James Anderson Quotes

I've had one very bad ankle injury but otherwise I've been incredibly lucky with my fitness. I've worked hard at it and I've always been fit even compared to other players. That sustains you through various parts of your career, but I am 36.

In track years... track is not like other sports. You do have track athletes that stay in this sport until, like, 35, 36, but I think when you get to 28, it's really difficult.

Coping with injuries is always difficult for athletes because all we want to do is, basically, to have our best performances unhindered.

I remember being 32 years old and feeling great, better than ever physically. Then at 33, I tore my shoulder and was out for eight months, and it was like I fell off a cliff. I was never the same.

My whole career, I've never had no serious injuries or no surgeries.

The N.B.A. is not an easy job. As you get older, you play this game for 82 games a year, and you play 11 or 12 years, your body tends to break down.

Reaching the top 100 was always my goal since I started to play as a pro. In '05 I came quite close, reaching a ranking of No. 129, but then was stopped by a major shoulder injury.

Injuries obviously change the way you approach the game.

I retired from rugby because I was old and getting really slow.

I think, at 32, you are past your prime as a footballer.

When you're younger, you have three or four bad results and you worry about everything. You worry about injuries, because they always seem to be your best players.

All players go through injuries in their career, but I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

You don't see too many attacking flair players continuing until their mid-30s at a high level.

People think I'm soft and bailed out on basketball. But it was five knee surgeries.

I didn't know what it meant or what it took to be healthy and be prepared for 82-plus games... Injuries come with sports. I know that. But you can be prepared, get your body as prepared as it can be through practice and weights.

Injuries are a part and parcel of a player's career.

Team doctors' jobs those days were to keep you on the field.

After I hurt the knee, football wasn't nearly as much fun. I was limited. But you make do with what you have. I adjusted some. I was lucky to play as long as I did, with the different kinds of injuries I got. I played with two severed hamstring muscles in my leg late in my career. I could barely run, other than to drop back to pass.

I give everything I have every time I take the ball. With that, I also know that there will always be a risk of injury when playing this game that I love.

I had aches and pains when I played. No player is ever 100 percent, 80 percent, 85 percent. Guys that play 158 or 162 or 145, we are all in the same boat.

It's rare enough as an older generation player that you're 100% fit - there's always something niggling.

The decision to retire was quite an easy one for me because by that stage my knees were so badly gone. If I had been like Martina Navratilova and my body had let me I would have carried on playing a lot longer.

I'm glad that I just played baseball, because I'm sure I had a much longer baseball career than I would've had a football career. I did miss football, but I didn't miss some of the injuries from football.

The thing about the NBA, any pro sport, is, guys don't know how to take care of their body.

The thing with NBA teams, a lot of times they just want to get you back on the floor to play, so as a player you've got to be very, very smart.