisting motion - I couldn't do it. All of a sudden, every time I played, my knee would swell up.