I've lived my life the way I wanted to, whether scaling the mountains, partying long into the night or having fun playing soccer.
It's frustrating when you want to play but can't. I didn't touch a racket for three weeks and when I started playing again last week, I still felt some pain in my wrist.
I could go and make commercials left and right and pretend like I am a celebrity, but that is not me.
I definitely want to get out of tennis and try something completely different.
Many say that (Pete) Sampras is the greatest player. But I say with all due respect to the rest, that he (Roger Federer) is the most complete player in the world so far.
From now until the end of the year I would like to eke out one victory, that's my short term aim. I am sure I can be competitive in 2004. Tennis is like riding a bike, you never forget how to do it.
You're playing or you're not playing. If you're playing, so just shut up and play.
Wimbledon is not the tournament I love. I don't like how they treat the players. There are small things that don't cost them anything and they make such a big deal out of it. If they treat us this way, well, we have to treat them the same. We want to be respected, the way we respect Wimbledon, even if it is not the best Grand Slam on earth.
I was very competitive. I hated losing. No matter what, I had to win.
'I think as a guy you need a little bit to be on your own from early on, to start to live your own life, and try to understand what is going on around you, you have to be able to survive...
All in all, I think Kazan is Russia's sportiest city after Moscow, leaving all the others far behind.
I don't care about losses anymore.
I've had good times and bad times. That's me. That's how I am.
The Olympics is not for tennis and tennis does not need the Olympics. It is not my goal in life to win a gold medal.
I just want to make everyone happy.
I'm different than another person who wants to lay back and do nothing for rest of the life and talk nonsense on ESPN... I will not do that. I want to achieve something else.
My mother said I would have more chances to become a tennis player than a football player.
I was making comebacks every single year. That makes it difficult mentally. It causes a lot of stress.
Probably I'll not be so successful if I will keep everything in myself inside of me.
I didn't change the world.
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'm not fighting with myself.
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.
I wish I could have won a lot more tournaments, but I got injured every time I played well.
I pay the bills, I pay for everything.
