Losing is not my enemy..fear of losing is my enemy.
I play each point like my life depends on it.
If somebody says I am better than Roger, I think this person doesn't know anything about tennis.
There are many moments during a match when you are tense, wrestling with yourself. Tennis is a lesson in self-control.
What distinguishes tennis is respect for one's opponent, one's conduct on the court.
I am afraid of a lot of things. A dog. I could be afraid of a dog that's upset, for example. And on the tennis courts, maybe on the outside I look fearless, but on the inside, I'm scared. There's not one player in the world who isn't nervous before matches. Especially important matches.
I've stayed calm when I'm winning and I've stayed calm when I've lost. Tennis is a sport where we have a lot of tournaments every week, so you can't celebrate a lot when you have big victories, and you cannot get too down when you're losing, as in a few days you'll be in the next tournament and you'll have to be ready with that.
I only ever run when there's some point to it - say, if it's in a game of tennis.
I take pleasure in tennis and the hope that it requires.
You know, a lot of things changed. What never changed is the illusion to keep playing tennis, the illusion to keep doing well the things, and the illusion to be in a good position of the ranking and play these kind of matches.
I'm not the best player in the history of tennis. I think I'm amongst the best. That's true. That's enough for me.
My tennis is aggressive, though I wouldn't say that it's more physical than technical. I rely more on technique than physique, but being physical is always a help to me.
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.
I'm only superstitious on the tennis court.
The bad thing about the [tennis] calendar is how it is made and obligates you to play tournaments all year. If you want to achieve the most you can (and) go as high up (in the rankings) as you can, you have to play from the start to the finish because there are important tournaments from the beginning to the end.
I feel lucky to keep playing tennis, being healthy all those years, to compete in one of the most beautiful events of the year, without a doubt.
Some people may learn something from the way I play tennis. But there are also players who are better than me in certain techniques.
All sports are continuously developing, but what they all have in common is that the speed is increasing. That's also true of tennis; the ball is getting faster and faster.
It's more a tennis problem than a mental problem. The transition is difficult. It depends how much time you have. Playing on grass can sometimes be a bit of a lottery.
Is only a tennis match. At the end, that's life. There is much more important things.
In tennis, because of the way it's scored, I don't think that scoring one point out of luck is ever decisive in winning. But, of course, it depends on the moment.
